32 Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-third session quo which would engage the international responsibility of the State concerned. Thus for the purposes of these articles, international responsibility results exclusively from a wrongful act contrary to international law. This is reflected in the title of the articles. (d) The articles are concerned only with the responsibility of States for internationally wrongful conduct, leaving to one side issues of the responsibility of international organizations or of other non-State entities (see articles 57 and 58). Chapter I GENERAL PRINCIPLES Article 1. Responsibility of a State for its internationally wrongful acts Every internationally wrongful act of a State entails the international responsibility of that State. Commentary (5) On the other hand, the present articles are concerned with the whole field of State responsibility. Thus they are not limited to breaches of obligations of a bilateral character, e.g. under a bilateral treaty with another State. They apply to the whole field of the international obligations of States, whether the obligation is owed to one or several States, to an individual or group, or to the international community as a whole. Being general in character, they are also for the most part residual. In principle, States are free, when establishing or agreeing to be bound by a rule, to specify that its breach shall entail only particular consequences and thereby to exclude the ordinary rules of responsibility. This is made clear by article 55. (1) Article 1 states the basic principle underlying the articles as a whole, which is that a breach of international law by a State entails its international responsibility. An internationally wrongful act of a State may consist in one or more actions or omissions or a combination of both. Whether there has been an internationally wrongful act depends, first, on the requirements of the obligation which is said to have been breached and, secondly, on the framework conditions for such an act, which are set out in Part One. The term “international responsibility” covers the new legal relations which arise under international law by reason of the internationally wrongful act of a State. The content of these new legal relations is specified in Part Two. (6) The present articles are divided into four parts. Part One is entitled “The internationally wrongful act of a State”. It deals with the requirements for the international responsibility of a State to arise. Part Two, “Content of the international responsibility of a State”, deals with the legal consequences for the responsible State of its internationally wrongful act, in particular as they concern cessation and reparation. Part Three is entitled “The implementation of the international responsibility of a State”. It identifies the State or States which may react to an internationally wrongful act and specifies the modalities by which this may be done, including, in certain circumstances, by the taking of countermeasures as necessary to ensure cessation of the wrongful act and reparation for its consequences. Part Four contains certain general provisions applicable to the articles as a whole. (2) PCIJ applied the principle set out in article 1 in a number of cases. For example, in the Phosphates in Morocco case, PCIJ affirmed that when a State commits an internationally wrongful act against another State international responsibility is established “immediately as between the two States”.34 ICJ has applied the principle on several occasions, for example in the Corfu Channel case,35 in the Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua case,36 and in the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project case.37 The Court also referred to the principle in its advisory opinions on Reparation for Injuries,38 and on the Interpretation of Peace Treaties (Second Phase),39 in which it stated that “refusal to fulfil a treaty obligation involves international responsibility”.40 Arbitral tribunals have repeatedly affirmed the principle, for example in the Claims of Italian Nationals Resident in Peru cases,41 in Part One THE INTERNATIONALLY WRONGFUL ACT OF A STATE Part One defines the general conditions necessary for State responsibility to arise. Chapter I lays down three basic principles for responsibility from which the articles as a whole proceed. Chapter II defines the conditions under which conduct is attributable to the State. Chapter III spells out in general terms the conditions under which such conduct amounts to a breach of an international obligation of the State concerned. Chapter IV deals with certain exceptional cases where one State may be responsible for the conduct of another State not in conformity with an international obligation of the latter. Chapter V defines the circumstances precluding the wrongfulness for conduct not in conformity with the international obligations of a State. 34 Phosphates in Morocco, Judgment, 1938, P.C.I.J., Series A/B, No. 74, p. 10, at p. 28. See also S.S. “Wimbledon”, 1923, P.C.I.J., Series A, No. 1, p. 15, at p. 30; Factory at Chorzów, Jurisdiction, Judgment No. 8, 1927, P.C.I.J., Series A, No. 9, p. 21; and ibid., Merits, Judgment No. 13, 1928, P.C.I.J., Series A, No. 17, p. 29. 35 Corfu Channel, Merits, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1949, p. 4, at p. 23. 36 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Merits, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1986, p. 14, at p. 142, para. 283, and p. 149, para. 292. 37 Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (see footnote 27 above), at p. 38, para. 47. 38 Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1949, p. 174, at p. 184. 39 Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, Second Phase, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1950, p. 221. 40 Ibid., p. 228. 41 Seven of these awards rendered in 1901 reiterated that “a universally recognized principle of international law states that the State is responsible for the violations of the law of nations committed by its agents” (UNRIAA, vol. XV (Sales No. 66.V.3), pp. 399 (Chiessa claim), 401 (Sessarego claim), 404 (Sanguinetti claim), 407 (Vercelli claim), 408 (Queirolo claim), 409 (Roggero claim), and 411 (Miglia claim)).