The Ratification of Maritime Conventions
Chapter I.7.365
PROTOCOL ON THE PREVENTION OF POLLUTION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA BY TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL, 1996
ADOPTED: Done at Izmir on 1 October 1996
ENTERED INTO FORCE: Not yet in force
DEPOSITARY: Government of Spain
SECRETARY: UNEP
IMPLEMENTATION
ENTRY INTO FORCE
Article XVII
1. The provisions of the Convention relating to any Protocol shall apply with respect to this Protocol.
2. The rules of procedure and the financial rules adopted pursuant to Article 24 of the Convention shall apply with respect to this Protocol, unless the Parties to this Protocol agree otherwise.
3. This Protocol shall be open for signature at Izmir on 1 October 1996, and at Madrid from 2 October 1996 to 1 October 1997 by any State Party to the Convention. It shall also be open on the same dates for signature by the European Community and by any similar regional economic grouping of which at least one member is a coastal State of the Protocol area and which exercises competence in the fields covered by this Protocol.
4. This Protocol shall be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Government of Spain, which will assume the functions of Depositary.
5. As from 2 October 1997, this Protocol shall be open for accession by the States referred to in paragraph 3 above, by the European Community and by any grouping referred to in that paragraph.
6. This Protocol shall enter into force on the thirtieth (30) day following the deposit of at least six (6) instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval of, or accession to, the Protocol by the Parties referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article.
DECLARATIONS AND RESERVATIONS
European Community
The representative of the European Community declares hereby that it is the understanding of the European Community that the provisions of this Protocol do not affect in any way the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms as provided for in international law and, in particular, the law of the sea.
Accordingly, nothing in this Protocol requires consent of any State for the passage of hazardous wastes on a vessel under the flag of a Party exercising rights of passage through the territorial sea in accordance with international law.
It is also the understanding of the European Community that nothing in this Protocol requires notice to or consent of any State for the passage of a vessel under the flag of a Party exercising freedom of navigation in an exclusive economic zone in accordance with international law.
The representative of the European Community states that the Protocol on the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal should not cover banned hazardous substances. He therefore enters a reservation regarding the inclusion of these substances in the Protocol.
The representative of the European Community states that the Protocol on the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal should not apply to wastes containing or contaminated by radionuclides. He therefore enters a reservation regarding the inclusion of these radioactive wastes in the Protocol.
The representative of the European Community states that the European Community is not in a position to approve and sign the Protocol on the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, as its internal procedures have not yet been completed. The European Community hopes to be able to approve and sign the Protocol in the near future.
France
France enters a reservation on the question of transboundary movements of radioactive wastes, which should be dealt with by the competent international organizations at the global level, namely, IMO and IAEA, which have developed and are developing relevant rules in this area.
France enters a reservation on the provisions in the Protocol affecting freedom of navigation in the exclusive economic zone, as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, and freedom of navigation in fishing zones beyond the territorial sea.
France considers that the provisions of the Protocol do not affect the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982.
France considers that the scope of this Protocol should correspond to hazardous wastes as referred to in the Barcelona Convention and in accordance with the widely accepted definition in the Basel Convention.
Israel
Israel makes a reservation on Article 1(u) and (v) and Article 5.4, and states that, for the purposes of this Protocol, Israel is a developed country and shall have the same rights and obligations as Member States of the OECD and the EU.
With regard to Article 3 and Annex I, the representative of Israel supports the reservations made by the representatives of the European Community and of France regarding the inclusion of the “Y0” category in Annex I. Its support is based on the arguments put forward by those representatives and by the representative of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Slovenia
With regard to Article 5.4, Slovenia reserves its right to import hazardous wastes not intended for final disposal but to cover its own needs for secondary raw materials, in accordance with the provisions of the Basel Convention.