266 



[twelve] months after it enters into force, shall cease to be a party to the present 

 Convention upon the expiry of that period."^ 



This determination is subject to the acceptance of two-thirds of the Contract- 

 ing States prior to the entry into force of the amendment.*" 



(b) Amendment to Annexes : 



(i) An amendment to an Annex to the present Convention shall be submitted 

 to the Maritime Safety Committee for consideration. If adopted by a two-thirds 

 majority of those present and voting in the Maritime Safety Committee, such 

 amendment shall be communicated to all Members of the Organization and all 

 Contracting States at least [six] months pi'ior to its consideration by the As- 

 sembly. Any Contracting State which is not a Member of the Organization sliall 

 be entitled to participate *"" when the amendment is considered by the Assembly. 



(ii) If adopted by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting in the 

 Assembly, the amendment shall be communicated by the Organization to all Con- 

 tracting States for acceptance. 



(iii) Such amendment shall be deemed to have been acccepted at the end of 

 a period to be determined by the Assembly at the time of its adoption, unless 

 within that period objection is communicated to the Organization by more than 

 one-third of the Contracting States or by Contracting States the comI)ined mer- 

 chant fleets of which constitute not less than [fifty] per cent of the gross tonnage 

 of the world's merchant fleet, whichever condition is achieved."" 



(iv) The amendment deemed to have been accepted shall enter into force on 

 the date determined by the Assembly at the time of adoption of the amendment. 

 Determination by the Assembly of the dates referred to in this sub-paragraph and 

 sub-paragraph (b) (iii) of this paragraph shall be by a two-thirds majority of 

 those present and voting. 



(v) The amendment shall enter into force with respect to all Contracting 

 States [except those which before it enters into force, make a declaration that 

 they do not accept the amendment] [provided that a Contracting State may 

 exempt itself from giving effect to the provisions of the amendment for a period 

 not exceeding [twelve] months from the date of entry into force of that 

 amendment.] ^ 



(vi) The Assembly, by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting, in- 

 cluding two-thirds of the States represented on the Maritime Safety Committee 

 and present and voting in the Assembly,"^ may propose a determination that the 

 amendment is of such an important nature that any Contracting State which, 

 before it enters into force, makes a declaration that it does not accept an amend- 

 ment and which does not accept it within a period of [twelve] months after it 

 enters into force, shall cease to be a party to the present Convention upon the 

 expiry of that period.® Such determination shall l)e subject to the condition 

 that objection is not communicated to the Organization by at least one-third of 

 the Contracting States prior to the entry into force of the amendment.™ 



(vii) Notwithstanding the provisions of this sub-paragraph, tlie Asseml)ly 

 may, by a two-thirds majority'^ of those present and voting, decide that any 



68 (i) Some delegations proposed the deletion of this siib-pariifrraph as well as other 

 similar sub-parasraphs relating to amendments of an important nature. 



(ii) Some delegations suggested that the latter half of this sub-paragraph should be 

 amended to read as follows : . „ . , , ., 



". . . . of such an important nature that if any Contracting State makes a declaration 

 under sub-pavagraph (a)(v) of this paragraph and does not accept the amendment within 

 a period of [twelve] months after it enters into force, the other Contracting States shall 

 not be under an obligation to extend to that State the benefits of the present Convention." 



"* (i) Some delegations questioned whether in relation to the Articles of the Convention, 

 as opposed to the provisions of the Annexes, it would be appropriate and desirable to have 

 a provision on the amendments of an important nature. 



(ii) Some delegations also suggested that if only the second alternative in sub-paragriph 

 (.'?)(a)(v) were adopted, there would be no need for a provision on amendments of an 

 Important nature. 



«•'■> See footnote m. 



«8 One delegation suggested that this paragraph should be replaced by the text identical 

 to that appearing in footnote 60. 



o'^ See footnote 01. 



o" See footnote (<2, 



80 See footnote (53. 



■^^ Some delegations suggested that where an amendment to an Annex was considered to be 

 of an important nature It might not be appropriate to adopt such amendment by the tacit 

 acceptance procedure. 



'1 Some delegations suggested that "a two-thirds majority" should be amended to "a 

 simple majority". 



