provisions. On accession to the Covenant, the French Government declared that : in the light of article 2 of the Constitution of the French Republic the Republic is concerned.1 article 27 [of the Covenant] is not applicable so far as This declaration has not been objected to by other States parties, nor has it been withdrawn. 8.6 The Committee is therefore called upon to decide whether this declaration precludes it from examining a communication alleging a violation of article 27. Article 2, paragraph 1 (d), of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties stipulates as follows: "Reservation" means a unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State, when . . . acceding to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that State. The Convention does not make a distinction between reservations and declarations. The Covenant itself does not provide any guidance in determining whether a unilateral statement made by a State party on accession to it should have preclusionary effect regardless of whether it is termed a reservation or declaration. The Committee observes in this respect that it is not the formal designation but the effect the statement purports to have that determines its nature. If the statement displays a clear intent on the part of the State party to exclude or modify the legal effect of a specific provision of a treaty, it must be regarded as a binding reservation, even if the statement is phrased as a declaration. In the present case, the statement entered by __________ 1 The reasons for the declaration are explained by the State party in its second periodic report to the Human Rights Committee under article 40 of the Covenant (document CCPR/C/46/Add.2) as follows: "Since the basic principles of public law prohibit distinctions between citizens on grounds of origin, race or religion, France is a country in which there are no minorities and, as stated in the declaration made by France, article 27 is not applicable as far as the Republic is concerned." The same explanation also appears in the initial report of France (document CCPR/C/22/Add.2). the French Government upon accession to the Covenant is clear: it seeks to exclude the application of article 27 to France and emphasizes this exclusion semantically with the words "is not applicable". The statement's intent is unequivocal and thus must be given preclusionary effect in spite of the terminology used. Furthermore, the State party's submission of 15 January 1989 also speaks of a French "reservation" in respect of article 27. Accordingly, the Committee considers that it is not competent to consider complaints directed against France concerning alleged violations of article 27 of the Covenant. 9. The Committee therefore decides: (a) That the communication is inadmissible under articles 2 and 5, paragraph 2 (b), of the Optional Protocol; (b) That this decision shall be communicated to the State party and to the author of the communication. 45