Belarus
Bulgaria
Upon ratification:
Reservations: Article 20 : The Government of the People's Republic of Bulgaria considers that government ships in the territorial sea of another State have immunity and that the measures set forth in this article may therefore apply to such ships only with the consent of the flag State. Article 23 (Sub-section D. Rules applicable to warships) : The Government of the People's Republic of Bulgaria considers that the coastal State has the right to establish procedures for the authorization of the passage of foreign warships through its territorial sea.
Colombia
Czech Republic5
Hungary
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Upon signature:
Reservation: Article 14 : The Iranian Government maintains the objection on the ground of excess of competence, expressed by its delegation at the twelfth plenary meeting of the Conference on the Law of the Sea on 24 April 1958, to the articles recommended by the Fifth Committee of the Conference and incorporated in part in article 14 of this Convention. The Iranian Government accordingly reserves all rights regarding the contents of this article in so far as it relates to countries having no sea coast.
Italy
Lithuania
Declaration: ". . .The Republic of Lithuania declares the establishing of the procedure for the authorization of the passage of foreign warships through its territorial waters for the warships of those States which have established the procedure for the authorization of the passage of foreign warships through its territorial waters."
Mexico
Romania
Russian Federation
Slovakia5
Solomon Islands
Spain
Tunisia
Reservation: The Government of the Tunisian Republic does not consider itself bound by the provisions of article 16, paragraph 4 of this Convention.
Ukraine
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
Reservation made upon ratification: With express reservation in respect of article 12 and paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 24 of the said Convention.
Australia
Objections to the following reservations: "(a) The declaration made with reference to article 12 by Venezuela on signature and the reservation made to that article by Venezuela on ratification. "(b) The reservation made to article 14 by Iran on signature. "(c) The reservations made to articles 14 and 23 by Czechoslovakia and Hungary on signature and confirmed on ratification. "(d) The reservation made to paragraph 4 of article 16 by Tunisia on signature. "(e) The reservation made with regard to the application of articles 19 and 20 to government ships operated for commercial purposes by Czechoslovakia on signature and confirmed on ratification. "(f) The reservations made to article 20 by Bulgaria on signature and on ratification. "(g) The reservations made to article 20 by the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Romania, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on signature and confirmed on ratification. "(h) The reservation made to article 21 by Hungary on signature and confirmed on ratification. "(i) The reservations made to article 23 by Bulgaria on signature and on ratification. "(j) the reservations made to article 23 by the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Romania, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on signature and confirmed on ratification. "(k) The reservation made to paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 24 by Venezuela on ratification. If the statements referred to above with regard to article 23 are juridically in the nature of declarations rather than of reservations strictly so-called, the objections recorded by [the Government of Australia] will serve to record disagreement with the opinions so declared."
31 January 1968
29 September 1976
Denmark
31 October 1974
Fiji
Israel
Japan
Madagascar
Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
17 March 1967
Portugal
27 December 1966
Thailand
Objections to the following reservations: "1. the reservations to article 20 made by the Governments of Bulgaria, the Byelorussian SSR, Romania, the Ukrainian SSR and the USSR; "2. the reservations to article 21 made by the Governments of Czechoslovakia, Mexico and Hungary; "3. the reservations to article 23 made by the Governments of Bulgaria, the Byelorussian SSR, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, the Ukrainian SSR and the USSR."
Tonga
6 November 1959
5 April 1962
2 November 1966
13 May 1975
United States of America<superscript>9</superscript>
19 September 1962
17 June 1965
28 September 1966
11 July 1974
Official Records of the General Assembly, Eleventh Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/3572), p. 54.
The German Democratic Republic had acceded to the Convention on 27 December 1973 with a reservation and a declaration. For the text of the reservation and the declaration, see United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 905, p. 84. See also note 2 under “Germany” in the “Historical Information” section in the front matter of this volume.
Signed on behalf of the Republic of China on 29 April 1958. See note concerning signatures, ratifications, accessions, etc., on behalf of China (note 1 under “China” in the “Historical Information” secton in the front matter of this volume).
The former Yugoslavia had signed and ratified the Convention on 29 April 1958 and 28 January 1966, respectively. See also note 1 under “Bosnia and Herzegovina", "Croatia", "former Yugoslavia", "Slovenia", "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and "Yugoslavia" in the "Historical Information" section in the front matter of this volume.
Czechoslovakia had signed and ratified the Convention on 30 October 1958 and 31 August 1961, respectively, with reservations. For the text of the reservations, see United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 516, p. 256. See note 1 under “Czech Republic” and note 1 under “Slovakia” in the “Historical Information” section in the front matter of this volume.
See note 1 under "Montenegro" in the "Historical Information" section in the front matter of this volume.
In respect of the Kingdom in Europe, Surinam and the Netherland Antilles. See also note 1 under “Netherlands Antilles” and “Suriname” in the “Historical Information” section in the front matter of this volume.
The Secretary-General received, on 9 June 1971, a communication from the Government of Senegal denouncing this Convention as well as the Convention on the Living Resources of the High Seas, and specifying that the denunciation would take effect on the thirtieth day from its receipt. The said communication, as well as the related exchange of correspondence between the Secretariat and the Govern- ment of Senegal, was circulated by the Secretary-General to all States entitled to become parties to the Conventions concerned under their respective clauses.
The notification of denunciation was registered by the Government of Senegal as at 9 June 1971, under Nos. 7477 and 8164. See United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 781, p. 332.
In this connection, a communication from the Government of the United Kingdom was received by the Secretary-General on 2 January 1973, stating inter alia :
". . . As regards the notification by the Government of Senegal purporting to denounce the two Conventions of 1958, the Government of the United Kingdom wish to place on record that in their view those Conventions are not susceptible to unilateral denunciation by a State which is a party to them and they therefore cannot accept the validity or effectiveness of the purported denunciation by the Government of Senegal. Accordingly, the Government of the United Kingdom regard the Government of Senegal as still bound by the obligations which they assumed when they became a party to those Conventions and the Government of the United Kingdom fully reserve all their rights under them as well as their rights and the rights of their nationals in respect of any action which the Government of Senegal have taken or may take as a consequence of the said purported denunciation.
"As regards the various arguments that are set out in the correspondence referred to above with reference to certain other questions relating to the law of treaties, including in particular the question ofhe funtions of the Secretary-General as a depositary of the Conventions of 1958 and the question of the duties of the Secretariat in relation to the registration of treaties and in relation to acts, notifications and communications, relating to treaties, the Government of the United Kingdom do not consider it necessary at this stage to express any view on those matters but they fully reserve their position in relation thereto and expressly reserve their right formally to make their views known at a later date.
"The Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations requests that copies of this Note should be transmitted by the Secretariat to all States concerned, that is to say, all States Members of the United Nations or Members of any of the Specialised Agencies, and, since the notification by the Government of Senegal was registered by Senegal, further requests that the statement of the position of the Government of the United Kingdom in relation to that notification, as set out in the second paragraph of the present Note, should similarly be registered."
The said communication was registered in the name of the Government of the United Kingdom on 2 January 1973 under Nos. 7477 and 8164. See United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 854, pp. 214 and 220.
On 27 October 1967, the Government of the United States of America transmitted to the Secretary-General the following communication with reference to its previous communications regarding ratifications and accessions to the Law of the Sea Conventions with reservations which were unacceptable to the United States of America:
"The Government of the United States of America has received an inquiry regarding the applicability of several of the Geneva Law of the Sea Conventions of 1958 between the United States and States which ratified or acceded to those Conventions with reservations which the United States found to be unacceptable. The Government of the United States wishes to state that it has considered and will continue to consider all the Geneva Law of the Sea Conventions of 1958 as being in force between it and all other States that have ratified or acceded thereto, including States that have ratified or acceded with reservations unacceptable to the United States. With respect to States which ratified or acceded with reservations unacceptable to the United States, the Conventions are considered by the United States to be in force between it and each of those States except that provisions to which such reservations are addressed shall apply only to the extent that they are not affected by those reservations. The United States considers that such application of the Convention does not in any manner constitute any concurrence by the United States in the substance of any of the reservations involved."