1U.K.Each Contracting Party shall take such legislative or other measures as may be necessary to implement the present Convention.
2U.K.Each Contracting Party shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall be the depositary, the text of the legislative or other measures which it has taken in order to implement the present Convention.
1U.K.The present Convention shall remain open for signature as from 1 July 1974 until and including 30 June 1975 at United Nations Headquarters and shall thereafter remain open for accession.
2U.K.All States are entitled to become Contracting Parties to the present Convention by:
(a)Signature subject to and followed by ratification, acceptance or approval; or
(b)Signature without reservation as to ratification, acceptance or approval; or
(c)Accession.
3U.K.Ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument to this effect with the depositary.
1U.K.The present Convention shall enter into force six months after the date on which not less than 24 States, the combined tonnage of which amounts to at least 25 per cent of world tonnage, have become Contracting Parties to it in accordance with article 48. For the purpose of the present article the tonnage shall be deemed to be that contained inLloyd’s Register of Shipping—Statistical Tables 1973,table 2 “World Fleets—Analysis by Principal Types”, in respect to general cargo (including passenger/cargo) ships and container (fully cellular) ships, exclusive of the United States reserve fleet and the American and Canadian Great Lakes fleets.
2U.K.For each State which thereafter ratifies, accepts, approves or accedes to it, the present Convention shall come into force six months after deposit by such State of the appropriate instrument.
3U.K.Any State which becomes a Contracting Party to the present Convention after the entry into force of an amendment shall, failing an expression of a different intention by that State:
(a)Be considered as a Party to the present Convention as amended; and
(b)Be considered as a Party to the unamended Convention in relation to any Party to the present Convention not bound by the amendment.
1U.K.The present Convention may be denounced by any Contracting Party at any time after the expiration of a period of two years from the date on which the Convention has entered into force.
2U.K.Denunciation shall be notified to the depositary in writing, and shall take effect one year, or such longer period as may be specified in the instrument of denunciation, after the date of receipt by the depository.
1U.K.Any Contracting Party may propose one or more amendments to the present Convention by communicating the amendments to the depositary. The depositary shall circulate such amendments among the Contracting Parties, for their acceptance, and among States entitled to become Contracting Parties to the present Convention which are not Contracting Parties, for their information.
2U.K.Each proposed amendment circulated in accordance with article 51, paragraph 1 shall be deemed to have been accepted if no Contracting Party communicates an objection thereto to the depository within 12 months following the date of its circulation by the depositary. If a Contracting Party communicates an objection to the proposed amendment, such amendment shall not be considered as accepted and shall not be put into effect.
3U.K.If no objection has been communicated, the amendment shall enter into force for all Contracting Parties six months after the expiry date of the period of 12 months referred to in article 51, paragraph 2.
1U.K.A Review Conference shall be convened by the depositary five years from the date on which the present Convention comes into force to review the working of the Convention, with particular reference to its implementation, and to consider and adopt appropriate amendments.
2U.K.The depository shall, four years from the date on which the present Convnetion comes into force, seek the views of all States entitled to attend the Review Conference and shall, on the basis of the views received, prepare and circulate a draft agenda as well as amendments proposed for consideration by the Conference.
3U.K.Further review conferences shall be similarly convened every five years, or at any time after the first Review Conference, at the request of one-third of the Contracting Parties to the present Convention, unless the first Review Conference decides otherwise.
4U.K.Notwithstanding the provisions of article 52, paragraph 1, if the present Convention has not entered into force five years from the date of the adoption of the Final Act of the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on a Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences, a Review Conference shall, at the request of one-third of the States entitled to become Contracting Parties to the present Convention, be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, subject to the approval of the General Assembly, in order to review the provisions of the Convention and its annex and to consider and adopt appropriate amendments.
1U.K.The depository shall notify the signatory and acceding States of:
(a)Signatures, ratifications, acceptances, approvals and accessions in accordance with article 48;
(b)The date on which the present Convention enters into force in accordance with article 49;
(c)Denunciations of the present Convention in accordance with article 50;
(d)Reservations to the present Convention and the withdrawal of reservations;
(e)The text of the legislative or other measures which each Contracting Party has taken in order to implement the present Convention in accordance with article 47;
(f)Proposed amendments and objections to proposed amendments in accordance with article 51; and
(g)Entry into force of amendments in accordance with article 51, paragraph 3.
2U.K.The depository shall also undertake such actions as are necessary under article 52.
The original of the present Convention, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, will be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, having been duly authorized to this effect by their respective Governments, have signed the present Convention, on the dates appearing opposite their signatures.
. . .