Amendments

Amendment of the Stockholm Convention (Article 21)

The proposal, adoption and entry into force of amendments of the Stockholm Convention are dealt with in Article 21 of the Convention. Only a Party may propose amendments to the Convention. Any amendment proposal must be made available by the Secretariat to Parties six months prior to the meeting of the Conference of the Parties at which it is proposed for adoption. Any amendment is adopted by the Conference of the Parties by consensus or, as a last resort, by a three-fourths majority vote of the Parties present and voting at the meeting.

Entry into force of amendments of the Convention is dealt with under paragraph 5 of that Article, which provides that:

“Ratification, acceptance or approval of an amendment shall be notified to the Depositary in writing. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 3 shall enter into force for the Parties having accepted it on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit of instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval by at least three fourths of the Parties. Thereafter, the amendment shall enter into force for any other Party on the ninetieth day after the date on which that Party deposits its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval of the amendment.”

Adoption and amendment to the annexes to the Stockholm Convention (Article 22)

The proposal, adoption and entry into force of new annexes or of amendments to existing annexes to the Stockholm Convention are dealt with in Article 22 of the Convention which provides for different sets of rules regarding the adoption of new annexes; amendments to Annex A, B or C; and amendments to Annex D, E or F to the Convention.

Article 22 provides that additional annexes to the Convention are restricted to procedural, scientific, technical or administrative matters. Paragraph 3 refers back to the provisions in Article 21 with respect to the proposal and adoption of new annexes. The rules governing the entry into force of new annexes differ from those governing that of amendments to the Convention in that each Party has the right, within a one-year deadline from the notification by the Depositary of the adopted annex to declare that it is unable to accept it. Once it enters into force, the new annex will only bind those Parties that have not made such a notification.

Regarding amendments to Annex A, B or C to the Convention, Article 22 paragraph 4 refers back to the procedure for the proposal, adoption and entry into force of new annexes with one exception. For a Party that has made a declaration in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 25, namely pursuant to which any amendment to Annex A, B or C enters into force only on the deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with respect thereto, any such amendment enters into force for the Party on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit with the depositary of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with respect to such amendment.

For amendments to Annex D, E or F to the Convention, Article 22 paragraph 5 refers back to the procedure for the proposal of amendments to the Convention in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 21; decisions on an amendment to Annex D, E or F are adopted by consensus; and the amendment enters into force for all Parties on a date to be specified in the decision.