CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE MARINE
ENVIRONMENT OF THE NORTH-EAST ATLANTIC

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic was opened for signature at the Ministerial Meeting of the Oslo and Paris Commissions, Paris, 21-22 September 1992.

The Convention has been signed by all Contracting Parties to the Oslo Convention and to the Paris Convention (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Luxembourg, Switzerland and the Commission of the European Communities.

The signatures on behalf of Denmark and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland were accompanied by declarations, the text of which are also attached (see footnotes 4 and 5).

After the ratification by all above-mentioned States and the European Community, the Convention entered into force on 25 March 1998. The Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Commission, Sintra, 22-23 July 1998 adopted a new Annex V on the Protection and Conservation of the Ecosystems and Biological Diversity of the Maritime Area and a new Appendix 3: Criteria for Identifying Human Activities for the Purpose of Annex V (see footnotes 2 and 3).

The integral text of the Convention is attached.