INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE UNIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES CON-CERNING THE IMMUNITY OF STATE-OWNED SHIPS, 1926
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE UNIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES CON-CERNING THE IMMUNITY OF STATE-OWNED SHIPS, 1926
Whole document
The President of the German Reich, His Majesty the King of the
Belgians, the President of the Republic of Brazil, the President of the
Republic of Chile, His Majesty the King of Denmark and Iceland, His
Majesty the King of Spain, the Head of the Estonian State, the President
of the French Republic, His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain. Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor
of India, His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, His
Majesty the King of Italy, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, the President
of the Republic of Latvia, the President of the Republic of Mexico, His
Majesty the King of Norway, her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, the
President of the Republic of Poland, the President of the Portuguese
Republic. His Majesty the King of Romania. His Majesty the King of the
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and His Majesty the King of Sweden.
Recognising the desirability of establishing by common agreement
certain uniform rules concerning the immunity of State-owned ships, have
decided to conclude a convention to this effect, and have appointed
plenipotentiaries who, having been duly authorised for this purpose, have
agreed as follows:
Article 1
Sea-going ships owned or operated by States, cargoes owned by them,
and cargoes and passengers carried on State-owned ships, as well as the
States which own or operate such ships and own such cargoes shall be
subject, as regards claims in respect of the operation of such ships or in
respect of the carriage of such cargoes, to the same rules of liability
and the same obligations as those applicable in the case of
privately-owned ships, cargoes and equipment.
Article 2
As regards such liabilities and obligations, the rules relating to the
jurisdiction of the Courts, rights of actions and procedure shall be the
same as for merchant ships belonging to private owners and for private
cargoes and their owners.
Article 3
(1) The provisions of the two proceeding Articles shall not apply to
ships of war, State-owned yachts, patrol vessels, hospital ships, fleet
auxiliaries, supply ships and other vessels owned or operated by a State
and employed exclusively at the time when the cause of action arises on
Government and non-commercial service, and such ships shall not be subject
to seizure, arrest or detention by any legal process, nor to any
proceedings in rem.
Nevertheless, claimants shall have the right to proceed before the
appropriate Courts of the State which owns or operates the ship in the
following cases:
(i) Claims in respect of collision or other accidents of
navigation;
(ii) Claims in respect of salvage or in the nature of salvage and
in respect of general average;
(iii) Claims in respect of repairs, supplies or other contracts
relating to the ship; and the State shall not be entitled to rely upon
any immunity as a defence.
(2) The same rules shall apply to State-owned cargoes carried on board
any of the above-mentioned ships;
(3) State-owned cargoes carried on board merchant ships for Government
and non-commercial purposes shall not be subject to seizure, arrest or
detention by any legal process nor any proceedings in rem.
Nevertheless, claims in respect of collisions and nautical accidents,
claims in respect of salvage or in the nature of salvage and in respect of
general average, as well as claims in respect of contracts relating to
such cargoes, may be brought before the Court which has jurisdiction in
virtue of Article 2.
Article 4
States shall be entitled to rely on all defence, prescriptions and
limitations of liability available to privately-owned ships and their
owners.
Any necessary adaptation or modification of provisions relating to
such defences, prescriptions and limitations of liability for the purpose
of making them applicable to ships of war or to the State-owned ships
specified in Article 3 shall form the subject of a special Convention to
be concluded hereafter. In the meantime, the measures necessary for this
purpose may be effected by national legislation in conformity with the
spirit and principles of this Convention.
Article 5
If in any proceedings to which Article 3 applies there is, in the
opinion of the Court, a doubt on the question of the Government and
non-commercial character of the ship or the cargo, a certificate signed
by the diplomatic representative of the contracting State to which the
ship or the cargo belongs, communicated to the Court through the
Government of the State before whose Courts and Tribunal the case is
pending, shall be conclusive evidence that the ship or the cargo falls
within the terms of Article 3, but only for the purpose of obtaining the
discharge of any seizure, arrest or detention effected by judicial
process.
Article 6
The provisions of the present Convention shall be applied in each
Contracting State, but without any obligation to extend the benefit
thereof to non-contracting States and their nationals, and with the right
in making any such extension to impose a condition of reciprocity.
Nothing in the present Convention shall be held to prevent a
Contracting State from prescribing by its own laws the rights of its
nationals before its own Courts.
Article 7
In time of war each Contracting State reserves to itself the right of
suspending the application of the present Convention by a declaration
notified to the other Contracting States, to the effect that neither ships
owned or operated by that State, nor cargoes owned by it shall be subject
to any arrest, seizure or detention by a foreign Court of Law.
But the claimant shall have the right to take proceedings before the
appropriate Court in accordance with Article 2 and 3.
Article 8
Nothing in the present Convention shall prejudice the right of the
Contracting States to take any measures necessitated by the rights and
duties of neutrality.
Article 9
After the expiration of a period of not more than two years from the
date on which the Convention is signed, the Belgian Government shall
communicate with the Governments of the High Contracting parties which
have declared themselves ready to ratify it with a view to deciding
whether it shall be put into force. Ratifications shall be deposited at
Brussels at a date which shall be fixed by agreement between the said
Governments. The first deposit of ratifications shall be recorded in a
proces-verbal signed by the representatives of the States which are
parties to it and by the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Each subsequent deposit of ratifications shall be made by means of a
written notification addressed to the Belgian Government and accompanied
by the instrument of ratification.
A duly certified copy of the proces-verbal relating to the first
deposit of ratifications and the notifications mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, as well as the instruments of ratification which accompanied
them, shall be sent forthwith by the Belgian Government through the
diplomatic channel to the States which have signed the present Convention,
or which have acceded to it. In the cases contemplated in the preceding
paragraph the Belgian Government shall state at the same time the date on
which it received the notification.
Article 10
Non-signatory States may accede to the present Convention whether or
not they were represented at the International Conference at Brussels.
A State which desires to accede shall notify its intention in writing
to the Belgian Government, and shall at the same time transmit to that
Government the document of accession which shall be deposited in the
archives of the Belgian Government.
The Belgian Government shall transmit immediately to all the States
which have signed or acceded to the Convention a duly certified copy of
the notification and of the instrument of accession, stating the date on
which it received the notification.
Article 11
The High Contracting Parties may at the time of signature, deposit of
ratification or accession, declare that their acceptance of the present
Convention does not apply to any one or more of the self-governing
Dominions, colonies, possessions, protectorates or overseas territories
under their sovereignty or authority. They may subsequently accede
separately in the name of any of such self-governing Dominions, colonies,
possessions, protectorates or overseas territories excluded in their
original declaration. They may also in accordance with its provisions
denounce the present Convention separately in respect of each or any of
such self-governing Dominions, colonies, possessions, protectorates or
overseas territories under their sovereignty or authority.
Article 12
In the case of States which have taken part in the first deposit of
ratifications the present Convention shall take effect one year after the
date of the proces-verbal of that deposit. As regards the States which
ratify the Convention subsequently, or which accede to it, as also in
cases in which the Convention is subsequently put into force in accordance
with Article 11, it shall take effect six months after the notifications
mentioned in Article 9, paragraph 2, and in Article 10, paragraph 2, have
been received by the Belgian Government.
Article 13
In the event of one of the Contracting States wishing to denounce the
present Convention, the denunciation shall be notified in writing to the
Belgian Government, which shall immediately communicate a duly certified
copy thereof to all the other States, at the same time informing them of
the date on which it was received. The denunciation shall operate only in
respect of the State which has made the notification and be effective one
year after the notification has reached the Belgian Government.
Article 14
Each Contracting State shall have the right to call for a new
Conference for the purpose of considering possible amendments to the
present Convention.
Any State which proposes to exercise this right shall notify its
intention one year in advance to the other State through the Belgian
Government, which will assume the duty of summoning the Conference.
Done at Brussels, in a single copy, April 10, 1926.
ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL
The Government signatory to the International Convention for the
Unification of certain Rules concerning the Immunity of State-owned Ships,
recognising the necessity of making clearer certain provisions of the
Convention, have appointed plenipotentiaries, who, having communicated
their respective full powers found in good and due form, have agreed as
follows:
I. Whereas it has been doubted whether, and to what extent, the
expression "Exploites par lui" in Article 3 of the Convention extends or
could be construed as extending to ships chartered by a State, whether for
time or voyage, it is hereby declared for the purpose of removing such
doubts, as follows:
"Ships on charter to a State, whether for time or voyage, while
exclusively engaged on governmental and non-commercial service, and
cargoes carried therein, shall not be subject to any arrest, seizure or
detention whatsoever, but this immunity shall not prejudice in any other
respect any rights or remedies accruing to the parties concerned. A
certificate given by a diplomatic representative of the State concerned in
manner provided by Article 5 of the Convention shall be conclusive
evidence of the nature of the service on which the ship is engaged."
II. For the purpose of the exception provided by Article 3, ¡ì 1, it
is understood that the ownership or operation of a ship acquired or
operated by a State at the time when steps by way of seizure, arrest or
detention are taken has the same legal consequences as ownership or
operation at the time when the cause of action arises.
That article may accordingly be invoked by States in favour of ships
belonging to or operated by them at the time when steps are taken by way
of seizure, arrest or detention, if the ships are engaged exclusively in
Government and non-commercial service.
III. It is understood that nothing in the provisions of Article 5 of
the Convention prevents Governments interested from themselves appearing
before the Court in which the legal proceedings are pending in accordance
with the procedure prescribed by the national law, and producing to it the
certificate provided for in the said article.
IV. As the Convention in no respect affects the rights and obligations
of belligerents and neutrals, Article 7 does not in any way prejudice the
jurisdiction of duly constituted Prize Courts.
V. It is agreed that nothing contained in the provisions of Article 2
of the Convention shall limit or affect in any way the application of
rules of procedure prescribed by national law with regard to proceedings
to which the State is a party.
VI. Where any question of the furnishing of evidence or production of
documents arises and the Government concerned is of opinion that the
furnishing of such evidence or the production of such documents would be
detrimental to its national interests, the said Government may decline to
furnish such evidence or to produce such documents by pleading the
necessity of safeguarding national interests.
In witness whereof the undersigned duly authorised by their
Governments have signed the present additional Protocol which shall be
considered as forming an integral part of the Convention of April 10,
1926, to which it relates.
Done at Brussels, May 24, 1934, in a single copy, which shall remain
in the archives of the Belgian Government.
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