Optional Protocol … [to] the UN Conf. on the Law of the Sea

Article I

Disputes arising out of the interpretation or application of any Convention
on the Law of the Sea shall lie within the compulsory jurisdiction of the
International Court of Justice , and may accordingly be brought before the
Court by an application made by any party to the dispute being a Party to
this Protocol.

Article II

This undertaking relates to all the provisions of any Convention on the Law
of the Sea except, in the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the
Living Resources of the High Seas , articles 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, to which
articles 9, 10, 11 and 12 of that Convention remain applicable.

Article III

The Parties may agree, within a period of two months after one party has
notified its opinion to the other that a dispute exists, to resort not to
the International Court of Justice but to an arbitral tribunal. After the
expiry of the said period, either Party to this Protocol may bring the
dispute before the Court by an application.

Article IV

1. Within the same period of two months, the Parties to this Protocol may
agree to adopt a conciliation procedure before resorting to the
International Court of Justice.

2. The conciliation commission shall make its recommendations within five
months after its appointment. If its recommendations are not accepted by
the parties to the dispute within two months after they have been
delivered, either party may bring the dispute before the Court by an
application.

Article V

This Protocol shall remain open for signature by all States who become
Parties to any Convention on the Law of the Sea adopted by the United
Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea and is subject to ratification,
where necessary, according to the constitutional requirements of the
signatory States.

Article VI

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States who
become Parties to any Convention on the Law of the Sea of signatures to
this Protocol and of the deposit of instruments of ratification in
accordance with article V.

Article VII

The original of this Protocol, of which the Chinese, English, French,
Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with
the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall send certified
copies thereof to all States referred to in article V.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized
thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Protocol.

DONE at Geneva, this twenty-ninth day of April one thousand nine hundred
and fifty-eight.

Author: international