• (a) at least twelve States, including four States each with not less than 2 million units of gross tonnage, have expressed their consent to be bound by it, and
• (b) the Secretary-General has received information in accordance with article 43, paragraphs 4 and 6 that those persons in such States who would be liable to contribute pursuant to article 18, paragraphs 1(a) and (c) of the Convention, as amended, have received during the preceding calendar year a total quantity of at least 40 million tonnes of cargo contributing to the general account.

2. For a State which expresses its consent to be bound by this Convention after the conditions for entry into force have been met, such consent shall take effect three months after the date of expression of such consent, or on the date on which this Convention enters into force in accordance with paragraph 1, whichever is the later.

REVISION AND AMENDMENT

Article XLVII

1. A conference for the purpose of revising or amending this Convention, as amended, may be convened by the Organization.

2. The Secretary-General shall convene a conference of the States Parties to this Protocol, for revising or amending the Convention, as amended, at the request of six States Parties or one-third of the States Parties, whichever is the higher figure.

3. Any instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession deposited after the date of entry into force of an amendment to the Convention, as amended, shall be deemed to apply to the Convention as amended.

AMENDMENT OF LIMITS

Article XLVIII

1. Without prejudice to the provisions of article 47, the special procedure in this article shall apply solely for the purposes of amending the limits set out in article 9, paragraph 1 and article 14, paragraph 5, of the Convention.

2. Upon the request of at least one half, but in no case less than six, of the States Parties, any proposal to amend the limits specified in article 9, paragraph 1, and article 14, paragraph 5, of the Convention, as amended, shall be circulated by the Secretary-General to all members of the Organization and to all Contracting States.

3. Any amendment proposed and circulated in accordance with paragraph 2 shall be submitted to the Legal Committee of the Organization (the Legal Committee) for consideration at a date at least six months after the date of its circulation.

4. All Contracting States, whether or not Members of the Organization, shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings of the Legal Committee for the consideration and adoption of amendments.

5. Amendments shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the Contracting States present and voting in the Legal Committee, expanded as provided in paragraph 4, on condition that at least one half of the Contracting States shall be present at the time of voting.

6. When acting on a proposal to amend the limits, the Legal Committee shall take into account the experience of incidents and, in particular, the amount of damage resulting therefrom, changes in the monetary values and the effect of the proposed amendment on the cost of insurance. It shall also take into account the relationship between the limits established in article 9, paragraph 1, and those in article 14, paragraph 5, of the Convention, as amended.

7. (a) No amendment of the limits under this article may be considered less than five years from the date this Convention was opened for signature nor less than five years from the date of entry into force of a previous amendment under this article.

(b) No limit may be increased so as to exceed an amount which corresponds to a limit laid down in this Convention increased by six per cent per year calculated on a compound basis from the date on which this Convention was opened for signature.

(c) No limit may be increased so as to exceed an amount which corresponds to a limit laid down in this Convention multiplied by three.

8. Any amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 5 shall be notified by the Organization to all Contracting States. The amendment shall be deemed to have been accepted at the end of a period of eighteen months after the date of notification, unless within that period no less than one-fourth of the States which were Contracting States at the time of the adoption of the amendment have communicated to the Secretary-General that they do not accept the amendment, in which case the amendment is rejected and shall have no effect.

9. An amendment deemed to have been accepted in accordance with paragraph 8 shall enter into force eighteen months after its acceptance.

10. All Contracting States shall be bound by the amendment, unless they denounce this Convention in accordance with article 49, paragraphs 1 and 2, at least six months before the amendment enters into force. Such denunciation shall take effect when the amendment enters into force.

11. When an amendment has been adopted but the eighteen-month period for its acceptance has not yet expired, a State which becomes a Contracting State during that period shall be bound by the amendment if it enters into force. A State which becomes a Contracting State after that period shall be bound by an amendment which has been accepted in accordance with paragraph 8. In the cases referred to in this paragraph, a State becomes bound by an amendment when that amendment enters into force, or when this Convention enters into force for that State, if later.

DENUNCIATION

Article XLIX

1. This Convention may be denounced by any State Party at any time after the expiry of one year following the date on which this Convention comes into force for that State Party.

2. Denunciation shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument to that effect with the Secretary-General.

3. A denunciation shall take effect twelve months, or such longer period as may be specified in the instrument of denunciation, following its receipt by the Secretary-General.

4. Notwithstanding a denunciation by a State Party pursuant to this article, any provisions of this Convention relating to obligations to make contributions under articles 18, 19 or article 21, paragraph 5, of the Convention, as amended, in respect of such payments of compensation as the Assembly may decide relating to an incident which occurs before the denunciation takes effect shall continue to apply.

CESSATION

Article LI

1. This Convention shall cease to be in force:

• (a) on the date when the number of States Parties falls below six; or
• (b) twelve months after the date on which data concerning a previous calendar year were to be communicated to the Director in accordance with article 21, of the Convention, as amended by this Protocol if the data shows that the total quantity of contributing cargo to the general account in accordance with article 18, paragraphs 1(a) and (c) of the Convention, as amended, received in the States Parties in that preceding calendar year was less than 30 million tonnes.

Notwithstanding subparagraph (b), if the total quantity of contributing cargo to the general account in accordance with article 18, paragraphs 1(a) and (c) of the Convention as amended, received in the States Parties in the preceding calendar year was less than 30 million tonnes but more than 25 million tonnes, the Assembly may, if it considers that this was due to exceptional circumstances and is not likely to be repeated, decide before the expiry of the above-mentioned twelve month period that the Convention shall continue to be in force. The Assembly may not, however, take such a decision in more than two subsequent years.

2. States which are bound by this Convention on the day before the date it ceases to be in force shall enable the HNS Fund to exercise its functions as described under article 52 and shall, for that purpose only, remain bound by this Convention.