Prior to the Hague Evidence Convention and the Hague Service Convention of 1965 and 1970, most treaties would designate separate agencies to, respectively, transmit and receive treaty petitions and applications with their corresponding agencies in foreign states.
Subsequent conventions, such as Hague Abduction Convention, continued this demand that the Central Authority in each country handle two-way communications with domestic courts, administrative agencies and foreign Central Authorities.
All of these new obligations emphasized the need for international cooperation amongst the state parties in achieving the objectives of the Convention.
[2] Many UN treaties, such as the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) expressly call upon member states to designate Central Authorities in their government for just this purpose.
[2] The lack of Central Authorities in developing countries, however, can pose challenges as, where such institutional architecture is lacking, states will generally be unable to offer assistance and, thus, unable to address many of the threats posed by transnational criminal groups and terrorist organizations.