Signature Multilateral treaties, like the human rights treaties, usually provide for signature subject to ratification, acceptance or approval. In such cases, the act of signing does not impose legal obligations on the State. However, signature does indicate the State’s intention to take steps to be bound by the treaty at a later date. In other words, signature is a preparatory step on the way to ratification. Signature also creates an obligation to refrain in good faith from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty. Providing for signature subject to ratification gives States time to seek domestic approval for the treaty and enact any legislation necessary to implement the treaty domestically, before undertaking the international obligations under the treaty. Ratification, acceptance or approval Definitive acts, undertaken at the international level, whereby a State establishes its consent to be bound by a treaty which it has already signed. It does this by depositing an “instrument of ratification” with the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations. To ratify a treaty, the State must have signed the treaty first; if a State expresses its consent to be bound without first having signed the treaty, the process is called accession (see below). Upon ratification, the State becomes legally bound by the treaty as one of its State parties. Generally, there is no time limit within which a State is requested to ratify a treaty which it has signed. Once a State has ratified a treaty at the international level, it must give effect to it domestically. Ratification at the international level, which indicates to the international community a State’s commitment to undertake the obligations under a treaty, should not be confused with ratification at the national level, which a State may be required to undertake in accordance with its own constitutional provisions before it expresses consent to be bound internationally. Ratification at the national level is insufficient to establish a State’s intention to be legally bound at the international level. Accession Accession is the act whereby a State that has not signed a treaty expresses its consent to become a party to that treaty by depositing an "instrument of accession" with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Accession has the same legal effect as ratification, acceptance or approval. However, 59