Convention for the Suppression of the Circulation of, and Traffic in, Obscene Publications,

concluded at Geneva on 12 September 1923 and amended by the Protocol signed at
Lake Success, New York, on 12 November 1947

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 2 February 1950, the date on which the amendments, set forth in the annex to the Protocol of 12 November 1947, entered into force in accordance with paragraph 2 of article V of the Protocol.

REGISTRATION: 2 February 1950, No. 710.

TEXT: United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 46, p. 201.

STATUS: Parties: 54.

Participant


Definitive signature or acceptance of the Protocol of 12 November 1947, or succession to the Convention and the said Protocol	Ratification, accession (a), succession (d) to the Convention as amended by the Protocol of 12 November 1947

Afghanistan 12 Nov 1947

Albania 25 Jul 1949

Australia 13 Nov 1947

Austria 4 Aug 1950

Belarus 8 Sep 1998 d

Belgium 12 Nov 1947

Brazil 3 Apr 1950

Cambodia 30 Mar 1959 a

Canada 24 Nov 1947

China 12 Nov 1947

Cuba 2 Dec 1983

Cyprus 16 May 1963 d

Czech Republic 30 Dec 1993 d

Democratic Republic
of the Congo 31 May 1962 d

Denmark [21 Nov 1949]

Egypt 12 Nov 1947

Fiji 1 Nov 1971

Finland 6 Jan 1949

Ghana 7 Apr 1958 d

Greece 5 Apr 1960

Guatemala 26 Aug 1949

Haiti 26 Aug 1953

Hungary 2 Feb 1950

India 12 Nov 1947

Ireland 28 Feb 1952

Italy 16 Jun 1949

Jamaica 30 Jul 1964 d

Jordan 11 May 1959 a

Lesotho 28 Nov 1975 d

Luxembourg 14 Mar 1955

Madagascar 10 Apr 1963 a

Malawi 22 Jul 1965 a

Malaysia 21 Aug 1958 d

Malta 24 Mar 1967 d

Mauritius 18 Jul 1969 d

Mexico 4 Feb 1948

Myanmar 13 May 1949

Netherlands [ 7 Mar 1949]

New Zealand 28 Oct 1948

Nigeria 26 Jun 1961 d

Norway 28 Nov 1947

Pakistan 12 Nov 1947

Poland 21 Dec 1950

Romania 2 Nov 1950

Russian Federation 18 Dec 1947

Sierra Leone 13 Mar 1962 d

Slovakia 28 May 1993 d

Solomon Islands 3 Sep 1981 d

South Africa 12 Nov 1947

Sri Lanka 15 Apr 1958 a

Trinidad and Tobago 11 Apr 1966 d

Turkey 2 Nov 1947

United Kingdom 16 May 1949

United Republic
of Tanzania 28 Nov 1962 a

Yugoslavia 12 Nov 1947

Zambia 1 Nov 1974 d

Notes:

1 In a communication received by the Secretary-General on 21 February 1974, the Government of the German Democratic Republic stated that [it] had declared the reapplication of the Convention as from 18 December 1958. See also note in chapter I.2.

2 See note concerning signatures, ratifications, accessions, etc., on behalf of China (note in chapter I.1).

3 Czechoslovakia, by virtue of its definitive signature of the Protocol of 12 November 1947 amending the Convention of 1923, was a participant in the Convention on that same date. See also note in chapter I.2.

4 A notification of denunciation was received on 16 August 1967. In communicating this notification, the Government of Denmark has informed the Secretary-General that the denunciation was intended to apply also in relation to the States parties to the 1923 Convention (chapter VIII.3) which had not yet become parties to the Protocol of 12 November 1947 amending the said Convention (chapter VIII.1). The denunciation took effect on 16 August 1968.

5 On 30 July 1985, the Secretary-General received from the Government of the Netherlands a notification of denunciation of the said Protocol and Convention. The notification specifies that the denunciation shall apply in respect of the Kingdom in Europe only and that the Protocol and the Convention will therefore remain in force in the Netherlands Antilles. The notification also indicated that the reason for the denunciation is the following:

". . . under the Act of 3 July 1985 (Bulletin of Acts, Orders and Decrees No. 385) the provisions of the Dutch Criminal Code were amended in such a way that it is no longer possible for the Netherlands to comply fully with the international obligations it assumed under the Convention. Article I of the Convention contains - inter alia - the obligation to make it a punishable offence to make, produce or have in possession, to import, convey or export obscene publications or any other obscene objects for the purposes of distribution or public exhibition.

"The new provisions of the Dutch Criminal Code fulfill this requirement only with regard to the portrayal of - or to any medium of information which portrays - sexual activity involving persons under the age of sixteen (i.e. child pornography). As regards the other forms of pornography, the shop windows, to send such images or objects unsolicited through the mail or to supply, offer or show them to children. Since the Convention does not contain any provision which would allow the Netherlands to make punishable only those offences included in the amended Criminal Code, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has no other choice than to denounce the Convention for the Netherlands."