E/EC/812
E/ECE/TRANS/566

United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe
Inland Transport Committee

European Agreement supplementing the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for Signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968

Done at Geneva on 1 May 1971

THE CONTRACTING PARTIES, BEING ALSO PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON ROAD SIGNS AND SIGNALS OPENED FOR SIGNATURE AT VIENNA ON 8 NOVEMBER 1968,

DESIRING to achieve greater uniformity in the rules governing road signs, signals and symbols and road markings in Europe,

HAVE AGREED as follows:

Article 1

The Contracting Parties, being also Parties to the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968, shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the system of road signs and signals and of road markings applied in their territories conforms to the provisions of the annex to this Agreement.

Article 2

1. This Agreement shall be open until 30 April 1972 for signature by States which are signatories to the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968, or have acceded thereto, and are either members of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe or have been admitted to the Commission in a consultative capacity in conformity with paragraph 8 of the terms of reference of the Commission.

2. This Agreement shall be subject to ratification after the State concerned has ratified the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968, or has acceded thereto. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

3. This Agreement shall remain open for accession by any of the States referred to in paragraph 1 of this article which are Parties to the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968. The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General.

Article 3

1. Any State may, at the time of signing or ratifying this Agreement, or of acceding thereto, or at any tine thereafter, declare by notification addressed to the Secretary-General that the Agreement shall become applicable to all or any of the territories for the international relations of which it is responsible. The Agreement shall becom? applicable to the territory or territories named in the notification thirty days after the receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General or on the date of entry into force of the Agreement for the State making the notification, whichever is the later.

2. Any State which has made a declaration under paragraph 1 of this article may at any time thereafter declare by notification addressed to the Secretary-General that the Agreement shall cease to be applicable to the territory named in the notification and the Agreement shall cease to be applicable to such territory one year from the date of receipt by the Secretary-General of the notification.

Article 4

1. This Agreement shall enter into force twelve months after the date of deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession.

2. For each State ratifying, or acceding to, this Agreement after the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession, the Agreement shall enter into force twelve months after the date of deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification or accession.

3. If the date of entry into force applicable in pursuance of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article precedes that resulting from the application of Article 39 of the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968, this Agreement shall enter into force within the meaning of paragraph 1 of this article on the later of those two dates.

Article 5

Upon its entry into force, this Agreement shall terminate and replace, in relations between the Contracting Parties, the provisions concerning the Protocol on Road Signs and Signals contained in the European Agreement supplementing the Convention on Road Traffic and the Protocol on Road Signs and Signals of 1949, signed at Geneva on 16 September 1950, the Agreement on Signs for Road Works signed at Geneva on 16 December 1955, and the European Agreement on Road Markings signed at Geneva on 13 December 1957.

Article 6

1. After this Agreement has been in force for twelve months, any Contracting Party may propose one or more amendments to the Agreement. The text of any proposed amendment, accompanied by an explanatory memorandum, shall be transmitted to the Secretary-General, who shall communicate it to all Contracting Parties. The Contracting Parties shall have the opportunity of informing him within a period of twelve months following the date of its circulation whether they:

(a) accept the amendment; or

(b) reject the amendment; or

(c) wish that a conference be convened to consider the amendment.

The Secretary-General shall also transmit the text of the proposed amendment to the other States referred to in article 2 of this Agreement.

2. (a) Any proposed amendment communicated in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article shall be deemed to be accepted if within the period of twelve months referred to in the preceding paragraph less than one-third of the Contracting Parties inform the Secretary-General that they either reject the amendment or wish that a conference be convened to consider it. The Secretary-General shall notify all Contracting Parties of each acceptance or rejection of any proposed amendment and of requests that a conference be convened. If the total number of such rejections and requests received during the specified period of twelve months is less than one-third of the total number of Contracting Parties, the Secretary-General shall notify all Contracting Parties that the amendment will enter into force six months after the expiry of the period of twelve months referred to in paragraph 1 of this article for all Contracting Parties except those which, during the period specified, have rejected the amendment or requested the convening of a conference to consider it.

(b) Any Contracting Party which, during the said period of twelve months, has rejected a proposed amendment or requested the convening of a conference to consider it may at any time after the end of such period notify the Secretary-General that it accepts the amendment, and the Secretary-General shall communicate such notification to all the other Contracting Parties. The amendment shall enter into force, with respect to the Contracting Party which has notified its acceptance, six months after the date on which the Secretary-General receives the notification.

3. If a proposed amendment has not been accepted in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article and if within the period of twelve months specified in paragraph 1 of this article less than half of the total number of the Contracting Parties inform the Secretary-General that they reject the proposed amendment and if at least one-third of the total number of Contracting Parties, but not less than five, inform him that they accept it or wish a conference to be convened to consider it, the Secretary-General shall convene a conference for the purpose of considering the proposed amendment or any other proposal which may be submitted to him in accordance with paragraph 4 of this article.

4. If a conference is convened in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article, the Secretary-General shall invite to it all the Contracting Parties and the other States referred to in article 2 of this Agreement. He shall request all States invited to the Conference to submit to him, at least six months before its opening date, any proposals which they may wish the Conference to consider in addition to the proposed amendment and shall communicate such proposals, at least three months before the opening date of the conference, to all States invited to the Conference.

5. (a) Any amendment to this Agreement shall be deemed to be accepted if it has been adopted by a two-thirds majority of the States represented at the Conference, provided that such majority comprises at least two-thirds of the Contracting Parties represented at the Conference. The Secretary-General shall notify all Contracting Parties of the adoption of the amendment, and the amendment shall enter into force twelve months after the date of this notification for all Contracting Parties except those which during that period have notified the Secretary-General that they reject the amendment.

(b) A Contracting Party which has rejected an amendment during the said period of twelve months may at any time notify the Secretary-General that it accepts the amendment, and the Secretary-General shall communicate such notification to all the other Contracting Parties. The amendment shall enter into force, with respect to the Contracting Party which has notified its acceptance, six months after receipt by the Secretary-General of the notification or at the end of the said period of twelve months, whichever is later.

6. If the proposed amendment is not deemed to be accepted pursuant to paragraph 2 of this article and if the conditions prescribed by paragraph 3 of this article for convening a conference are not fulfilled, the proposed amendment shall be deemed to be rejected.

7. Independently of the amendment procedure prescribed in paragraphs 1- 6 of this article, the annex to this Agreement may be amended by agreement between the competent administrations of all Contracting Parties. If the administration of a Contracting Party states that its national law obliges it to subordinate its agreement to the grant of a specific authorization or to the approval of a legislative body, the competent administration of the Contracting Party in question shall be considered to have consented to the amendment to the annex only at such time as it notifies the Secretary-General that it has obtained the required authorization or approval. The agreement between the competent administrations may provide that, during a transitional period, the former provisions of the annex shall remain in force, in whole or in part, simultaneously with the new provisions. The Secretary-General shall appoint the date of entry into force of the new provisions.

8. Each State shall, at the time of signing, ratifying, or acceding to, this Agreement, inform the Secretary-General of the name and address of its administration competent in the matter of agreement as contemplated in paragraph 7 of this article.

Article 7

Any Contracting Party may denounce this Agreement by written notification addressed to the Secretary-General. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date of receipt by the Secretary-General of such notification. Any Contracting Party which ceases to be a Party to the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968 shall on the same date cease to be a Party to this Agreement.

Article 8

This Agreement shall cease to be in force if the number of Contracting Parties is less than five for any period of twelve consecutive months, or at such time as the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968 ceases to be in force.

Article 9

1. Any dispute between two or more Contracting Parties which relates to the interpretation or application of this Agreement and which the Parties in dispute are unable to settle by negotiation or other means of settlement shall be referred to arbitration if any of the Contracting Parties in dispute so requests, and shall, to that end, be submitted to one or more arbitrators selected by mutual agreement between the Parties in dispute.

If the Parties in dispute fail to agree on the choice of an arbitrator or arbitrators within three months after the request for arbitration, any of those Parties may request the Secretary-General of the United Nations to appoint a single arbitrator to whom the dispute shall be submitted for decision.

2. The award of the arbitrator or arbitrators appointed in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article shall be binding upon the Contracting Parties in dispute.

Article 10

Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as preventing a Contracting Party from taking such action, compatible with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and limited to the exigencies of the situation, as it considers necessary to its external or internal security.

Article 11

1. Any State may, at the time of signing this Agreement or of depositing its instrument of ratification or accession, declare that it does not consider itself bound by article 9 of this Agreement. Other Contracting Parties shall not be bound by article 9 with respect to any Contracting Party which has made such a declaration.

2. Reservations to this Agreement, other than the reservation provided for in paragraph 1 of this article, shall be permitted on condition that they are formulated in writing and, if formulated before the deposit of the instrument of ratification or accession, are confirmed in that instrument.

3. Any State shall, at the time of depositing its instrument of ratification of this Agreement or of accession thereto, notify the Secretary-General in writing to what extent any reservation made by it to the Convention on Road Signs and Signals opened for signature at Vienna on 8 November 1968 apply to this Agreement. Any reservations to the Convention on Road Signs and Signals which have not been included in the notification made at the time of depositing the instrument of ratification of this Agreement or of accession thereto shall be deemed to be inapplicable to this Agreement.

4. The Secretary-General shall communicate the reservations and notifications made pursuant to this article to all States referred to in article 2 of this Agreement.

5. Any State which has made a declaration, a reservation or a notification under this article may withdraw it at any time by notification addressed to the Secretary-General.

6. Any reservation made in accordance with paragraph 2 or notified in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article,

(a) modifies, for the Contracting Party which has made or notified the reservation, the provisions of the Agreement to which the reservation relates, to the extent of the reservation;

(b) modifies those provisions to the same extent for the other Contracting Parties in their relations with the Contracting Party which made or notified the reservation.

Article 12

In addition to the declarations, notifications and communications provided for in articles 6 and 11 of this Agreement, the Secretary-General shall notify the Contracting Parties and the other States referred to in article 2 of the following:

(a) signatures, ratifications and accessions under article 2;

(b) notifications and declarations under article 3;

(c) the dates of entry into force of this Agreement in accordance with article 4;

(d) the date of entry into force of amendments to this Agreement in accordance with article 6, paragraphs 2, 5 and 7;

(e) denunciations under article 7;

(f) the termination of this Agreement under article 8.

Article 13

After 30 April 1972, the original of this Agreement shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall send certified true copies to all the States referred to in article 2 of this Agreement.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto, have signed this Agreement.

DONE at Geneva, this first day of May nineteen hundred and seventy-one, in a single copy in the English, French and Russian languages, the three texts being equally authentic.