Merchant Shipping Act 1995

[F1Chapter VIU.K. FINAL CLAUSES

U.K. Signature, ratification, acceptance, approval and accession

Article 45U.K.

1. This Convention shall be open for signature at the Headquarters of the Organization from 1 October 1996 to 30 September 1997 and shall thereafter remain open for accession.

2. States may express their consent to be bound by this Convention by:

3. Ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument to that effect with the Secretary-General.

U.K. Entry into force

Article 46U.K.

1. This Convention shall enter into force eighteen months after the date on which the following conditions are fulfilled:

2. For a State which expresses its consent to be bound by this Convention after the conditions for entry into force have been met, such consent shall take effect three months after the date of expression of such consent, or on the date on which this Convention enters into force in accordance with paragraph 1, whichever is the later.

U.K. Revision and amendment

Article 47U.K.

1. A conference for the purpose of revising or amending this Convention may be convened by the Organization.

2. The Secretary-General shall convene a conference of the States Parties to this Convention for revising or amending the Convention, at the request of six States Parties or one-third of the States Parties, whichever is the higher figure.

3. Any consent to be bound by this Convention expressed after the date of entry into force of an amendment to this Convention shall be deemed to apply to the Convention as amended.

U.K. Amendment of limits

Article 48U.K.

1. Without prejudice to the provisions of article 47, the special procedure in this article shall apply solely for the purposes of amending the limits set out in article 9, paragraph 1 and article 14, paragraph 5.

2. Upon the request of at least one half, but in no case less than six, of the States Parties, any proposal to amend the limits specified in article 9, paragraph 1, and article 14, paragraph 5, shall be circulated by the Secretary-General to all Members of the Organization and to all Contracting States.

3. Any amendment proposed and circulated as above shall be submitted to the Legal Committee of the Organization (the Legal Committee) for consideration at a date at least six months after the date of its circulation.

4. All Contracting States, whether or not Members of the Organization, shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings of the Legal Committee for the consideration and adoption of amendments.

5. Amendments shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the Contracting States present and voting in the Legal Committee, expanded as provided in paragraph 4, on condition that at least one half of the Contracting States shall be present at the time of voting.

6. When acting on a proposal to amend the limits, the Legal Committee shall take into account the experience of incidents and, in particular, the amount of damage resulting therefrom, changes in the monetary values and the effect of the proposed amendment on the cost of insurance. It shall also take into account the relationship between the limits established in article 9, paragraph 1, and those in article 14, paragraph 5.

7.

8. Any amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 5 shall be notified by the Organization to all Contracting States

The amendment shall be deemed to have been accepted at the end of a period of eighteen months after the date of notification, unless within that period no less than one-fourth of the States which were Contracting States at the time of the adoption of the amendment have communicated to the Secretary-General that they do not accept the amendment, in which case the amendment is rejected and shall have no effect.

9. An amendment deemed to have been accepted in accordance with paragraph 8 shall enter into force eighteen months after its acceptance.

10. All Contracting States shall be bound by the amendment, unless they denounce this Convention in accordance with article 49, paragraphs 1 and 2, at least six months before the amendment enters into force. Such denunciation shall take effect when the amendment enters into force.

11. When an amendment has been adopted but the eighteen month period for its acceptance has not yet expired, a State which becomes a Contracting State during that period shall be bound by the amendment if it enters into force. A State which becomes a Contracting State after that period shall be bound by an amendment which has been accepted in accordance with paragraph 8. In the cases referred to in this paragraph, a State becomes bound by an amendment when that amendment enters into force, or when this Convention enters into force for that State, if later.

Article 49U.K.

1. This Convention may be denounced by any State Party at any time after the date on which it enters into force for that State Party.

2. Denunciation shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of denunciation with the Secretary-General.

3. Denunciation shall take effect twelve months, or such longer period as may be specified in the instrument of denunciation, after its deposit with the Secretary-General.

4. Notwithstanding a denunciation by a State Party pursuant to this article, any provisions of this Convention relating to obligations to make contributions under articles 18, 19 or article 21, paragraph 5 in respect of such payments of compensation as the Assembly may decide relating to an incident which occurs before the denunciation takes effect shall continue to apply.

U.K. Extraordinary sessions of the Assembly

Article 50U.K.

1. Any State Party may, within ninety days after the deposit of an instrument of denunciation the result of which it considers will significantly increase the level of contributions from the remaining States Parties, request the Director to convene an extraordinary session of the Assembly. The Director shall convene the Assembly to meet not less than sixty days after receipt of the request.

2. The Director may take the initiative to convene an extraordinary session of the Assembly to meet within sixty days after the deposit of any instrument of denunciation, if the Director considers that such denunciation will result in a significant increase in the level of contributions from the remaining States Parties.

3. If the Assembly, at an extraordinary session, convened in accordance with paragraph 1 or 2 decides that the denunciation will result in a significant increase in the level of contributions from the remaining States Parties, any such State may, not later than one hundred and twenty days before the date on which the denunciation takes effect, denounce this Convention with effect from the same date.

U.K. Cessation

Article 51U.K.

1. This Convention shall cease to be in force:

Notwithstanding (b), if the total quantity of contributing cargo to the general account in accordance with article 18, paragraphs 1(a) and (c) received in the States Parties in the preceding calendar year was less than 30 million tonnes but more than 25 million tonnes, the Assembly may, if it considers that this was due to exceptional circumstances and is not likely to be repeated, decide before the expiry of the above-mentioned twelve month period that the Convention shall continue to be in force. The Assembly may not, however, take such a decision in more than two subsequent years.

2. States which are bound by this Convention on the day before the date it ceases to be in force shall enable the HNS Fund to exercise its functions as described under article 52 and shall, for that purpose only, remain bound by this Convention.

U.K. Winding up of the HNS Fund

Article 52U.K.

1. If this Convention ceases to be in force, the HNS Fund shall nevertheless:

2. The Assembly shall take all appropriate measures to complete the winding up of the HNS Fund including the distribution in an equitable manner of any remaining assets among those persons who have contributed to the HNS Fund.

3. For the purposes of this article the HNS Fund shall remain a legal person.

U.K. Depositary

Article 53U.K.

1. This Convention and any amendment adopted under article 48 shall be deposited with the Secretary-General.

2. The Secretary-General shall:

(a) inform all States which have signed this Convention or acceded thereto, and all Members of the Organization, of:

(i) each new signature or deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession together with the date thereof;

(ii) the date of entry into force of this Convention;

(iii) any proposal to amend the limits on the amounts of compensation which has been made in accordance with article 48, paragraph 2;

(iv) any amendment which has been adopted in accordance with article 48, paragraph 5;

(v) any amendment deemed to have been accepted under article 48, paragraph 8, together with the date on which that amendment shall enter into force in accordance with paragraphs 9 and 10 of that article;

(vi) the deposit of any instrument of denunciation of this Convention together with the date on which it is received and the date on which the denunciation takes effect; and

(vii) any communication called for by any article in this Convention; and

(b) transmit certified true copies of this Convention to all States which have signed this Convention or acceded thereto.

3. As soon as this Convention enters into force, a certified true copy thereof shall be transmitted by the depositary to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration and publication in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

U.K. Languages

Article 54U.K.

This Convention is established in a single original in the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each text being equally authentic.]