On 12 December, he described the declaration to be "soft international law, " essentially a political document with no legally binding effect.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

The treaty is not legally binding, and does not come into effect until January 2015, but Ambassador Terry Kramer, who headed the U.S. delegation Dubai, said it was important to make sure that countries did not eventually agree to a more binding set of global agreements that they could use to justify acts of censorship online.

FORBES: U.S. Refuses To Sign Treaty On Net Regulation; Fears Legally-Binding Rules In Future

Describing the treaty as "fatally flawed" Bush argued that not only would it have a profoundly detrimental effect on the U.S. economy, but also criticized it for not binding developing nations such as China -- currently the world's second largest greenhouse gas emitter -- into a formal agreement to cut pollution levels.

CNN: Kyoto: The next generation