Article 54 Amendments

Amendments to the Convention may be proposed by any Party, and shall be communicated by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to the member States of the Council of Europe, to the European Community and to every non-member State which has acceded to or has been invited to accede to this Convention in accordance with the provisions of Article 50.

Any amendment proposed by a Party shall be communicated to the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) which shall submit to the Committee of Ministers its opinion on that proposed amendment.

The Committee of Ministers shall consider the proposed amendment and the opinion submitted by the CDPC and may adopt the amendment by the majority provided for in Article 20.d of the Statute of the Council of Europe.

The text of any amendment adopted by the Committee of Ministers in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article shall be forwarded to the Parties for acceptance.

Any amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article shall come into force on the thirtieth day after all Parties have informed the Secretary General of their acceptance thereof.

In order to update the categories of offences contained in the appendix, as well as amend Article 13, amendments may be proposed by any Party or by the Committee of Ministers. They shall be communicated by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to the Parties.

After having consulted the Parties which are not members of the Council of Europe and, if necessary the CDPC, the Committee of Ministers may adopt an amendment proposed in accordance with paragraph 6 by the majority provided for in Article 20.d of the Statute of the Council of Europe. The amendment shall enter into force following the expiry of a period of one year after the date on which it has been forwarded to the Parties. During this period, any Party may notify the Secretary General of any objection to the entry into force of the amendment in its respect.

If one-third of the Parties notifies the Secretary General of an objection to the entry into force of the amendment, the amendment shall not enter into force.

If less than one-third of the Parties notifies an objection, the amendment shall enter into force for those Parties which have not notified an objection.

Once an amendment has entered into force in accordance with paragraphs 6 to 9 of this article and a Party has notified an objection to it, this amendment shall come into force in respect of the Party concerned on the first day of the month following the date on which it has notified the Secretary General of the Council of Europe of its acceptance. A Party which has made an objection may withdraw it at any time by notifying it to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

If an amendment has been adopted by the Committee of Ministers, a State or the European Community may not express their consent to be bound by the Convention, without accepting at the same time the amendment.