Prague  - Czech President Vaclav Klaus Wednesday ratified a treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), a tribunal set up to punish war crimes and genocide, his office said.

The Czech Republic was the last member of the 27-strong European Union to join The Hague-based court.

The president took over eight months to ratify the tribunal's founding treaty which cleared parliament's lower house on October 29. The upper house, the Senate, approved the charter in July 2008.