The Ratification of Maritime Conventions
Chapter I.7.380
PROTOCOL CONCERNING MEDITERRANEAN SPECIALLY PROTECTED AREAS, 1982
ADOPTED: Done at Geneva, 3 April 1982
ENTERED INTO FORCE: 23 March 1986
DEPOSITARY: Government of Spain
SECRETARY: UNEP
IMPLEMENTATION
SIGNATURE, RATIFICATION, ACCEPTANCE, APPROVAL AND ACCESSION
Article XVIII
1. The provisions of the Convention relating to any Protocol shall apply in respect to this Protocol.
2. The rules of procedure and the financial rules adopted pursuant to article XVIII, paragraph 2, of the Convention shall apply with respect to this protocol, unless the Parties to this Protocol agree otherwise.
3. This Protocol shall be open for signature, at Geneva on 3 and 4 April 1982, at Madrid from 5 April 1982 to 2 April 1983, by any Contracting Party to the Convention and any State invited to the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Protocol concerning Mediterranean Specially Protected Areas held at Geneva on 2 and 3 April 1982. It shall also be open for signature from 5 April 1982 to 2 April 1983 by any regional economic grouping of which at least one member is a coastal State of the Mediterranean Sea Area and which exercises competence in fields covered by this Protocol.
4. This Protocol shall be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Government of Spain, which will assume the functions of Depositary.
5. As from 3 April 1983, this Protocol shall be open for accession by the Contracting Parties to the Convention and by any State grouping referred to in that paragraph 3.
ENTRY INTO FORCE
Article XVI
6. This Protocol shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following the deposit of at least six instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval of, or accession to, the Protocol.
DECLARATIONS AND RESERVATIONS
France
The French Government understands that the present Protocol will involve no damage to those rights held by States arising from the regulations of international maritime law or to the execution of the obligations implied by the same.
In the event of the decrees of the present Protocol being interpreted or applied in a manner incompatible with the aforementioned regulations, the French Government will oppose any such interpretation or application if it is in any way detrimental to itself or its nationals. Furthermore, in the event of the decrees to the present Protocol being interpreted in such a way as to obstruct activities deemed necessary for national defence, the French Government will not apply said decrees to those activities. It will however, in the execution of these activities, take appropriate steps to ensure that the objectives of the present Protocol are as far as possible carried out.
Israel
The Government of the State of Israel has made the following declaration concerning the reservation expressed by the Republic of Tunisia:
“It is the opinion of the Israeli Government that this protocol is not the place to make political statements such as these. The Tunisian Government’s reservation is also a flagrant contradiction of the principle of cooperation which is the foundation stone on which the successful outcome hoped for by the Parties of the Protocol rests and as such is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Protocol.
Furthermore, the reservation is clearly incompatible with the aims of the decision taken at the Second Meeting of the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention and the Protocols related to the same at Cannes, 2-7 March 1981 to establish a centre for specially protected areas in Tunisia. This centre was created to take on a regional role. In order to function effectively any such centre depends on the absolute cooperation of all the Contracting Parties and that cooperation would find itself obstructed from the outset by the reservation of the Tunisian Government.
Such a reservation cannot modify obligations contracted by the Government of Tunisia under the general principles of International Law, the Protocol, or decisions made by the Contracting Parties.”
Monaco
The present Protocol cannot counteract those rights enjoyed by the member States of the Convention of Barcelona which are attributable to the regulations of international maritime law or the carrying out of obligations implied by the same.
In the instance of the decrees of the present Protocol being interpreted or applied in a manner incompatible with said regulations, my Government will oppose such interpretations or applications if it considers them to adversely affect either itself or its nationals. Furthermore, in the event of the decrees of the present Protocol being interpreted in such a way as to endanger its security, my Government will not enforce them. However, it will take the appropriate steps in the carrying out of its activities to ensure that the objectives of the Protocol are, as far as possible, taken into account.
Tunisia
The signing and ratification of the Protocol by the Republic of Tunisia does not necessarily imply the recognition of a Third Party State in the same and in no way presupposes the constitution of an obligation which might imply the concluding of agreements or cooperation in any way with that State.
Turkey
Nothing in this Protocol, either in its present state or in possible amendments which may be made to it in the future, can be accepted or interpreted in any way which might endanger the rights and interests of Turkey in semi-closed seas or limit its right of innocent passage established by common international laws.