TNAG-2697-FCO40-3903-Hong-Kong-drugs-1993 — Page 52

Article 30

DENUNCIATION

1.

A Party may denounce this Convention at any time by a written notifi- cation addressed to the Secretary-General.

2. Such denunciation shall take effect for the Party concerned one year after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General.

Article 31

AMENDMENTS

1. Any Party may propose an amendment to this Convention. The text of any such amendment and the reasons therefor shall be communicated by that Party to the Secretary-General, who shall communicate it to the other Parties and shall ask them whether they accept the proposed amendment. If a proposed amendment so circulated has not been rejected by any Party within twenty-four months after it has been circulated, it shall be deemed to have been accepted and shall enter into force in respect of a Party ninety days after that Party has depos- ited with the Secretary-General an instrument expressing its consent to be bound by that amendment.

2. If a proposed amendment has been rejected by any Party, the Secretary- General shall consult with the Parties and, if a majority so requests, he shall bring the matter, together with any comments made by the Parties, before the Council which may decide to call a conference in accordance with Article 62, paragraph 4, of the Charter of the United Nations. Any amendment resulting from such a Conference shall be embodied in a Protocol of Amendment. Consent to be bound by such a Protocol shall be required to be expressed specifically to the Secretary- General.

Article 32

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

1. If there should arise between two or more Parties a dispute relating to the interpretation or application of this Convention, the Parties shall consult to- gether with a view to the settlement of the dispute by negotiation, enquiry, media- tion, conciliation, arbitration, recourse to regional bodies, judicial process or other peaceful means of their own choice.

2. Any such dispute which cannot be settled in the manner prescribed in paragraph 1 of this article shall be referred, at the request of any one of the States Parties to the dispute, to the International Court of Justice for decision.

3. If a regional economic integration organization referred to in article 26, subparagraph (c) is a Party to a dispute which cannot be settled in the manner pre- scribed in paragraph 1 of this article, it may, through a State Member of the United Nations, request the Council to request an advisory opinion of the Interna- tional Court of Justice in accordance with Article 65 of the Statute of the Court, which opinion shall be regarded as decisive.

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