Australian Treaty Series

THE PARTIES TO THE PRESENT PROTOCOL,

CONSIDERING that under the Convention for the Suppression of the Circulation of and Traffic in Obscene Publications, concluded at Geneva on 12 September 1923,[1] the League of Nations was invested with certain functions and powers for whose continued performance it is necessary to make provisions in consequence of the dissolution of the League of Nations, and

CONSIDERING that it is expedient that these functions and powers should be performed henceforth by the United Nations,

HEREBY AGREE as follows:

The Parties to the present Protocol undertake that as between themselves they will, in accordance with the provisions of the present Protocol, attribute full legal force and effect to, and duly apply the amendments to this instrument which are set forth in the annex to the present Protocol.

The Secretary-General shall prepare the text of the Convention of 12 September 1923 for the Suppression of the Circulation of and Traffic in Obscene Publications as revised in accordance with the present Protocol, and shall send copies for their information to the Government of every Member of the United Nations and every non-member State to which this Protocol is open for signature or acceptance. He shall also invite Parties to the aforesaid Convention to apply the amended text of this instrument as soon as the amendments are in force, even if they have not yet been able to become Parties to the present Protocol.

The present Protocol shall be open for signature or acceptance by any of the Parties to the Convention of 12 September 1923 for the Suppression of the Circulation of and Traffic in Obscene Publications, to which the Secretary-General has communicated a copy of this Protocol.

States may become Parties to the present Protocol by

(a) Signature without reservation as to approval; or[2]

(b) Acceptance, which shall be effected by the deposit of a formal instrument with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

1. The present Protocol shall come into force on the date on which two or more States shall have become Parties thereto.[3]

2. The amendments set forth in the annex to the present Protocol shall come into force when a majority of the Parties to the Convention of 12 September 1923 for the Suppression of the Circulation of and Traffic in Obscene Publications have become Parties to the present Protocol,[4] and consequently any State becoming a Party to the Convention after the amendments thereto have come into force shall become a Party to the Convention as so amended.

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations and the regulations pursuant thereto adopted by the General Assembly, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is authorized to effect registration of the present Protocol and the amendments made in the Convention by the present Protocol on the respective dates of their entry into force, and to publish the Protocol and the amended Convention as soon as possible after registration.

The present Protocol, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations Secretariat. The Convention to be amended in accordance with the annex being in the English and French languages only, the English and French texts of the annex shall be equally authentic texts, and the Chinese, Russian and Spanish texts will be translations.

A certified copy of the Protocol, including the annex, shall be sent by the Secretary-General to each of the Parties to the Convention of 12 September 1923 for the Suppression of the Circulation of and Traffic in Obscene Publications, and to all States Members of the United Nations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, signed the present Protocol on the dates appearing opposite their respective signatures.

DONE at Lake Success, New York, this twelfth day of November, one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven.

Article 8, the first and second paragraphs, shall read:

The present Convention is subject to ratification. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall notify the receipt of them to the Members of the United Nations and to the non-member States to which the Secretary-General has communicated a copy of the Convention.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall immediately communicate a certified copy of each of the instruments deposited with reference to this Convention to the Government of the French Republic.

Article 9 shall read:

Members of the United Nations may accede to the present Convention. The same applies to non-member States to which the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations may decide officially to communicate the present Convention.

Accession shall be effected by an instrument communicated to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to be deposited in the archives of the Secretariat. The Secretary-General shall at once notify such deposit to Members of the United Nations and to the non-member States to which the Secretary-General has communicated a copy of the Convention.

In article 10 Member of the United Nations shall be substituted for Member of the League.

Article 12. In the first paragraph, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be substituted for the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, and Members of the United Nations shall be substituted for Members of the League of Nations.

Article 12, the second paragraph, shall read:

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall notify the receipt of any such denunciation to all Members of the United Nations and to the non-member States to which the Secretary-General has communicated a copy of the Convention.

Article 13 shall be deleted.

Article 14 shall read:

A special record shall be kept by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, showing which of the Parties have signed, ratified, acceded to or denounced the present Convention. This record shall be open at all times to any of the Members of the United Nations or any non-member State to which the Secretary-General has communicated a copy of the Convention.

It shall be published as often as possible.

In Article 15 the International Court of Justice shall be substituted for the Permanent Court of International Justice, and the Statute of the International Court of Justice shall be substituted for the Protocol of Signature of the Permanent Court of International Justice.

In Article 16 the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations shall be substituted for the Council of the League of Nations.

[1] UKTS 1926 No. 1 (Cmd. 2575); SP 121 p. 875; LNTS 27 p. 213.

[2] Signed for Australia without reservation as to approval 13 November 1947.

[3] The Protocol entered into force generally 12 November 1947.

[4] The amendments to the Head Convention entered into force for Australia and generally 2 February 1950.