Protocol of Amendment to the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System

General Information

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What is it about?

The Protocol amends Paragraph 1 of Article 13 of the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, done at Brussels on 14 June 1983. Paragraph 1 of Article 13 of the Convention defines its entry into force “on the first of January which falls at least twelve months but no more than twenty-four months after a minimum of seventeen States or Customs or Economic Unions have signed it without reservation of ratification or have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession, but not before 1 January 1987”. Paragraph 1 of Article 13 is amended as follows: “this Convention shall enter into force on the earliest first of January which falls at least three months after a minimum of seventeen States or Customs or Economic Unions have signed it without reservation of ratification or have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession, but not before 1 January 1988”.

Why is it relevant?

The amended version widens the limited timeframe for the required number of signatures necessary for the entry into force of the Convention. Without the present Protocol the Convention’s entry into force would have been highly uncertain. The ratification of the Protocol is only important for countries having signed the Convention before 1986, as explained below.

Additional Information

The Protocol of Amendment has no substantive content as an independent instrument. Any State becoming a Contracting Party to the Convention after the entry into force of the present Protocol is a contracting Party to the Convention as amended by the Protocol. No State can become a Member State to the Protocol unless it signs or has previously signed the Convention without reservation of ratification.

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