Customs Convention on Containers

Done at Geneva on 18 May 1956

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 4 August 1959, in accordance with article 13. [Note: Article 20(1) of the Customs Conventionon Containers, 1972 (see chapter XI.A-15), provides that, upon its entry into force, it shall terminate and replace, in relations between the Parties to the latter Convention, the present Convention. The said Convention of 1972 came into force on 6 December 1975.]

REGISTRATION: 4 August 1959, No. 4834.

TEXT: United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 338, p. 103.

STATUS: Signatories: 12. Parties: 44.

Participant


Signature	Ratification, accession (a), succession (d)

Algeria 31 Oct 1963 a

Antigua and Barbuda 25 Oct 1988 d

Australia 6 Jan 1967 a

Austria 18 May 1956 13 Nov 1957

Belgium 18 May 1956 27 May 1960

Bosnia and Herzegovina 12 Jan 1994 d

Bulgaria 18 Jan 1960 a

Cambodia 4 Aug 1959 a

Cameroon 24 Sep 1963 a

Canada 8 Sep 1972 a

Croatia 31 Aug 1994 d

Cuba 4 Aug 1965 a

Czech Republic1 2 Jun 1993 d

Denmark 3 Sep 1965 a

Finland 15 Jun 1961 a

France 18 May 1956 20 May 1959

Germany2, 3 18 May 1956 23 Oct 1961

Greece 12 Sep 1961 a

Hungary 18 May 1956 23 Jul 1957

Ireland 7 Jul 1967 a

Israel 14 Nov 1967 a

Italy 18 May 1956 29 Mar 1962

Jamaica 11 Nov 1963 d

Japan 14 May 1971 a

Liechtenstein4 7 Jul 1960

Luxembourg 18 May 1956 25 Oct 1960

Malawi 24 May 1969 a

Mauritius 18 Jul 1969 d

Netherlands 18 May 1956 27 Jul 1960

Norway 22 Nov 1961 a

Poland 18 May 1956 6 May 1959

Portugal 1 May 1964 a

Romania 1 Nov 1967 a

Sierra Leone 13 Mar 1962 d

Slovakia1 28 May 1993 d

Slovenia 3 Nov 1992 d

Solomon Islands 3 Sep 1981 d

Spain 21 Jan 1959 a

Sweden 18 May 1956 11 Aug 1959

Switzerlandcc 18 May 1956 7 Jul 1960

Trinidad and Tobago 11 Apr 1966 d

United Kingdom 18 May 1956 23 May 1958

United States of America 3 Dec 1968 a

Yugoslavia 9 Mar 1961 a

Declarations and Reservations
(Unless otherwise indicated, the declarations and reservations were made
upon ratification, accession or succession.)

Algeria

The Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria does not consider itself bound by the provisions of article 17 of the said Convention relating to compulsory arbitration.

bulgariacc

cuba

The Revolutionary Government of Cuba does not consider itself bound by the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 17 of this Convention.

CZECH REPUBLIC 1

DENMARKc

"Pursuant to article 5 in the prevailing Danish Customs Act, the Danish customs area does not comprise Faroe Islands and Greenland. The acceptance of the Convention by Denmark, therefore, applies only to the Danish customs area as defined in the said article."

poland

The Government of the People's Republic of Poland does not consider itself bound by article 17 of the Convention.

romania

The Socialist Republic of Romania does not consider itself bound by the provisions of article 17, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Convention.

The position of the Socialist Republic of Romania is that a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention can be submitted to arbitration only with the consent of all the parties in dispute.

The Council of State of the Socialist Republic of Romania considers that the maintenance of the state of dependence of certain territories to which the provisions of article 16 of the Convention apply is not in accordance with the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 14 December 1960 in resolution 1514 (XV), which proclaims the need to put an end to colonialism in all its forms and manifestations immediately and unconditionally.

SLOVAKIA 1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

"In accordance with paragraph 1 of article 16 of the Convention, the said Convention shall extend to the customs territory of the United States [which at the present time includes the States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico]."

Territorial Application

Participant


Date of receipt of the notification	Territories
Australia	3 Jan 1968	The Territories of Papua, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Trust Territory of New Guinea
Netherlandsc	27 Jul 1960	Netherlands Antilles, Netherlands New Guinea
United Kingdom 8	23 May 1958	The Isle of Man, Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey
	19 Oct 1959	Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Brunei, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Gambia, Gibraltar, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, Grenada, Jamaica, Mauritius, Monteserrat, North Borneo, St. Christopher, Nevis and Anguilla, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Sarawak, Sierra Leone, State of Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Zanzibar
	12 Dec 1974	Hong Kong

NOTES:

cc Czechoslovakia had acceded to the Convention on 31 May 1962, with a reservation. For the text of the reservation, see United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 429, p. 299. See also note in chapter I.2.

c See note in chapter I.2.

c In a communication received by the Secretary-General on 30 November 1961, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany stated that the Convention "will also apply to Land Berlin, as from the date on which it will enter into force for the Federal Republic of Germany".

With reference to the above-mentioned statement, communications have been addressed to the Secretary-General by the Governments of Albania, Bulgaria, the Byelorussian SSR, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, on the one hand, and by the Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany, France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America, on the other hand. The said communications are identical in essence, mutatis mutandis, to the corresponding ones referred to in note in chapter III.3.

Subsequently, in a communication received by the Secretary-General on 3 October 1990, the Government of Hungary indicated that, the German State having achieved its unity on this day (3 October 1990), it had decided to withdraw, as from that date, the declaration it had made with respect to the notification of extension by the Federal Republic of Germany to Land Berlin.

See also note cc above.

4 On depositing the instrument of ratification, the Government of Switzerland declared that the provisions of the Convention will apply to the Principality of Liechtenstein, so long as it is linked to Switzerland by a customs union treaty.

c In a notification received on 6 May 1994, the Government of Bulgaria notified the Secretary-general that it had decided to withdraw the reservation made upon accession with regard to article 17 (2) and (3). For the text of the reservation, see United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 348, p. 375.

c The Working Party on Customs Questions affecting Transport of the Inland Transport Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe included the following statement in the report on its Twenty-second session, adopted on 3 September 1965 (document TRANS/304- TRANS/WP30/98, paragraph 52): "With regard to the accession of Denmark to the Convention [Customs Convention on Containers, done at Geneva on 18 May 1956], the Working Party noted that its intention in preparing the Convention, had always been to allow Denmark to become a party to that instrument only in respect of the Danish Customs zone, which, under the Danish Customs laws, did not include the Faroe Islands and Greenland, and that in its opinion the matter was covered by the principles set forth in article 16 of the Convention."

c See note in chapter I.1.

c With regard to the application of the Covenant to Hong Kong, on 10 June 1997, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland notified the Secretary-General of the following:

[Same notification as the one made under note in chapter IV.1.]