the reservation that article 8 … be implemented in accordance with the Islamic Law; We hereby declare acceptance and ratification of the said Charter.30 152. Even though the content of the Islamic law is not provided, it is clear that the intension of the Respondent State in authoring the above instrument of ratification is to modify the legal effects of the guarantees of Article 8 of the Charter by taming its scope to dictates of Islamic law. In other words, whatever the scope and legal effects of the guarantee under Article 8 of the Charter, such guarantees shall be implemented within the confines of Islamic Law. This effectively modifies the scope of Article 8 of the Charter, or indeed excludes the legal effects of the guarantees under that provision. Taken together with the term “reservation” employed in the instrument of ratification itself, the Commission concludes that the instrument of ratification is indeed a reservation. 153. The Complainants submission is that the Respondent State should not be permitted to rely on the reservation because it defies the object and purpose of the Charter, it is general in that it does refer to a particular provision and indicate its scope in precise terms. They also contend that it produces discriminatory effects against religious minorities. Whereas Complainants opine that it is not necessary to determine the validity of the reservation, the Commission considers that the Complainant’s submission amounts to challenging the validity of the reservation. Indeed it is not possible to deny the Respondent State the benefit of the reservation as suggested by the Complainants unless its validity and the extent to which it excludes or modifies the effect of Article 8 of the Charter are determined. 154. For that purpose, it pertinent to underscore that the Commission has the competence, in accordance with its mandate, to assess and pronounce its views on the validity of a reservation to the Charter. A valid reservation to a treaty forms part of the terms of the treaty with respect to the authoring State and other states parties which have not registered repudiatory objections to the reservation. The Commission’s functional competence to interpret and consider the validity of a reservation is inherent in the Commission’s very function of interpreting and applying the Charter to ensure the protection of the rights and freedoms.31 155. Further, the Commission notes that the Respondent State has not had the opportunity to make observations on the validity of its reservation to the Charter in Arab Republic of Egypt, Instrument of Ratification, appended to the Charter, available at <http://www.achpr.org/instruments/achpr/> (accessed 1 July, 2014), emphasis supplied 31 Article 45(3) of the Charter mandates the Commission to interpret the Charter. 30 30