This Chatter is part of the effort to establish a new international economic order which would change the present unsatisfactory relationship between the North and the South. It is not the first normative recommendation by the U. N. General Assembly to define the various rights and duties of States in the economic sphere. However, in comparison with earlier instruments it constitutes the most systematic and exhaustive treatment of the subject. The work on the Charter began in 1973 and the developing countries did not consent to continue negotiations beyond 1974. Consequently, as no consensus was reached of the whole of the draft before that date, the final text has been approved by the Assembly against the votes of 6 and with the abstention of 10 industrial States representing the free market economy. As an act of the Assembly the Charter is a recommendation and not an enactment of law. It repeats some rules that are part of customary international law, yet its emphasis has been laid on the establishment of new law. In view of this aim the absence of consensus is a serious handicap, though a number of provisions secured a universal or nearly universal approval. The Charter has a normative tendency which finds expression in its language.
The Charter's concept of rights and duties is not one of ful equality. The Charter grants better protection to developing countries and proclaims several rights, privileges and preferences in their favour. A certain weakness of the Charter is its avoidance of the broader implications relating to the foundations and the functioning of international community.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszyt贸w RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201