Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and ToxinWeapons and on Their Destruction - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 379

their acceptance by a majority of the States Parties to the Convention and
thereafter for each remaining State Party on the date of acceptance by it.
Article XII
Five years after the entry into force of this Convention, or earlier if it is re-
quested by a majority of Parties to the Convention by submitting a proposal
to this effect to the Depositary Governments, a conference of States Parties to
the Convention shall be held at Geneva, Switzerland, to review the operation
of the Convention, with a view to assuring that the purposes of the preamble
and the provisions of the Convention, including the provisions concerning
negotiations on chemical weapons, are being realized. Such review shall take
into account any new scientific and technological developments relevant to
the Convention.
Article XIII
(1) This Convention shall be of unlimited duration.
(2) Each State Party to this Convention shall in exercising its national sov-
ereignty have the right to withdraw from the Convention if it decides that ex-
traordinary events, related to the subject matter of the Convention, have
jeopardized the supreme interests of its country. It shall give notice of such
withdrawal to all other States Parties to the Convention and to the United Na-
tions Security Council three months in advance. Such notice shall include a
statement of the extraordinary events it regards as having jeopardized its su-
preme interests.
Article XIV
(1) This Convention shall be open to all States for signature. Any State
which does not sign the Convention before its entry into force in accordance
with paragraph (3) of this Article may accede to it at any time.
(2) This Convention shall be subject to ratification by signatory States. In-
struments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with
the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Repub-
lics, which are hereby designated the Depositary Governments.
(3) This Convention shall enter into force after the deposit of instruments
of ratification by twenty-two Governments, including the Governments des-
ignated as Depositaries of the Convention.
(4) For States whose instruments of ratification or accession are deposited
subsequent to the entry into force of this Convention, it shall enter into force
on the date of the deposit of their instruments of ratification or accession.