THE CONTRACTING PARTIES,

CONSIDERING that it is desirable to amend the Convention for the unification of certain rules of law relating to assistance and salvage at sea, signed at Brussels on 23 September 1910,

HAVE AGREED as follows:

Article 14 of the Convention for the unification of certain rules of law relating to assistance and salvage at sea, signed at Brussels on 23 September 1910, shall be replaced by the following:

"The provisions of this Convention shall also apply to assistance or salvage services rendered by or to a ship of war or any other ship owned, operated or chartered by a State or Public Authority.

A claim against a State for assistance or salvage services rendered to a ship of war or other ship which is, either at the time of the event or when the claim is brought, appropriated exclusively to public non-commercial service, shall be brought only before the Courts of such State.

Any High Contracting Party shall have the right to determine whether and to what extent Article 11 shall apply to ships coming within the terms of the second paragraph of this Article."

This Protocol shall be open for signature by the States which have ratified the Convention or which have adhered thereto before 27 May 1967, and by any State represented at the twelfth session of the Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Law.

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 accession to the Convention.

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

1. This Protocol shall come into force one month after the deposit of five instruments of ratification

2. This Protocol shall come into force, in respect of each signatory State which ratifies it after the deposit of the fifth instrument of ratification, one month after the date of deposit of the instrument of ratification of that State.

1. States, Members of the United Nations or Members of the specialized agencies not represented at the twelfth session of the Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Law, 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

4. The Protocol shall come into force in respect of the acceding State one month after the date of deposit of the instrument of accession of that State, but not before the date of entry into force of the Protocol as established by Article 4(1).

1. Any Contracting State may denounce this Protocol by notification to the Belgian Government.

2. This denunciation shall have the effect of denunciation of the Convention.

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

1. Any Contracting State may at the time of signature, ratification or accession to this Convention or at any time thereafter declare by written notification to the Belgian Government which among the territories under its sovereignty or for whose international relations it is responsible, are those to which the present Protocol applies. The Protocol shall one month 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 those territories.

3. Any Contracting State which has made a declaration under SS1 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 territory. This denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which notification thereof has been received by the Belgian Government; it also shall apply to the Convention.

The Belgian Government shall notify the States represented at the twelfth session of the Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Law, the acceding States to this Protocol, and the States parties to the Convention, of the following:

1. The signatures, ratifications and accessions received in accordance with Articles 2, 3 and 5.

2. The date on which the present Protocol will come into force in accordance with Article 4.

3. The notifications with regard to the territorial application in accordance with Article 7.

4. The denunciations received in accordance with Article 6.

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

DONE at Brussels, this 27th day of May 1967, in the French and English 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.