PROTOCOL
TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON CIVIL LIABILITY FOR OIL POLLUTION DAMAGE,
1969
(London,
19.XI.1976)
The
parties to the present Protocol,
Being
parties to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution
Damage, done at Brussels on 29 November 1969;
Have
agreed as follows:
For
the purpose of the present Protocol:
1.
"Convention" means the International Convention on Civil Liability
for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969.
2.
"Organization" has the same meaning as in the Convention.
3.
"Secretary-General" means the Secretary-General of the Organization.
Article
V of the Convention is amended as follows:
(1)
Paragraph 1 is replaced by the following text:
"The owner
of a ship shall be entitled to limit his liability under this Convention in
respect of any one incident to an aggregate amount of 133 units of account for
each ton of the ship's tonnage. However, this aggregate amount shall not in any
event exceed 14 million units of account."
(2)
Paragraph 9 is replaced by the following text:
9 (a) The
"unit of account" referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article is the
Special Drawing Right as defined by the International Monetary Fund. The
amounts mentioned in paragraph 1 shall be converted into the national currency
of the State in which the fund is being constituted on the basis of the value
of that currency by reference to the Special Drawing Right on the date of the
constitution of the fund. The value of the national currency, in terms of the
Special Drawing Right, of a Contracting State which is a member of the
International Monetary Fund, shall be calculated in accordance with the method
of valuation applied by the International Monetary Fund in effect at the date
in question for its operations and transactions. The value of the national
currency, in terms of the Special Drawing Right, of a Contracting State which
is not a member of the International Monetary Fund, shall be calculated in a
manner determined by that State.
9 (b)
Nevertheless, a Contracting State which is not a member of the International
Monetary Fund and whose law does not permit the application of the provisions
of paragraph 9 (a) of this Article may, at the time of ratification,
acceptance, approval of or accession to the present Convention, or at any time
thereafter, declare that the limits of liability provided for in paragraph 1 to
be applied in its territory shall, in respect of any one incident, be an
aggregate of 2,000 monetary units for each ton of the ship's tonnage provided
that this aggregate amount shall not in any event exceed 210 million monetary
units. The monetary unit referred to in this paragraph corresponds to
sixty-five and a half milligrammes of gold of millesimal fineness nine hundred.
The conversion of these amounts into the national currency shall be made
according to the law of the State concerned.
9 (c) The
calculation mentioned in the last sentence of paragraph 9 (a) and the
conversion mentioned in paragraph 9 (b) shall be made in such a manner as to
express in the national currency of the Contracting State as far as possible
that same real value for the amounts in paragraph 1 as is expressed there in
units of account. Contracting States shall communicate to the depositary the
manner of calculation pursuant to paragraph 9 (a), or the result of the
conversion in paragraph 9 (b) as the case may be, when depositing an instrument
referred to in Article IV and whenever there is a change in either.
1.
The present Protocol shall be open for signature by any State which has signed
the Convention or acceded thereto and by any State invited to attend the
Conference to Revise the Unit of Account Provisions of the Convention on Civil
Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, held in London from 17 to 19 November
1976. The Protocol shall be open for signature from 1 February 1977 to 31
December 1977 at the Headquarters of the Organization.
2.
Subject to paragraph 4 of this Article, the present Protocol shall be subject
to ratification, acceptance or approval by the States which have signed it.
3.
Subject to paragraph 4 of this Article, this Protocol shall be open for
accession by States which did not sign it.
4.
The present Protocol may be ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to by
States Parties to the Convention.
1.
Ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall be effected by the
deposit of a formal instrument to that effect with the Secretary-General.
2.
Any instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession deposited
after the entry into force of an amendment to the present Protocol with respect
to all existing Parties or after the completion of all measures required for
the entry into force of the amendment with respect to all existing Parties,
shall be deemed to apply to the Protocol as modified by the amendment.
1.
The present Protocol shall enter into force for the States which have ratified,
accepted approved or acceded to it on the ninetieth day following the date on
which eight States including five States each with not less than 1,000,000
gross tons of tanker tonnage have deposited instruments of ratification,
acceptance, approval or accession with the Secretary-General.
2.
For each State which subsequently ratifies, accepts, approves or accedes to it,
the present Protocol shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after the
deposit by such State of the appropriate instrument.
1.
The present Protocol may be denounced by any Party at any time after the date
on which the Protocol enters into force for that Party.
2.
Denunciation shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument to that effect
with the Secretary-General.
3.
Denunciation shall take effect one year, or such longer period as may be
specified in the instrument of denunciation, after its deposit with the
Secretary-General.
1.
A Conference for the purpose of revising or amending the present Protocol may
be convened by the Organization.
2.
The Organization shall convene a Conference of Parties to the present Protocol
for the purpose of revising or amending it at the request of not less than
one-third of the Parties.
1.
The present Protocol shall be deposited with the Secretary-General.
2.
The Secretary-General shall:
(a)
inform all States which have signed the present Protocol or acceded thereto of:
(i) each new signature or
deposit of an instrument together with the date thereof;
(ii) the date of entry into
force of the present Protocol;
(iii) the deposit of any
instrument of denunciation of the present Protocol together with the date on
which the denunciation takes effect;
(iv) any amendments to the
present Protocol;
(b) transmit certified true
copies of the present Protocol to all States which have signed the present
Protocol or acceded thereto.
As
soon as the present Protocol enters into force, a certified true copy thereof
shall be transmitted by the Secretary-General to the Secretariat of the United
Nations for registration and publication in accordance with Article 102 of the
Charter of the United Nations.
The
present Protocol is established in a single original in the