ADOPTED: Done at Syracuse on 7 March 1996

ENTERED INTO FORCE: Not yet in force

DEPOSITARY: Government of Spain

SECRETARY: UNEP

IMPLEMENTATION

AMENDMENTS

Article XVI

1. Any Contracting Party to this Convention may propose amendments to the Convention. Amendments shall be adopted by a diplomatic conference which shall be convened by the Organization at the request of two-thirds of the Contracting Parties.

2. Any Contracting Party to this Convention may propose amendments to any Protocol. Such amendments shall be adopted by a diplomatic conference which shall be convened by the Organization at the request of two-thirds of the Contracting Parties to the Protocol concerned.

3. Amendments to this Convention shall be adopted by a three-fourths majority vote of the Contracting Parties to the Convention which are requested at the diplomatic conference, and shall be submitted by the Depositary for acceptance by all Contracting Parties to the Convention. Amendments to any Protocol shall be adopted by a three-fourths majority vote of the Contracting Parties to such Protocol which are represented at the diplomatic conference, and shall be submitted by the Depositary for acceptance by all Contracting Parties to such Protocol.

4. Acceptance of amendment shall be notified to the Depositary in writing. Amendments adopted in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article shall enter into force between Contracting Parties having accepted such amendments on the thirtieth day following the receipt by the Depositary of notification of their acceptance by at least three-fourths of the Contracting Parties to this Convention or to the Protocol concerned, as the case may be.

5. After the entry into force of an amendment to this convention or to a Protocol, any new Contracting Party to this Convention or such Protocol shall become a Contracting Party to the instrument as amended.

DECLARATIONS AND RESERVATIONS

France

[IML Translation]

In approving the Amendments to the Protocol for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea against pollution from land-based sources of 7 March 1996, the Government of the French Republic wishes to remind the reservation it expressed at the time of the approval of the initial instruments, which reads as follows:

Should the provisions of the present Convention and of the protocols thereto be considered as hindering activities which it deems to be essential to its national defence, the Government will not apply the said provisions to such activities. However, by adopting appropriate measures, the Government shall endeavour to take account of the objectives of the Convention and of the protocols thereto as far as possible.