Danube Commission
Summary of Danube Commission
A multinational organization responsible for maintaining free navigation of the Danube from Ulm, Germany, to the Black Sea. Formed by the Belgrade Convention of 1948, it replaced an earlier body established in 1856. The commission is composed of one representative from each country bordering the Danube: Austria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and the USSR. Since 1957, the German Federal Republic has attended commission meetings as an observer.
The commission regulates the buoying system on the river, coordinates customs and sanitation controls, and oversees navigability. Official languages of the commission are French and Russian. The group is based in Budapest, Hungary.
(Main Author: William J. Miller)
Danube Commission Outline
The present Danube Commission (the first commission of the same nature was established in 1856 by the Peace Treaty of Paris) was based on a convention signed in 1948 by a number of European countries which are riparian states. Its membership is open only to riparian countries. The main task of the commission is to ensure freedom of navigation in the part of Danube River from Ulm to the Black Sea through the Sulina Channel, and to administer the part of the river covered by the 1948 Convention. The offices of the commission are located in several riparian states.(1)
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