Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area

 

Article 21

Administrative Provisions for the Commission

1. The working language of the Commission shall be English.

2. The Commission shall adopt its Rules of Procedure.

3. The office of the Commission, known as “the Secretariat”, shall be in
Helsinki.

4. The Commission shall appoint an Executive Secretary and make provisions
for the appointment of such other personnel as may be necessary, and determine
the duties, terms and conditions of service of the Executive Secretary.

5. The Executive Secretary shall be the chief administrative official of
the Commission and shall perform the functions that are necessary for the
administration of this Convention, the work of the Commission and other tasks
entrusted to the Executive Secretary by the Commission and its Rules of
Procedure.

Article 22

Financial Provisions for the Commission

1. The Commission shall adopt its Financial Rules.

2. The Commission shall adopt an annual or biennial budget of proposed
expenditures and consider budget estimates for the fiscal period following
thereafter.

3. The total amount of the budget, including any supplementary budget
adopted by the Commission, shall be contributed by the Contracting Parties
other than the European Economic Community, in equal parts, unless unanimously
decided otherwise by the Commission.

4. The European Economic Community shall contribute no more than 2.5 per
cent of the administrative costs to the budget.

5. Each contracting Party shall pay the expenses related to the
participation in the Commission of its representatives, experts and advisers.

Article 23

Right-to vote

1. Except as provided for in paragraph 2 of this article, each Contracting
Party shall have one vote in the Commission.

2. The European Economic Community and any other regional economic
integration organization, 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 Contracting Parties to this Convention. Such organizations
shall not exercise their right to vote if their member States exercise theirs,
and vice versa.

Article 24

Scientific and technological cooperation

I. The Contracting Parties undertake directly, or when appropriate through
competent regional or other International Organizations , to cooperate in the
fields of science, technology and other research, and to exchange data and
other scientific information for the purposes of this Convention. In order to
facilitate research and monitoring activities in the Baltic Sea Area, the
Contracting Parties undertake to harmonize their policies with respect to
permission procedures for conducting such activities.

2. Without prejudice to article 4, paragraph 2, of this Convention the
Contracting Parties undertake directly, or when appropriate, through competent
regional or other International Organizations , to promote studies and to
undertake, support or contribute to programmes aimed at developing methods
assessing the nature and extent of pollution pathways, exposures, risks and
remedies in the Baltic Sea Area. In particular, the Contracting Parties
undertake to develop alternative methods of treatment, disposal and
elimination of such matter and substances that are likely to cause pollution
of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea Area.

3. Without prejudice to article 4, paragraph 2, of this Convention the
Contracting Parties undertake directly, of when appropriate through competent
regional or other international organizations and, on the basis of the
information and data acquired pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article,
to cooperate in developing inter-comparable observation methods, in performing
baseline studies and in establishing complementary or joint programmes for
monitoring.

4. The organization and scope of work connected with the implementation of
tasks referred to in the preceding paragraphs should primarily be outlined by
the Commission.

Article 25

Responsibility for damage

The Contracting Parties undertake jointly to develop and accept rules
concerning responsibility for damage resulting from acts or emissions in
contravention of this Convention, including, inter alia, limits of
responsibility, criteria and procedures for the determination of liability and
available remedies.

Article 26

Settlement of Disputes

1. In case of a dispute between Contracting Parties as to the
interpretation or application of this Convention, they should seek a solution
by negotiation. If the Parties concerned cannot reach agreement they should
seek the good offices of or jointly request mediation by a third Contracting
Party, a qualified international organization or a qualified person.

2. If the Parties concerned have not been able to resolve their dispute
through negotiation or have been unable to agree on measures an described
above, such disputes shall be, upon common agreement, submitted to an ad hoc
arbitration tribunal to a permanent arbitration tribunal, or to the
International Court of Justice .

Article 27

Safeguard of certain freedoms

Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as infringing upon the
freedom of navigation, fishing, Marine Scientific Research and other
legitimate uses of the High Seas , an well as upon the right of innocent
passage through the territorial sea.

Article 28

Status of Annexes

The Annexes attached to this Convention form an integral part of this
Convention.

Article 29

Relation to other conventions

The provisions of this Convention shall be without prejudice to the
rights and obligations of the Contracting Parties under existing and future
Treaties which further and develop the general principles of the law of the
sea underlying this Convention and, in particular, provisions concerning the
prevention of pollution of the marine environment.

Article 30

Conference for the revision or amendment
of the Convention

A conference for the purpose of a general revision of or an amendment to
this Convention may be convened with the consent of the Contracting Parties or
at the request of the Commission.

 

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, High Seas, International Court of Justice, International Organizations, Marine Scientific Research, Settlement of Disputes, Treaties.