Article 18

ADOPTION OF PROTOCOLS

1. The Contracting Parties, at a conference of plenipotentiaries, may adopt additional protocols to this Convention pursuant to paragraph 2 of article 4.

2.

If so requested by a two-thirds majority of the Contracting Parties, the Organization shall convene a conference of plenipotentiaries for the purpose of adopting additional protocols to this Convention.

1.

Article 19

AMENDMENT OF THE CONVENTION AND ITS PROTOCOLS

Any Contracting Party may propose amendments to this Convention. Amendments shall be adopted by a conference of plenipotentiaries which shall be convened by the Organization at the request of a two-thirds majority of the Contracting Parties.

2. Any Contracting Party to this Convention may propose amendments to any protocol. Such amendments shall be adopted by a conference of plenipotentiaries which shall be convened by the Organization at the request of a two-thirds majority of the Contracting Parties to the protocol concerned.

3. The text of any proposed amendment shall be communicated by the Organization to all Contracting Parties at least ninety days before the opening of the conference of plenipotentiaries.

4.

Any amendment to this Convention shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority vote of the Contracting Parties to the Convention which are present and voting at the conference of plenipotentiaries and shall be submitted by the Depositary for acceptance by all Contracting Parties to the Convention. Amendments to any protocol shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority vote of the Contracting Parties to the protocol which are present and voting at the conference of plenipotentiaries and shall be submitted by the Depositary for acceptance by all Contracting Parties to the protocol.

5. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval of amendments shall be deposited with the Depositary. Amendments adopted in accordance with paragraph 4 shall enter into force between Contracting Parties having accepted such amendments on the thirtieth day following the date of receipt by the Depositary of the instruments of at least six of the Contracting Parties to this Convention or to the protocol concerned, as the case may be. Thereafter the amendments shall enter into force for any other Contracting Party on the thirtieth day after the date on which that Party deposits its instrument.

6. After the entry into force of an amendment to this Convention or to a protocol, any new Contracting Party to this Convention or such protocol shall become a Contracting Party to the Convention or protocol as amended.

1.

Article 20

ANNEXES AND AMENDMENT OF ANNEXES

Annexes to this Convention or to a protocol shall form an integral part of the Convention or, as the case may be, such protocol.

2. Except as may be otherwise provided in any protocol with respect to its annexes, the following procedure shall apply to the adoption and entry into force of amendments to annexes to this Convention or to annexes to a protocol:

(a) Any Contracting Party may propose amendments to annexes to this Convention or annexes to any protocol at the meetings convened pursuant to article 17;

(b) Such amendments shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority vote of the Contracting Parties to the instrument in question;

(c) The Depositary shall without delay communicate the amendments so adopted to all Contracting Parties to this Convention;

(d)

Any Contracting Party that is unable to accept an amendment to annexes to this Convention or to annexes to any protocol shall so notify the Depositary in writing within a period determined by the Contracting Parties concerned when adopting the amendment;

(e) The Depositary shall without delay notify all Contracting Parties of notifications received pursuant to the preceding subparagraph;

S On expiry of the period determined in accordance with subparagraph (d) above, the amendment to the annex shall become effective for all Contracting Parties to this Convention or to the protocol concerned which have not submitted a notification in accordance with the provisions of that subparagraph;

(g) A Contracting Party may at any time substitute an acceptance for a previous declaration of objection, and the amendment shall thereupon enter into force for that Party.

3. The adoption and entry into force of a new annex to this Convention or to any protocol shall be subject to the same procedure as that for the adoption and entry into force of an amendment to an annex, provided that, if it entails an amendment to the Convention or a protocol, the new annex shall not enter into force until such time as that amendment enters into force.

4. Any amendment to the Annex on Arbitration shall be proposed and adopted, and shall enter into force, in accordance with the procedures set out in article 19.

Article 21

RULES OF PROCEDURES AND FINANCIAL RULES

1. The Contracting parties shall adopt rules of procedures for their meetings.

2. The Contracting Parties shall adopt financial rules, prepared in consultation with the Organization, to determine, in particular, their financial participation in the co-operative activities undertaken for the purposes of this Convention and of protocols to which they are parties.

Article 22

SPECIAL EXERCISE OF THE RIGHT TO VOTE

In their fields of competence, the regional intergovernmental integration organizations referred to in article 26 shall exercise their right to vote with a number of votes equal to the number of their member States which are Contracting Parties to this Convention and to one or more protocols. Such organizations shall not exercise their rights to vote if the member States concerned exercise theirs and vice versa.

Article 23

TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION

The Contracting Parties shall transmit regularly to the Organization information on the measures adopted by them in the implementation of this Convention and of protocols to which they are parties, in such form as the meetings of Contracting Parties may determine.

Article 24

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

1. In case of a dispute between Contracting Parties as to the interpretation or application of this Convention or its protocols, they shall seek a settlement of the dispute through negotiation or any other peaceful means of their own choice.

2. If the Parties concerned cannot settle their dispute through the means mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the dispute shall, upon common agreement of the Parties concerned, be submitted to arbitration under the conditions set out in the Annex on Arbitration.

Article 25

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CONVENTION AND ITS PROTOCOLS

1. No State or regional intergovernmental integration organization may become a Contracting Party to this Convention unless it becomes at the same time a Contracting Party to at least one protocol to the Convention. No State or regional intergovernmental integration organization may become a Contracting Party to a protocol unless it is, or becomes at the same time, a Contracting Party to this Convention.

2. Decisions concerning any protocol shall be taken only by the Contracting Parties to the protocol concerned.

Article 26
SIGNATURE

This Convention, the Protocol concerning Protected Areas and Wild Fauna and Flora in the Eastern African Region and the Protocol concerning Co-operation in Combating Marine Pollution in Cases of Emergency in the Eastern African Region shall be open for signature at Nairobi from 21 June 1985 to 20 June 1986 by any State invited as a participant to the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern African Region, held at Nairobi from 17 June 1985 to 21 June 1985. They shall also be open for signature between the same dates by any regional intergovernmental integration organization exercising competence in fields covered by the Convention and such protocols and having at least one member State which belongs to the Eastern African region, provided that such regional organization has been invited to participate in the Conference of Plenipotentiaries.

Article 27

RATIFICATION, ACCEPTANCE AND APPROVAL

This Convention and its protocols shall be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by the States and organizations referred to in article 26. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Government of the Republic of Kenya which will assume the functions of Depositary.

Article 28
ACCESSION

1. This Convention and its protocols shall be open for accession by the States and organizations referred to in article 26 as from the day following the date on which the Convention or the protocol concerned is closed for signature.

2. After the entry into force of this Convention and of any protocol, any State or regional intergovernmental integration organization not referred to in article 26 may accede to the Convention and to any protocol, subject to prior approval by three-fourths of the Contracting Parties to the Convention or the protocol concerned.

3. Instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Depositary.

1.

2.

Article 29

ENTRY INTO FORCE

This Convention shall enter into force on the same date as the first protocol entering into force.

Any protocol to this Convention, except as otherwise provided in such protocol, shall enter into force on the ninetieth day following the date of deposit of the sixth instrument of ratification, acceptance, or approval of, or accession to, such protocol by the States referred to in article 26.

3. Thereafter, this Convention and any protocol shall enter into force with respect to any State or organization referred to in article 26 or article 28 on the ninetieth day following the date of deposit of its instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

Article 30
WITHDRAWAL

1. At any time after three years from the date of entry into force of this Convention with respect to a Contracting Party, that Contracting Party may withdraw from this Convention by giving written notification to the Depositary.

2.

Except as may be otherwise provided in any protocol to this Convention, any Contracting Party may, at any time after three years from the date of entry into force of such protocol with respect to that Contracting Party, withdraw from such protocol by giving written notification to the Depositary.

3.

Withdrawal shall take effect one year after the date on which notification of withdrawal is received by

the Depositary.

4. Any Contracting Party which withdraws from this Convention shall be considered as also having withdrawn from any protocol to which it was a Contracting Party.

5. Any Contracting Party which, upon its withdrawal from a protocol, is no longer a Contracting Party to any protocol to this Convention, shall be considered as also having withdrawn from the Convention itself.

Article 31

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DEPOSITARY

1. The Depositary shall inform the Signatories and the Contracting Parties, as well as the Organization, of:

(a) the signature of this Convention and of its protocols and the deposit of instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession;

(b)

the date on which the Convention or any protocol will come into force for each Contracting Party;

(c) notification of withdrawal and the date on which it will take effect;

(d) the amendments adopted with respect to the Convention or to any protocol, their acceptance by the Contracting Parties and the date of their entry into force;

(e)

2.

all matters relating to new annexes and to the amendment of any annex.

The original of this Convention and of any protocol shall be deposited with the Depositary, the Government of the Republic of Kenya, which shall send certified copies thereof to the Signatories, the Contracting Parties and the Organization.

3. As soon as the Convention or any protocol enters into force, the Depositary shall transmit a certified copy of the instrument concerned to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration and publication in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention.

DONE at Nairobi this twenty-first day of June one thousand nine hundred and eighty-five in single copy in the English and French languages, the two texts being equally authentic.

ANNEX ON ARBITRATION

Article 1

Unless the agreement referred to in article 24 of the Convention provides otherwise, the arbitration procedure shall be conducted in accordance with articles 2 to 10 below.

Article 2

The claimant party shall notify the Organization that the parties agree to submit the dispute to arbitration pursuant to paragraph 2 of article 24 of the Convention. The notification shall state the subject-matter of arbitration and include, in particular, the articles of the Convention or the protocol, the interpretation or application of which are at issue. The Organization shall forward the information thus received to all Contracting Parties to the Convention or to the protocol concerned.

Article 3

The arbitral tribunal shall consist of three members. Each of the parties to the dispute shall appoint an arbitrator and the two arbitrators so appointed shall designate by common agreement the third arbitrator who shall be the chairman of the tribunal. The latter shall not be a national of one of the parties to the dispute, nor have his usual place of residence in the territory of one of these parties, nor be employed by any of them, nor have dealt with the case in any other capacity.

Article 4

1. If the chairman of the arbitral tribunal has not been designated within two months of the appointment of the second arbitrator, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall, at the request of either party, designate him within a further two months' period.

2. If one of the parties to the dispute does not appoint an arbitrator within two months of receipt of the request, the other party may inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations who shall designate the chairman of the arbitral tribunal within a further two months' period. Upon designation, the chairman of the arbitral tribunal shall request the party which has not appointed an arbitrator to do so within two months. After such period, he shall inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall make this appointment within a further two months' period.