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Additional procedures relating to conciliation shall be adopted by the Conference of the
Parties, as soon as practicable, in an annex on conciliation.
8.
The provisions of this Article shall apply to any related legal instrument which the
Conference of the Parties may adopt, unless the instrument provides otherwise.
Article 15
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONVENTION
1.
Any Party may propose amendments to the Convention.
2.
Amendments to the Convention shall be adopted at an ordinary session of the Conference
of the Parties. The text of any proposed amendment to the Convention shall be communicated to
the Parties by the secretariat at least six months before the meeting at which it is proposed for
adoption. The secretariat shall also communicate proposed amendments to the signatories to the
Convention and, for information, to the Depositary.
3.
The Parties shall make every effort to reach agreement on any proposed amendment to
the Convention by consensus. If all efforts at consensus have been exhausted, and no agreement
reached, the amendment shall as a last resort be adopted by a three-fourths majority vote of the
Parties present and voting at the meeting. The adopted amendment shall be communicated by
the secretariat to the Depositary, who shall circulate it to all Parties for their acceptance.
4.
Instruments of acceptance in respect of an amendment shall be deposited with the
Depositary. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 3 above shall enter into
force for those Parties having accepted it on the ninetieth day after the date of receipt by the
Depositary of an instrument of acceptance by at least three fourths of the Parties to the
Convention.
5.
The amendment shall enter into force for any other Party on the ninetieth day after the
date on which that Party deposits with the Depositary its instrument of acceptance of the said
amendment.
6.
For the purposes of this Article, “Parties present and voting” means Parties present and
casting an affirmative or negative vote.
Article 16
ADOPTION AND AMENDMENT OF ANNEXES TO THE CONVENTION
1.
Annexes to the Convention shall form an integral part thereof and, unless otherwise
expressly provided, a reference to the Convention constitutes at the same time a reference to any
annexes thereto. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 14, paragraphs 2 (b) and 7, such
annexes shall be restricted to lists, forms and any other material of a descriptive nature that is of
a scientific, technical, procedural or administrative character.
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Annexes to the Convention shall be proposed and adopted in accordance with the
procedure set forth in Article 15, paragraphs 2, 3 and 4.
3.
An annex that has been adopted in accordance with paragraph 2 above shall enter into
force for all Parties to the Convention six months after the date of the communication by the
Depositary to such Parties of the adoption of the annex, except for those Parties that have
notified the Depositary, in writing, within that period of their non-acceptance of the annex. The
annex shall enter into force for Parties which withdraw their notification of non-acceptance on
the ninetieth day after the date on which withdrawal of such notification has been received by the
Depositary.
4.
The proposal, adoption and entry into force of amendments to annexes to the Convention
shall be subject to the same procedure as that for the proposal, adoption and entry into force of
annexes to the Convention in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 above.
5.
If the adoption of an annex or an amendment to an annex involves an amendment to the
Convention, that annex or amendment to an annex shall not enter into force until such time as the
amendment to the Convention enters into force.
Article 17
PROTOCOLS
1.
The Conference of the Parties may, at any ordinary session, adopt protocols to the
Convention.
2.
The text of any proposed protocol shall be communicated to the Parties by the secretariat
at least six months before such a session.
3.
The requirements for the entry into force of any protocol shall be established by that
instrument.
4.
Only Parties to the Convention may be Parties to a protocol.
5.
Decisions under any protocol shall be taken only by the Parties to the protocol concerned.
Article 18
RIGHT TO VOTE
1.
Each Party to the Convention shall have one vote, except as provided for in paragraph 2
below.
2.
Regional economic integration organizations, in matters within their competence, shall
exercise their right to vote with a number of votes equal to the number of their member States
that are Parties to the Convention. Such an organization shall not exercise its right to vote if any
of its member States exercises its right, and vice versa.
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Article 19 DEPOSITARY
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the Depositary of the Convention and of protocols adopted in accordance with Article 17. Article 20 SIGNATURE
This Convention shall be open for signature by States Members of the United Nations or
of any of its specialized agencies or that are Parties to the Statute of the International Court of
Justice and by regional economic integration organizations at Rio de Janeiro, during the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and thereafter at United Nations
Headquarters in New York from 20 June 1992 to 19 June 1993.
Article 21
INTERIM ARRANGEMENTS
1.
The secretariat functions referred to in Article 8 will be carried out on an interim
basis by the secretariat established by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its
resolution 45/212 of 21 December 1990, until the completion of the first session of the
Conference of the Parties.
2.
The head of the interim secretariat referred to in paragraph 1 above will cooperate closely
with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to ensure that the Panel can respond to the
need for objective scientific and technical advice. Other relevant scientific bodies could also be
consulted.
3.
The Global Environment Facility of the United Nations Development Programme, the
United Nations Environment Programme and the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development shall be the international entity entrusted with the operation of the financial
mechanism referred to in Article 11 on an interim basis. In this connection, the Global
Environment Facility should be appropriately restructured and its membership made universal to
enable it to fulfil the requirements of Article 11.
Article 22
RATIFICATION, ACCEPTANCE, APPROVAL OR ACCESSION
1.
The Convention shall be subject to ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by
States and by regional economic integration organizations. It shall be open for accession from
the day after the date on which the Convention is closed for signature. Instruments of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall be deposited with the Depositary.
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Any regional economic integration organization which becomes a Party to the
Convention without any of its member States being a Party shall be bound by all the obligations
under the Convention. In the case of such organizations, one or more of whose member States is
a Party to the Convention, the organization and its member States shall decide on their respective
responsibilities for the performance of their obligations under the Convention. In such cases, the
organization and the member States shall not be entitled to exercise rights under the Convention
concurrently.
3.
In their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, regional economic
integration organizations shall declare the extent of their competence with respect to the matters
governed by the Convention. These organizations shall also inform the Depositary, who shall in
turn inform the Parties, of any substantial modification in the extent of their competence.
Article 23
ENTRY INTO FORCE
1.
The Convention shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit of the
fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.
2.
For each State or regional economic integration organization that ratifies, accepts or
approves the Convention or accedes thereto after the deposit of the fiftieth instrument of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, the Convention shall enter into force on the
ninetieth day after the date of deposit by such State or regional economic integration
organization of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.
3.
For the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 2 above, any instrument deposited by a regional
economic integration organization shall not be counted as additional to those deposited by States
members of the organization.
Article 24
RESERVATIONS
No reservations may be made to the Convention. Article 25 WITHDRAWAL 1. At any time after three years from the date on which the Convention has entered into force for a Party, that Party may withdraw from the Convention by giving written notification to the Depositary. 2. Any such withdrawal shall take effect upon expiry of one year from the date of receipt by the Depositary of the notification of withdrawal, or on such later date as may be specified in the notification of withdrawal. 3. Any Party that withdraws from the Convention shall be considered as also having withdrawn from any protocol to which it is a Party.
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Article 26 AUTHENTIC TEXTS
The original of this Convention, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized to that effect, have signed this Convention.
DONE at New York this ninth day of May one thousand nine hundred and ninety-two.
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Annex I Australia Austria Belarus a Belgium Bulgaria a Canada Croatia a * Czech Republica * Denmark European Economic Community Estonia a Finland France Germany Greece Hungary a Iceland Ireland Italy Japan Latvia a Liechtenstein* Lithuaniaa Luxembourg Monaco* Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland a Portugal Romania a Russian Federationa Slovakiaa * Sloveniaa * Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United States of America
a Countries that are undergoing the process of transition to a market economy.
- Publisher’s note: Countries added to Annex I by an amendment that entered into force on 13 August 1998, pursuant to decision 4/CP.3 adopted at COP.3.
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Annex II Australia
Austria Belgium Canada Denmark European Economic Community Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United States of America Publisher’s note: Turkey was deleted from Annex II by an amendment that entered into force 28 June 2002, pursuant to decision 26/CP.7 adopted at COP.7.