U.S. Department of State

The more typical Circular 175 request is an action memorandum from a bureau or office in the State Department to a Department official at the Assistant Secretary level or above, seeking authority to negotiate, conclude, amend, extend, or terminate an international agreement.  A “blanket” Circular 175 authorization may be appropriate where a series of agreements of the same general type are to be negotiated according to a more or less standard formula.

A Circular 175 memorandum will generally address, where applicable, the following issues: 

• The proposed agreement's principal features, indicating any special problems that may be encountered and, if possible, the contemplated solutions to those problems;
• The policy benefits to the United States, as well as potential risks;
• Whether congressional consultations on the agreement have been or will be undertaken;
• The funding sources that will be committed by execution of the proposed agreement;
• Whether the proposed agreement reasonably could be expected to have a significant regulatory impact on domestic entities or persons; and 
• The environmental impact that may arise as a result of the agreement.

The action memorandum should be accompanied by any texts to be negotiated or concluded.  Other background information may be included as attachments.

Further, each Circular 175 memorandum is accompanied by a separate Memorandum of Law, prepared by the Office of the Legal Adviser.  This legal memorandum generally will include -

• A discussion and justification of the designation given to the proposed agreement (treaty vs. executive agreement);
• An explanation of the legal authority for negotiating and/or concluding the proposed agreement, including an analysis of the Constitutional powers relied upon as well as any pertinent legislation;
• An analysis of the issues surrounding the agreement's implementation as a matter of domestic law (e.g., whether the agreement is self-executing, whether domestic implementing legislation or regulations will be necessary before or after the agreement's execution). See Model Circular 175 Memoradum. 

As a general matter, the Circular 175 procedure has provided an efficient vehicle for achieving a coordinated and coherent U.S. policy with respect to the negotiation and conclusion of treaties and international agreements. 

Also, the Circular 175 procedure assists the State Department in transmitting to the Congress pursuant to the Case-Zablocki Act (1 U.S.C. 112b) the text of any international agreement other than a treaty to which the United States is a party as soon as practicable after such agreement has entered into force with respect to the United States but in no event later than sixty days thereafter.

The Circular 175 procedure does not apply to documents that are not binding under international law. Thus, statements of intent or documents of a political nature not intended to be legally binding are not covered by the Circular 175 procedure. The determination whether a document is or is not an "international agreement" must be made by the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department.