Protocol Amending the International Convention Relating to the 
Limitation of the Liability of Owners of Sea-Going Ships 

Done at Brussels 21 December 1979 

THE CONTRACTING PARTIES TO THE PRESENT PROTOCOL, 

BEING PARTIES to the International Convention relating to the 
limitation of the liability of owners of sea-going ships, done 
at Brussels on 10th October 1957, 

HAVE AGREED as follows: 

Article I 

For the purpose of this Protocol, "Convention" means the 
International Convention relating to the limitation of the 
liability of owners of sea-going ships and its Protocol of 
signature, done at Brussels on 10th October 1957. 

Article II 

(1) Article 3, paragraph (1) of the Convention is replaced by 
the following: 

"(1) The amounts to which the owner of a ship may limit his 
liability under Article 1 shall be: 

(a) where the occurrence has only given rise to property claims 
an aggregate amount of 66.67 units of account for each ton of 
the ship's tonnage; 

(b) where the occurrence has only given rise to personal claims 
an aggregate amount of 206.67 units of account for each ton of 
the ship's tonnage; 

(c) where the occurrence has given rise both to personal claims 
and property claims an aggregate amount of 206.67 units of 
account for each ton of the ship's tonnage, of which a first 
portion amounting to 140 units of account for each ton of the 
ship's tonnage shall be exclusively appropriated to the payment 
of personal claims and of which a second portion amounting to 
66.67 units of account for each ton of the ship's tonnage shall 
be appropriated to the payment of property claims. Provided 
however that in cases where the first portion is insufficient to 
pay the personal claims in full, the unpaid balance of such 
claims shall rank rateably with the property claims for payment 
against the second portion of the fund. " 

(2) Article 3, paragraph (6) of the Convention is replaced by 
the following: 

"(6) The unit of account mentioned in paragraph (1) of this 
Article is the Special Drawing Right as defined by the 
International Monetary Fund. The amounts mentioned in that 
paragraph shall be converted into the national currency of the 
State in which limitation is sought on the basis of the value of 
that currency on the date on which the ship owner shall have 
constituted the limitation fund, made the payment or given a 
guarantee which under the law of that State is equivalent to 
such payment. The value of the national currency, in terms of 
the Special Drawing Right, of a State which is a member of the 
International Monetary Fund, shall be calculated in accordance 
with the method of valuation applied by the International 
Monetary Fund in effect at the date in question for its 
operations and transactions. The value of the national currency, 
in terms of the Special Drawing Right, of a State which is not a 
member of the International Monetary Fund, shall be calculated 
in a manner determined by that State. 

(7) Nevertheless, a State which is not a member of the 
International Monetary Fund and whose law does not permit the 
application of the provisions of paragraph (6) of this Article 
may, at the time of ratification of the Protocol of 1979 or 
accession thereto or at any time thereafter, declare that the 
limits of liability provided for in this Convention to be 
applied in its territory shall be fixed as follows: 

(a) in respect of paragraph (1), (a) of this Article, 1,000 
monetary units; 

(b) in respect of paragraph (1), (b) of this Article, 3,100 
monetary units; 

(c) in respect of paragraph (1), (c) of this Article, 3,100, 
2,100 and 1,000 monetary units, respectively. 

The monetary unit referred to in this paragraph corresponds to 
65.5 milligrammes of gold of millesimal fineness 900'. The 
conversion of the amounts specified in this paragraph into the 
national currency shall be made according to the law of the 
State concerned. 

(8) The calculation mentioned in the last sentence of paragraph 
(6) of this Article and the conversion mentioned in paragraph 
(7) of this Article shall be made in such a manner as to express 
in the national currency of the State as far as possible the 
same real value for the amounts in paragraph (1) of this Article 
as is expressed there in units of account. States shall 
communicate to the depositary the manner of calculation pursuant 
to paragraph (6) of this Article or the result of the conversion 
in paragraph (7) of this Article, as the case may be, when 
depositing an instrument of ratification of the Protocol of 1979 
or of accession thereto or when availing themselves of the 
option provided for in paragraph (7) of this Article and 
whenever there is a change in either." 

(3) Article 3, paragraph (7) of the Convention shall be 
renumbered Article 3, paragraph (9). 

Article III 

This Protocol shall be open for signature by the States which 
have signed the Convention or which are Parties thereto. 

Article IV 

(1) This Protocol shall be ratified. 

(2) Ratification of this Protocol by any State which is not a 
Party to the Convention shall have the effect of ratification of 
the Convention. 

(3) The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the 
Belgian Government. 

Article V 

(1) States not referred to in Article III may accede to this 
Protocol. 

(2) Accession to this Protocol shall have the effect of 
accession to the Convention. 

(3) The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the 
Belgian Government. 

Article Vl 

(1) This Protocol shall come into force three months after the 
date of the deposit of six instruments of ratification or 
accession. 

(2) For each State which ratifies this Protocol or accedes 
thereto after the sixth deposit, this Protocol shall come into 
force three months after the deposit of its instrument of 
ratification or accession. 

Article VII 

(1) Any Contracting Party may denounce this Protocol by 
notification to the Belgian Government. 

(2) The denunciation shall take effect one year after ( the date 
on which the notification has been received by the Belgian 
Government. 

Article VIII 

(1) Each State may at the time of signature, ratification or 
accession or at any time thereafter declare by written 
notification to the Belgian Government which among the 
territories for whose international relations it is responsible, 
are those to which the present Protocol applies. The Protocol 
shall three months after the date of the receipt of such 
notification by the Belgian Government extend to the territories 
named therein, but not before the date of the coming into force 
of the Protocol in respect of such State. 

(2) This extension also shall apply to the Convention if the 
latter is not yet applicable to these territories. 

(3) Any Contracting Party which has made a declaration under 
paragraph (1).of this Article may at any time thereafter declare 
by notification given to the Belgian Government that the 
Protocol shall cease to extend to such territories. This 
denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which 
notification thereof has been received by the Belgian 
Government. 

Article IX 

The Belgian Government shall notify the signatory and acceding 
States of the following: 

1. The signatures, ratifications and accessions received in 
accordance with Articles III, IV and V. 

2. The date on which the present Protocol will come into force 
in accordance with Article VI. 

3. The notifications with regard to the territorial application 
in accordance with Article VIII. 

4. The declarations and communications made in accordance with 
Article II. 

5. The denunciations received in accordance with Article VII. 

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

DONE at Brussels, this 21st day of December 1979, in the English 
and French languages, both texts being equally authentic, in a 
single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the 
Belgian Government, which shall issue certified copies.