(1) States not referred to in Article V may accede to this Protocol.

(2) Accession to this Protocol shall have the effect of accession to the Convention.

(3) The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Belgian Government.

ENTRY INTO FORCE

Article VIII

(1) This Protocol shall come into force three months after the date of the deposit of five instruments of ratification or accession.

(2) For each State which ratifies this Protocol or accedes thereto after the fifth deposit, this Protocol shall come into force three months after the deposit of its instrument of ratification or accession.

DENUNCIATION

Article IX

(1) Any Contracting Party may denounce this Protocol by notification to the Belgian Government.

(2) The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which the notification has been received by the Belgian Government.

RESERVATIONS

Article IV

(1) Each Contracting Party may at the time of signature or ratification of this Protocol or of accession thereto, declare that it does not consider itself bound by Article III.

(2) Any Contracting Party having made a reservation in accordance with paragraph (1) may at any time withdraw this reservation by notification to the Belgian Government.

TERRITORIAL APPLICATION

Article X

(1) Each State may at the time of signature, ratification or accession or at any time thereafter declare by written notification to the Belgian Government which among the territories for whose international relations it is responsible, are those to which the present Protocol applies. The Protocol shall three months after the date of the receipt of such notification by the Belgian Government extend to the territories named therein, but not before the date of the coming into force of the Protocol in respect of such State.

(2) This extension also shall apply to the Convention if the latter is not yet applicable to these territories.

(3) Any Contracting Party which has made a declaration under paragraph (1) of this Article may at any time thereafter declare by notification given to the Belgian Government that the Protocol shall cease to extend to such territories. This denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which notification thereof has been received by the Belgian Government.

“ . . . in the application of article X of the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to Bills of Lading, adopted at Brussels on 24th of August 1924, as amended by the Protocols of 23 February 1968 and 21 December 1979, any state party to either the Convention of 1924, the Protocol of 1968 or the Protocol of 1979 will be considered as a Contracting State by Italy.”

Poland

The Government of Poland does not consider itself bound by article III.

[Poland withdrew its reservation in respect of art. III on 30/04/1997].

Switzerland

The instrument of ratification of the Government of Switzerland contained the following declaration:

“With reference to article IV, paragraph 5 (d) of the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading, 25 August 1924, as amended by the Protocol of 23 February 1968, as replaced by article II of the Protocol of 21 December 1979, the Swiss Federal Council declares that Switzerland calculates the value of its national currency in terms of the Special Drawing Right (SDR) in the following manner: each day the Swiss National Bank (BNS) communicates to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the average rate for the United States dollar on the Zurich currency market. The exchange value of an SDR in Swiss francs is obtained using the exchange rate for the dollar and the exchange rate of the SDR against the dollar, as calculated by the IMF. On the basis of those values, BNS calculates an average rate for the SDR, which it publishes in its monthly bulletin.”