Article 16 Assessment and amendment procedure

At any time after the entry into force of this Convention, a Party may propose an assessment of the relevance of this Convention or propose amendments to it. Any proposed amendments shall be circulated by the Secretariat to all of the Parties at least six months in advance and discussed at the next formal session of the Committee following the end of the notice period.

Proposals for amendment to this Convention shall be adopted by decision of the Committee. The Secretariat shall communicate to all of the Parties, and to the Depositary, any proposals for amendment adopted by the Committee. The Depositary shall circulate any adopted amendment to all Parties.

Notification of acceptance of an amendment shall be sent to the Depositary. An adopted amendment shall enter into force for those Parties having sent that notification, 90 days after the date on which the Depositary has received such notifications from not less than four fifths of the number of Parties to this Convention on the date of adoption of the proposed amendment by the Committee. Such an amendment shall enter into force for any other Party 90 days after that Party deposits its notification with the Depositary. The Committee may decide that a different threshold be used for the number of notifications required to trigger the entry into force of a specific amendment. The Secretariat shall communicate such a decision to all Parties and the Depositary.