Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context

 

Article 12

RIGHT TO VOTE

1. Each Party to this Convention shall have one vote.

2. Except ag provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article, regional economic
integration organizations, in matters within their competence, shall
exercise their right to vote with a number of votes equal to the number of
their member States which are Parties to this Convention. Such
organizations shall not exercise their right to vote if their member States
exercise theirs, and vice versa.

Article 13

SECRETARIAT

The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe shall carry
out the following secretariat functions:

(a) The convening and preparing of meetings of the Parties;

(b) The transmission of reports and other information received in
accordance with the provisions of this Convention to the Parties; and

(c) The performance of other functions as may be provided for in this
Convention or as may be determined by the Parties.

Article 14

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONVENTION

1. Any Party may propose amendments to this Convention.

2. Proposed amendments shall be submitted in writing to the secretariat,
which shall communicate them to all Parties. The proposed amendments shall
be discussed at the next meeting of the Parties, provided these proposals
have been circulated by the secretariat to the Parties at least ninety days
in advance.

3. The Parties shall make every effort to reach agreement on any proposed
amendment to this Convention by consensus. If all efforts at consensus have
been exhausted, and no agreement reached, the amendment shall as a last
resort be adopted by a three-fourths majority vote of the Parties present
and voting at the meeting.

4. Amendments to this Convention adopted in accordance with paragraph 3 of
this Article shall be submitted by the Depositary to all Parties for
ratification, approval or acceptance. They shall enter into force for
Parties having ratified, approved or accepted them on the ninetieth day
after the receipt by the Depositary of notification of their ratification,
approval or acceptance by at least three fourths of these Parties.
Thereafter they shall enter into force for any other Party on the ninetieth
day after that Party deposits its instrument of ratification, approval or
acceptance of the amendments.

5. For the purpose of this Article, “Parties present and voting”means
Parties present and casting an affirmative or negative vote.

6. The voting procedure set forth in paragraph 3 of this Article is not
intended to constitute a precedent for future agreements negotiated within
the Economic Commission for Europe.

Article 15

Settlement of Disputes

1. If a dispute arises between two or more Parties about the interpretation
or application of this Convention, they shall seek a solution by
negotiation or by any other method of dispute settlement acceptable to the
parties to the dispute.

2. When signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to this
Convention, or at any time thereafter, a Party may declare in writing to
the Depositary that for a dispute not resolved in accordance with paragraph
1 of this Article, it accepts one or both of the following means of dispute
settlement as compulsory in relation to any Party accepting the same
obligations:

(a) Submission of the dispute to the International Court of Justice ;

(b) Arbitration in accordance with the procedure set out in Appendix
VII.

3. If the parties to the dispute have accepted both means of dispute
settlement referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, the dispute may be
submitted only to the International Court of Justice , unless the parties
agree otherwise.

Article 16

SIGNATURE

This Convention shall be open for signature at Espoo (Finland) from 25
February to 1 March 1991 and thereafter at United Nations Headquarters in
New York until 2 September 1991 by states members of the Economic
Commission for Europe as well as States having consultative status with the
Economic Commission for Europe pursuant to paragraph 8 of the Economic and
Social Council resolution 36 (IV) of 28 March 1947, and by regional
economic integration organizations constituted by sovereign States members
of the Economic Commission for Europe to which their member States have
transferred competence in respect of matters governed by this Convention,
including the competence to enter into Treaties in respect of these
matters.

Article 17

RATIFICATION, ACCEPTANCE, APPROVAL AND ACCESSION

1. This Convention shall be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval
by signatory States and regional economic integration organizations.

2. This Convention shall be open for accession as from 3 September 1991 by
the States and organizations referred to in Article 16.

3. The instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall
be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall
perform the functions of Depositary.

4. Any organization referred to in Article 16 which becomes a Party to this
Convention without any of its member States being a Party shall be bound by
all the obligations under this Convention. In the case of such
organizations, one or more of whose member States is a Party to this
Convention, the organization and its member States shall decide on their
respective responsibilities for the performance of their obligations under
this Convention. In such cages, the organization and the member States
shall not be entitled to exercise rights under this Convention
concurrently.

5. In their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession,
the regional economic integration organizations referred to in Article 16
shall declare the extent of their competence with respect to the matters
governed by this Convention. These organizations shall also inform the
Depositary of any relevant modification to the extent of their competence.

Article 18

ENTRY INTO FORCE

1. This Convention shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after the
date of deposit of the sixteenth instrument of ratification, acceptance,
approval or accession.

2. For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article, any instrument
deposited by a regional economic integration organization shall not be
counted as additional to those deposited by States members of such an
organization.

3. For each State or organization referred to in Article 16 which ratifies,
accepts or approves this Convention or accedes thereto after the deposit of
the sixteenth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or
accession, this Convention shall enter into force on the ninetieth day
after the date of deposit by such State or organization of its instrument
of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

Article 19

WITHDRAWAL

At any time after four years from the date on which this Convention has
come into force with respect to a Party, that Party may withdraw from this
Convention by giving written notification to the Depositary. Any such
withdrawal shall take effect on the ninetieth day after the date of its
receipt by the Depositary. Any such withdrawal shall not affect the
application of Articles 3 to 6 of this Convention to a proposed activity in
respect of which a notification has been made pursuant to Article 3,
paragraph 1, or a request has been made pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 7,
before such withdrawal took effect.

Article 20

AUTHENTIC TEXTS

The original of this Convention, of which the English, French and Russian
texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General
of the United Nations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto, have
signed this Convention.

DONE at Espoo (Finland), this twenty-fifth day of February one thousand
nine hundred and ninety-one.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

International Court of Justice, Settlement of Disputes, Treaties.