Article 11 Jurisdiction ratione temporis

Article 11 establishes the temporal threshold for the activation of the Court’s jurisdiction at the date of entry into force of the Statute, which occurred on 1 July 2002. Whereas the other facets of the Court’s jurisdiction – jurisdiction ratione materiae, ratione personae and ratione loci – may be modified or applied in the alternative, paragraph 1 of article 11 represents an absolute bar on the scope of the Court’s competence. Paragraph 2 of article 11 regulates the activation of the Court’s temporal jurisdiction for States joining the ICC after its entry into force. For those signatory States that deposited the instruments necessary to bring the Statute into force, temporal threshold will apply from the date of the entry into force of the Statute itself, per article 11(1). For those States that become Parties to the Statute thereafter temporal jurisdiction will apply from the first day of the month after the 60th day following the deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. Nonetheless, article 11(2) recalls that an acceding State may also lodge a declaration under article 12(3) with respect to the time period during which it remained a non-Party State, thereby investing the Court with jurisdiction from an earlier time although no earlier than the restriction contained in article 11(1).