Protocol on Space Requirements for Special Trade Passenger Ships, 1973

(London, 13 July 1973)

PROTOCOL ON SPACE REQUIREMENTS FOR SPECIAL TRADE PASSENGER SHIPS, 1973

THE GOVERNMENTS PARTIES TO THE PRESENT PROTOCOL

BEING Contracting Governments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1960, and to the Special Trade Passenger Ships Agreement, 1971;

CONSIDERING that the requirements of Chapters II and III of the said Convention could be modified in the case of passenger ships registered in their countries and engaged in the carriage of large numbers of unberthed passengers in special trades, such, for example, as the pilgrim trade;

RECOGNIZING the need to formulate general rules in relation to the space requirements of passengers on special trade passenger ships which should be complementary to the Special Trade Passenger Ships Agreements, 1971,

HAVE AGREED as follows:

Article I

General obligations under the Protocol

The Governments parties to the present Protocol undertake to give effect to the provisions of the present Protocol and of the Rules annexed hereto which shall constitute an integral part of the present Protocol. Every reference to the present Protocol constitutes at the same time a reference to the Annex.

Article II

Application

The ships to which the present Protocol applies are passenger ships engaged in the special trades and registered in countries the Governments of which are Contracting Governments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as "the 1960 Convention") and parties to the Special Trade Passenger Ships Agreement, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as the "1971 Agreement") and to the present Protocol and ships registered in territories to which application of the 1960 Convention, the 1971 Agreement and the present Protocol has been extended under the relevant Articles thereof.

Article III

Communication of information

The Governments parties to the present Protocol undertake to communicate and deposit with the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (hereinafter referred to as "the Organization"):

(a) the text of laws, decrees, orders, regulations and other instruments which shall have been promulgated on the various matters within the scope of the present Protocol;

(b) a sufficient number of specimens of their certificate issued under the provisions of the present Protocol for circulation to the Government parties to the present Protocol and also to Contracting Governments to the 1960 Convention; and

(c) a list of non-governmental agencies which are authorized to act in their behalf in the administration of measures under the present Protocol for circulation to Governments parties to the present Protocol and also to Contracting Governments to the 1960 Convention.

Article IV

Signature, acceptance and accession

(a) The present Protocol shall remain open for signature for three months from this day's date and shall thereafter remain open for accession. Governments parties to the 1971 Agreement may become parties to the present Protocol by:

(i) signature without reservation as to acceptance;

(ii) signature subject to acceptance followed by acceptance; or

(iii) accession.

(b) Acceptance or accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of acceptance or accession with the Organization which shall inform all other Governments that have signed the present Protocol or acceded to it and Contracting Governments to the 1960 Convention of each acceptance or accession deposited and the date of its deposit.

Article V

Entry into force

(a) The present Protocol shall enter into force six months after the date on which three Governments parties to the 1971 Agreement have signed the present Protocol without reservation as to acceptance or deposited instruments of accession with the Organization in accordance with Article IV hereof; provided that at least two of such Governments shall be Governments of States in whose territory are registered ships engaged in the special trades or whose nationals are carried in ships engaged in these trades.

(b) The Organization shall inform the Governments which have signed without reservation or accepted or acceded to the present Protocol and also Contracting Governments to the 1960 Convention on the date on which it enters into force.

(c) For Governments which have deposited an instrument of acceptance or accession during the six months mentioned in paragraph (a) of this Article or after the date on which the present Protocol enters into force the acceptance or accession shall take effect on the entry into force of the present Protocol or three months after the date of deposit whichever is the later date.

Article VI

Amendments

(a) Amendment by unanimous agreement:

(i) The present Protocol may be amended by unanimous agreement between the Governments parties to it.

(ii) Upon the request of any Government party to the present Protocol, a proposed amendment shall be communicated by the Organization to all the Governments parties to the present Protocol for their consideration and acceptance.

(iii) Any such amendment shall enter into force six months after the date of its acceptance by all Governments parties to the present Protocol. A Government party to the present Protocol which does not communicate its acceptance or rejection of the amendment to the Organization within twelve months from the date of its communication by the latter under sub-paragraph (ii) of this paragraph shall be deemed to have accepted the amendment.

(b) Amendment by conference:

(i) Upon the request of a Government party to the present Protocol, concurred in by at least one-third of the Governments parties to the present Protocol, a conference of such Governments shall be convened by the Organization to consider amendments to the present Protocol.

(ii) Every amendment adopted by such a conference by a two-thirds majority of the Governments parties to the present Protocol present and voting shall be communicated by the Organization to all Governments parties to the present Protocol for their acceptance.

(iii) Any amendment communicated to Governments parties to the present Protocol under sub-paragraph (ii) of this paragraph shall come into force for all Governments parties to the present Protocol, except those which before it comes into force make a declaration that they do not accept the amendment, twelve months after the date on which the amendment is accepted by two-thirds of the Governments parties to the present Protocol.

Article VII

Denunciation

(a) The present Protocol may be denounced by any Government part to it at any time after the expiry of five years from the date on which the Protocol enters into force for that Government.

(b) Denunciation shall be effected by deposit of an instrument with the Organization which shall inform all other Governments parties to the present Protocol of any denunciation received and of the date of its receipt.

(c) A denunciation shall take effect one year, or such longer period as may be specified in the instrument, after its receipt by the Organization.

Article VIII

Territories

(a) (i) The United Nations in cases where they are the administering authority for a territory, or any Contracting Government to the 1960 Convention responsible for the international relations of a territory, shall as soon as possible consult with such territory in an endeavour to extend the present Protocol to that territory and may at any time, by notification in writing given to the Organization, declare that the present Protocol shall extend to such territory.

(ii) The present Protocol shall, from the date of receipt of the notification or from such other date as may be specified in the notification, extend to the territory named in the notification.

(b) (i) The United Nations, or any Contracting Government to the 1960 Convention which has made a declaration under paragraph (a) of this Article at any time after the expiry of a period of five years from the date on which the present Protocol has been extended to any territory, may, by notification in writing given to the Organization, declare that the present Protocol shall cease to extend to any such territory named in the notification.

(ii) The present Protocol shall cease to extend to any territory named in such notification one year, or such longer period as may be specified in the notification, after the date of receipt of the notification by the Organization.

(c) The organization shall inform all Governments parties to the present Protocol and Contracting Governments to the 1960 Convention of the extension of the present Protocol to any territories under paragraph (a) of this Article and of the termination of such extension under the provisions of paragraph (b), stating in each case the date from which the present Protocol has been or will cease to be so extended.

Article IX

Deposit and registration

(a) The present Protocol shall be deposited in the archives of the Organization and the Secretary-General of the Organization shall transmit certified true copies thereof to all Signatory Governments and to all other Governments which accede to the present Protocol.

(b) As soon as the present Protocol enters into force it shall be registered by the Organization in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

Article X

Languages

The present Protocol is established in a single copy in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authentic. Official translations in the Russian and Spanish languages shall be prepared and deposited with the signed original.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned being duly authorized by their respective Governments for that purpose have signed the present Protocol.

DONE AT LONDON this Thirteenth day of July 1973.

[Signatures not reproduced here.]

REGULATIONS

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