Artical 47
1. After this Convention has been in force for one year, any Contracting Party may
propose one or more amendments to the Convention. The text of any proposed amendment,
accompanied by an explanatory memorandum, shall be transmitted to the Secretary-General,
who shall communicate it to all Contracting Parties. The Contracting Parties shall
have the opportunity of informing him within a period of twelve months following
the date of its circulation whether they (a) accept the amendment; or (b) reject
the amendment; or (c) wish that a conference be convened to consider the amendment.
The Secretary-General shall also transmit the text of the proposed amendment to
all other States referred to in Article 45, paragraph
1 of this Convention.
2. (a) Any proposed amendment communicated in accordance with the preceding paragraph
shall be deemed to be accepted if within the period of twelve months referred to
in the preceding paragraph less than one third of the Contracting Parties inform
the Secretary-General that they either reject the amendment or wish that a conference
be convened to consider it. The Secretary- General shall notify all Contracting
Parties of each acceptance or rejection of any proposed amendment and of requests
that a conference be convened. If the total number of such rejections and requests
received during the specified period of twelve months is less than one third of
the total number of Contracting Parties, the Secretary-General shall notify all
Contracting Parties that the amendment will enter into force six months after the
expiry of the period of twelve months referred to in the preceding paragraph for
all Contracting Parties except those which, during the period specified, have rejected
the amendment or requested the convening of a conference to consider it.
(b) Any Contracting Party which, during the said period of twelve
months, has rejected a proposed amendment or requested the convening of a conference
to consider it may at any time after the end of such period notify the Secretary-General
that it accepts the amendment, and the Secretary-General shall communicate such
notification to all the other Contracting Parties. The amendment shall enter into
force, with respect to the Contracting Parties which have notified their acceptance,
six months after receipt by the Secretary-General of their notification.
3. If a proposed amendment has not been accepted in accordance with paragraph 2
of this Article and if within the period of twelve months specified in paragraph
1 of this Article less than half of the total number of the Contracting Parties
inform the Secretary-General that they reject the proposed amendment and if at least
one third of the total number of Contracting Parties, but not less than ten, inform
him that they accept it or wish a conference to be convened to consider it, the
Secretary-General shall convene a conference for the purpose of considering the
proposed amendment or any other proposal which may be submitted to him in accordance
with paragraph 4 of this Article.
4. If a conference is convened in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article, the
Secretary- General shall invite to it all States referred to in
Article 45, paragraph 1 of this Convention. He shall request all States
invited to the conference to submit to him, at least six months before its opening
date, any proposals which they may wish the conference to consider in addition to
the proposed amendment and shall communicate such proposals, at least three months
before the opening date of the conference, to all States invited to the conference.
5. (a) Any amendment to this Convention shall be deemed to be accepted if it has
been adopted by a two thirds majority of the States represented at the conference,
provided that such majority comprises at least two thirds of Contracting Parties
represented at the conference. The Secretary-General shall notify all Contracting
Parties of the adoption of the amendment, and the amendment shall enter into force
twelve months after the date of his notification for all Contracting Parties except
those which during that period have notified the Secretary-General that they reject
the amendment.
(b) A Contracting Party which has rejected an amendment during
the said period of twelve months may at any time notify the Secretary-General that
it accepts the amendment, and the Secretary-General shall communicate such notification
to all the other Contracting Parties. The amendment shall enter into force, with
respect to the Contracting Party which has notified its acceptance, six months after
receipt by the Secretary-General of the notification or at the end of the said period
of twelve months, whichever is later.
6. If the proposed amendment is not deemed to be accepted pursuant to paragraph
2 of this Article and if the conditions prescribed by paragraph 3 of this Article
for convening a conference are not fulfilled, the proposed amendment shall be deemed
to be rejected.
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