Optional Protocol of Signature Concerning the Compulsory 
Settlement of Disputes Arising out of the United Nations 
Conference on the Law of the Sea 

Done at Geneva 29 April 1958 

Entered into force 30 September 1962 

The States Parties to this Protocol and to any one or more of 
the Conventions on the Law of the Sea adopted by the United 
Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea held at Geneva from 24 
February to 27 April 1958, 

EXPRESSING their wish to resort, in all matters concerning them 
in respect of any dispute arising out of the interpretation or 
application of any article of any Convention on the Law of the 
Sea of 29 April 1958, to the compulsory jurisdiction of the 
International Court of Justice, unless some other form of 
settlement is provided in the Convention or has been agreed upon 
by the Parties within a reasonable period, 

Have agreed as follows: 

Article I 

Disputes arising out of the interpretation or application of any 
Convention on the Law of the Sea shall lie within the compulsory 
jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, and may 
accordingly be brought before the Court by an application made 
by any party to the dispute being a Party to this Protocol. 

Article II 

This undertaking relates to all the provisions of any Convention 
on the Law of the Sea except, in the Convention on Fishing and 
Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas, articles 
4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, to which articles 9, 10, 11 and 12 of that 
Convention remain applicable. 

Article III 

The Parties may agree, within a period of two months after one 
party has notified its opinion to the other that a dispute 
exists, to resort not to the International Court of Justice but 
to an arbitral tribunal. After the expiry of the said period, 
either Party to this Protocol may bring the dispute before the 
Court by an application. 

Article IV 

1. Within the same period of two months, the Parties to this 
Protocol may agree to adopt a conciliation procedure before 
resorting to the International Court of Justice. 

2. The conciliation commission shall make its recommendations 
within five months after its appointment. If its recommendations 
are not accepted by the parties to the dispute within two months 
after they have been delivered, either party may bring the 
dispute before the Court by an application. 

Article V 

This Protocol shall remain open for signature by all States who 
become Parties to any Convention on the Law of the Sea adopted 
by the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea and is 
subject to ratification, where necessary, according to the 
constitutional requirements of the signatory States. 

Article VI 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all 
States who become Parties to any Convention on the Law of the 
Sea of signatures to this Protocol and of the deposit of 
instruments of ratification in accordance with article V. 

Article VII 

The original of this Protocol, of which the Chinese, English, 
French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall 
be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, 
who shall send certified copies thereof to all States referred 
to in article V. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly 
authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed 
this Protocol. 

DONE at Geneva, this twenty-ninth day of April one thousand nine 
hundred and fifty-eight.