Textual Amendments
(1)The Convention shall be open for signature by the States which were Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law at the time of its Eighteenth Session.
(2)It shall be ratified, accepted or approved and the instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, depositary of the Convention.
(1)Any other State may accede to the Convention after it has entered into force in accordance with Article 61, paragraph 1.
(2)The instrument of accession shall be deposited with the depositary.
(3)Such accession shall have effect only as regards the relations between the acceding State and those Contracting States which have not raised an objection to its accession in the six months after the receipt of the notification referred to in sub-paragraph b of Article 63. Such an objection may also be raised by States at the time when they ratify, accept or approve the Convention after an accession. Any such objection shall be notified to the depositary.
(1)If a State has two or more territorial units in which different systems of law are applicable in relation to matters dealt with in this Convention, it may at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession declare that the Convention shall extend to all its territorial units or only to one or more of them and may modify this declaration by submitting another declaration at any time.
(2)Any such declaration shall be notified to the depositary and shall state expressly the territorial units to which the Convention applies.
(3)If a State makes no declaration under this Article, the Convention is to extend to all territorial units of that State.
(1)Any State may, not later than the time of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, or at the time of making a declaration in terms of Article 59, make one or both of the reservations provided for in Articles 54, paragraph 2, and 55. No other reservation shall be permitted.
(2)Any State may at any time withdraw a reservation it has made. The withdrawal shall be notified to the depositary.
(3)The reservation shall cease to have effect on the first day of the third calendar month after the notification referred to in the preceding paragraph.
(1)The Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval referred to in Article 57.
(2)Thereafter the Convention shall enter into force—
(a)for each State ratifying, accepting or approving it subsequently, on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession;
(b)for each State acceding, on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the expiration of the period of six months provided in Article 58, paragraph 3;
(c)for a territorial unit to which the Convention has been extended in conformity with Article 59, on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the notification referred to in that Article.
(1)A State Party to the Convention may denounce it by a notification in writing addressed to the depositary. The denunciation may be limited to certain territorial units to which the Convention applies.
(2)The denunciation takes effect on the first day of the month following the expiration of twelve months after the notification is received by the depositary. Where a longer period for the denunciation to take effect is specified in the notification, the denunciation takes effect upon the expiration of such longer period.
The depositary shall notify the States Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and the States which have acceded in accordance with Article 58 of the following—
(a)the signatures, ratifications, acceptances and approvals referred to in Article 57;
(b)the accessions and objections raised to accessions referred to in Article 58;
(c)the date on which the Convention enters into force in accordance with Article 61;
(d)the declarations referred to in Articles 34, paragraph 2, and 59;
(e)the agreements referred to in Article 39;
(f)the reservations referred to in Article 54, paragraph 2, and 55 and the withdrawals referred to in Article 60, paragraph 2;
(g)the denunciations referred to in Article 62.
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this Convention.
Done at The Hague, on the 19th day of October 1996, in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and of which a certified copy shall be sent, through diplomatic channels, to each of the States Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law at the date of its Eighteenth Session.]