# Foundational texts — ECCC

The ECCC operates on three layered foundational instruments. Each may be cited from project knowledge when present. If not in project knowledge, retrieve from `https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/about/legal-framework` before citing.

## 1. The UN-Cambodia Agreement (2003)

**Full title:** Agreement between the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia concerning the Prosecution under Cambodian Law of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea.

**Date:** 6 June 2003 (signed); entered into force 29 April 2005 (after ratification).

**Function:** Constitutes the framework under which the United Nations provides assistance to the Cambodian court system in establishing and operating the Extraordinary Chambers. Defines the structure of international participation (international judges, international Co-Prosecutor, international Co-Investigating Judge), the personal jurisdiction (senior leaders and those most responsible), the temporal jurisdiction (17 April 1975 – 6 January 1979), and the procedural baseline.

**Short citation form:** `UN-Cambodia Agreement, Article [X]`

**Key articles to know:**
- Article 1 — Purpose
- Article 2 — Legal basis (incorporation of the ECCC Law)
- Article 9 — Subject-matter jurisdiction
- Article 12 — Procedure (reference to Cambodian law, with guidance from international standards where Cambodian law is silent or uncertain)
- Article 13 — Rights of the accused
- Article 17 — Privileges and immunities of UN-appointed personnel
- Article 28 — Withdrawal of UN cooperation (the famous "exit clause")

## 1 bis. The Addendum to the UN-Cambodia Agreement (2021)

**Full title:** Addendum to the Agreement between the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia concerning the Prosecution under Cambodian Law of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea, on the Transitional Arrangements and the Completion of Work of the Extraordinary Chambers.

**Date:** Entered into force December 2021. The ECCC's residual phase commenced on **1 January 2023**.

**Function:** Confers upon the ECCC, under its existing organisation, the following residual functions:

1. Reviewing applications and conducting proceedings for the revision of final judgements
2. Protection of victims and witnesses
3. Sanctioning or referring wilful interferences with the administration of justice or provision of false testimony
4. Supervision of enforcement of sentences and monitoring treatment of convicted prisoners
5. Maintaining, preserving and managing the judicial archives, including declassification of documents
6. Responding to requests for access to documents
7. Disseminating information to the public regarding the Extraordinary Chambers
8. Monitoring the enforcement of reparations awarded to civil parties

**Short citation form:** `Addendum to the UN-Cambodia Agreement, Article [X]`

**Why this matters for citation discipline:** Any proceeding, decision, or filing dated 1 January 2023 or later operates under the residual phase. Earlier matters operate under the original UN-Cambodia Agreement. Cite the instrument in force at the date of the matter.

Available at `https://www.eccc.gov.kh/sites/default/files/legal-documents/Addendum.pdf`.

## 2. The ECCC Law (as amended)

**Full titles:**
- Original: *Law on the Establishment of Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea* (NS/RKM/0801/12), 10 August 2001.
- Amending law: *Law to amend the Law on the Establishment of Extraordinary Chambers* (NS/RKM/1004/006), 27 October 2004.

**Function:** The Cambodian statute establishing the ECCC under Cambodian law and defining its subject-matter and personal jurisdiction. The 2004 amendment renumbered and substantially revised several articles, in part to give effect to the UN-Cambodia Agreement.

**Short citation form:** `ECCC Law, Article [X]` or, where the article was renumbered by the 2004 amendment, `ECCC Law, Article [X] new`. The "new" suffix matters; in older sources it is sometimes omitted.

**Key articles to know (post-2004 numbering):**
- Article 1 — Purpose
- Article 2 new — Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers
- Article 3 new — Cambodian penal-code crimes (homicide, torture, religious persecution under the 1956 Penal Code)
- Article 4 — Genocide (incorporating the 1948 Genocide Convention)
- Article 5 — Crimes against humanity (referring to the 1948 definition and developments through 1979)
- Article 6 — Grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions (limited to the international armed conflict with Vietnam)
- Article 7 — Destruction of cultural property under the 1954 Hague Convention
- Article 8 — Crimes against internationally protected persons under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations
- Article 9 new — Composition of the Trial Chamber and Supreme Court Chamber
- Article 11 new — Composition of the Office of the Co-Prosecutors
- Article 23 new — Composition of the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges
- Article 29 new — Individual criminal responsibility (planning, instigating, ordering, committing, aiding and abetting; superior responsibility)
- Article 33 new — Rights of the accused
- Article 36 new — Right of appeal

**Caveat on JCE:** Joint Criminal Enterprise as a mode of liability is not expressly listed in Article 29 new. Its applicability at the ECCC was developed judicially; the Court's own *Guide to the ECCC, Volume 2: Jurisprudence* records that JCE was "judicially recognised as a form of commission" at the ECCC. The Pre-Trial Chamber's 2010 decision on JCE in Case 002 and the Case 002/01 Trial and Appeal Judgments are the key authorities. JCE III in particular has been contested. Cite the judicial sources for JCE, not Article 29 new directly. The *Guide Vol. 2* § 3.4 maps the principal authorities — use it as the index, then verify the specific decision.

## 3. The Internal Rules of the ECCC

**Function:** Procedural rules adopted by the ECCC Plenary (the assembly of all judicial officials) to consolidate Cambodian procedure for proceedings before the ECCC and to fill gaps with rules adopted at the Plenary level. They are the operational procedural rulebook of the Court.

**Short citation form:** `Internal Rules (Rev. [N]), Rule [X]`. **The revision must be stated.**

**Revisions and adoption dates:**

| Revision | Date adopted |
|---|---|
| Original (unnumbered) | 12 June 2007 (initial adoption) |
| Rev. 1 | 1 February 2008 |
| Rev. 2 | 5 September 2008 |
| Rev. 3 | 6 March 2009 |
| Rev. 4 | 11 September 2009 |
| Rev. 5 | 9 February 2010 |
| Rev. 6 | 17 September 2010 |
| Rev. 7 | 23 February 2011 |
| Rev. 8 | 3 August 2011 |
| Rev. 9 | 16 January 2015 |
| Rev. 10 | 27 October 2022 (current) |

The exact dates and the existence of intermediate revisions should be cross-checked against `https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/about/legal-framework` because the Court occasionally re-issues a revision with corrections.

**Why the revision matters:** A decision interpreting Rule 23 in 2011 applied Rev. 7 or Rev. 8 (the revisions then in force). If the user is asking what Rule 23 says today, the answer is Rev. 10. If the user is asking what the Trial Chamber held in 2014, the answer is Rev. 8 or Rev. 9.

**Key rules to know:**
- Rule 21 — General principles (including the obligation of the Chambers to interpret the Rules consistently with international standards)
- Rule 23 / 23 bis / 23 ter / 23 quater — Civil party participation. The numbering and content evolved through revisions; particularly important when comparing Case 001 (early Rev.) and Case 002/02 (later Rev.) civil party regimes.
- Rule 53 — Introductory Submissions
- Rule 55 — Conduct of judicial investigations
- Rule 66 — Closing Order
- Rule 67 — Indictment
- Rule 87 — Evidence at trial
- Rule 89 — Forms of charges
- Rule 100 — Trial Judgment
- Rule 104 — Appeals to the Supreme Court Chamber
- Rule 105 — Conduct of appeal proceedings

For propositions resting on a specific Rule, identify the revision and cite it explicitly.

## Working with foundational texts in project knowledge

The recommended workflow when a user expects to do substantial ECCC research:

1. Add the UN-Cambodia Agreement (English), the Addendum (English), the ECCC Law as amended (English), and Internal Rules Rev. 10 (English) to the Project's knowledge base.
2. **Add the *Guide to the ECCC, Volume 2: Jurisprudence* to project knowledge** if the work involves any substantive doctrinal question. It is the canonical map of where the ECCC's holdings live.
3. If the work involves an older decision interpreting an earlier revision of the Internal Rules, add that revision too.
4. The skill will then cite from project knowledge for foundational provisions, and will reserve `web_fetch` for case-specific documents.

If the user's work involves the original Khmer-language Establishment Law (rare but possible — e.g. precise wording of "homicide" under the 1956 Penal Code), the Khmer version on `eccc.gov.kh` is the controlling text; flag this and recommend verification by a Khmer reader.

## What this skill does not include

- A consolidated comparison table of Internal Rules across revisions. The Court has not published one. Where this matters, the user must supply both revisions.
- An exhaustive list of the ECCC's Practice Directions. These are listed at `https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/about/legal-framework` and are citable as Tier 1 but are not foundational instruments in the sense of this document.
- The Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure, which the Internal Rules supplement but which controls in some matters not addressed by the Internal Rules. Where the analysis depends on the Code, fetch the relevant provisions and verify.