Article 1 
The accession of the European Union to the Protocol of 2002 to the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, 1974 (‘Athens Protocol’) is hereby approved on behalf of the European Union as regards matters falling within the Union’s exclusive competence, with the exception of Articles 10 and 11 thereof. The text of the Athens Protocol, with the exception of Articles 10 and 11, is reproduced in the Annex.
Article 2 
1. The President of the Council is hereby authorised to designate the person or persons empowered to deposit the instrument of accession of the Union to the Athens Protocol in accordance with Articles 17(2)(c), 17(3) and 19 of that Protocol. 3. The person or persons designated under paragraph 1 of this Article shall make the reservation contained in the IMO Guidelines when depositing the instrument of accession of the Union to the Athens Protocol.
Article 3 
The Union shall deposit its instrument of accession to the Athens Protocol by 31 December 2011.
Article 4 
1. Member States shall take the necessary steps to deposit the instruments of ratification of, or accession to, the Athens Protocol within a reasonable time and, if possible, by 31 December 2011. 2. Member States shall make the reservation contained in the IMO Guidelines when depositing their instruments of ratification of, or accession to, the Athens Protocol.
Article 5 Compulsory insurance
The following text is added as Article 4bis of the Convention:
Article 6 Limit of liability for death and personal injury
Article 7 of the Convention is replaced by the following text:
Article 7 Limit of liability for loss of or damage to luggage and vehicles
Article 8 of the Convention is replaced by the following text:
Article 8 Unit of Account and conversion
Article 9 of the Convention is replaced by the following text:
Article 9 
Article 16, paragraph 3, of the Convention is replaced by the following text: ‘3. The law of the Court seized of the case shall govern the grounds for suspension and interruption of limitation periods, but in no case shall an action under this Convention be brought after the expiration of any one of the following periods of time: (a) A period of 5 years beginning with the date of disembarkation of the passenger or from the date when disembarkation should have taken place, whichever is later; or, if earlier (b) a period of 3 years beginning with the date when the claimant knew or ought reasonably to have known of the injury, loss or damage caused by the incident.’.
Article 12 Invalidity of contractual provisions
Article 18 of the Convention is replaced by the following text:
Article 13 Nuclear damage
Article 20 of the Convention is replaced by the following text:
Article 14 Model certificate
1. The model certificate set out in the annex to this Protocol shall be incorporated as an annex to the Convention.
Article 15 Interpretation and application
1. The Convention and this Protocol shall, as between the Parties to this Protocol, be read and interpreted together as one single instrument. 2. The Convention as revised by this Protocol shall apply only to claims arising out of occurrences which take place after the entry into force for each State of this Protocol. 3. Articles 1 to 22 of the Convention, as revised by this Protocol, together with Articles 17 to 25 of this Protocol and the annex thereto, shall constitute and be called the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, 2002.
Article 16 Final clauses of the Convention
The following text is added as Article 22bis of the Convention:
Article 17 Signature, ratification, acceptance, approval and accession
1. This Protocol shall be open for signature at the Headquarters of the Organization from 1 May 2003 until 30 April 2004 and shall thereafter remain open for accession. 2. States may express their consent to be bound by this Protocol by: (a) signature without reservation as to ratification, acceptance or approval; or (b) signature subject to ratification, acceptance or approval followed by ratification, acceptance or approval; or (c) accession. 3. Ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument to that effect with the Secretary-General. 4. Any instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession deposited after the entry into force of an amendment to this Protocol with respect to all existing States Parties, or after the completion of all measures required for the entry into force of the amendment with respect to those States Parties shall be deemed to apply to this Protocol as modified by the amendment. 5. A State shall not express its consent to be bound by this Protocol unless, if Party thereto, it denounces: (a) the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, done at Athens on 13 December 1974; (b) the Protocol to the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, done at London on 19 November 1976; and (c) the Protocol of 1990 to amend the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, done at London on 29 March 1990, with effect from the time that this Protocol will enter into force for that State in accordance with Article 20.
Article 18 States with more than one system of law
1. If a State has two or more territorial units in which different systems of law are applicable in relation to matters dealt with in this Protocol, it may at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession declare that this Protocol shall extend to all its territorial units or only to one or more of them, and may modify this declaration by submitting another declaration at any time. 2. Any such declaration shall be notified to the Secretary-General and shall state expressly the territorial units to which this Protocol applies. 3. In relation to a State Party which has made such a declaration: (a) references to the State of a ship’s registry and, in relation to a compulsory insurance certificate, to the issuing or certifying State, shall be construed as referring to the territorial unit respectively in which the ship is registered and which issues or certifies the certificate; (b) references to the requirements of national law, national limit of liability and national currency shall be construed respectively as references to the requirements of the law, the limit of liability and the currency of the relevant territorial unit; and (c) references to courts, and to judgments which must be recognised in States Parties, shall be construed as references respectively to courts of, and to judgments which must be recognised in, the relevant territorial unit.
Article 19 Regional Economic Integration Organizations
1. A Regional Economic Integration Organization, which is constituted by sovereign States that have transferred competence over certain matters governed by this Protocol to that Organization, may sign, ratify, accept, approve or accede to this Protocol. A Regional Economic Integration Organization which is a Party to this Protocol shall have the rights and obligations of a State Party, to the extent that the Regional Economic Integration Organization has competence over matters governed by this Protocol. 2. Where a Regional Economic Integration Organization exercises its right of vote in matters over which it has competence, it shall have a number of votes equal to the number of its Member States which are Parties to this Protocol and which have transferred competence to it over the matter in question. A Regional Economic Integration Organization shall not exercise its right to vote if its Member States exercise theirs, and vice versa. 3. Where the number of States Parties is relevant in this Protocol, including but not limited to Articles 20 and 23 of this Protocol, the Regional Economic Integration Organization shall not count as a State Party in addition to its Member States which are States Parties. 4. At the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession the Regional Economic Integration Organization shall make a declaration to the Secretary-General specifying the matters governed by this Protocol in respect of which competence has been transferred to that Organization by its Member States which are signatories or Parties to this Protocol and any other relevant restrictions as to the scope of that competence. The Regional Economic Integration Organization shall promptly notify the Secretary-General of any changes to the distribution of competence, including new transfers of competence, specified in the declaration under this paragraph. Any such declarations shall be made available by the Secretary-General pursuant to Article 24 of this Protocol. 5. States Parties which are Member States of a Regional Economic Integration Organization which is a Party to this Protocol shall be presumed to have competence over all matters governed by this Protocol in respect of which transfers of competence to the Organization have not been specifically declared or notified under paragraph 4.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The proposal for a Council Regulation is necessitated by the upcoming accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union. The Treaty concerning the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union[1] was signed by all Member States of the European Union and the Republic of Croatia at Brussels on 9 December 2011. Article 3 (3) of the Treaty of Accession provides that it shall enter into force on 1 July 2013 provided that all the instruments of ratification have been deposited before that date. Article 3(4) of the Treaty of Accession enables the institutions of the Union to adopt before accession measures referred to, inter alia, in Article 50 of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Croatia[2]. These measures shall enter into force only subject to and on the date of the entry into force of the Treaty of Accession. Article 50 of the Act of Accession provides that where acts of the institutions adopted prior to accession require adaptation by reason of accession, and the necessary adaptations have not been provided for in this Act or its Annexes, the Council or the Commission (if the original acts were adopted by the Commission) shall adopt the necessary acts. Point 2 of the Final Act[3] refers to the political agreement on a set of adaptations to acts adopted by the institutions which was reached between the Member States and Croatia in the context of the approval of the Treaty of Accession; the High Contracting Parties of the Treaty of Accession invited the Council and the Commission to adopt these adaptations before accession in accordance with Article 50 of the Act of Accession, completed and updated where necessary to take account of the evolution of the law of the Union. The present proposal regroups the technical adaptations to all Council regulations and decisions as well as to all European Parliament and Council regulations and decisions which require technical adaptation by reason of the accession of Croatia, into a single Council regulation. Alongside this proposal for a Council Regulation, the Commission transmits a series of separate proposals for several Council directives to the Council which cover technical adaptations to Council directives as well as to European Parliament and Council directives which also need technical adaptation by reason of the accession of Croatia. Each of these separate proposals for Council directives regroups the technical adaptations which correspond to different negotiation chapters. This structure is designed to facilitate the transposition of the directives by Member States into their respective legal orders, and is in line with the approach which was taken in view of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania[4]. It is foreseen that all the legal acts included in this package will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union at the same date. The present proposal and the other proposals included in this package will take into account technical adaptations to the acquis which were published in the Official Journal of the European Union until 1 September 2012. The reasons for this are to provide sufficient time for the legislative processes involved on the one hand, and for the fulfilment of the ensuing transposition and notification obligations by Member States as regards directives on the other hand. Adaptations which may be necessary to the acquis published in the Official Journal of the European Union after 1 September 2012 will be foreseen in the relevant acts themselves or done at a later stage through the appropriate procedure. In addition, the Commission intends to informally provide a list of such legislation to Member States in early July 2013.
Article 20 Entry into force
1. This Protocol shall enter into force 12 months following the date on which 10 States have either signed it without reservation as to ratification, acceptance or approval or have deposited instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Secretary-General. 2. For any State which ratifies, accepts, approves or accedes to this Protocol after the conditions in paragraph 1 for entry into force have been met, this Protocol shall enter into force 3 months after the date of deposit by such State of the appropriate instrument, but not before this Protocol has entered into force in agreement with paragraph 1.
Article 21 Denunciation
1. This Protocol may be denounced by any State Party at any time after the date on which this Protocol comes into force for that State. 2. Denunciation shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument to that effect with the Secretary-General. 3. A denunciation shall take effect 12 months, or such longer period as may be specified in the instrument of denunciation, after its deposit with the Secretary-General. 4. As between the States Parties to this Protocol, denunciation by any of them of the Convention in accordance with Article 25 thereof shall not be construed in any way as a denunciation of the Convention as revised by this Protocol.
Article 22 Revision and Amendment
1. A Conference for the purpose of revising or amending this Protocol may be convened by the Organization. 2. The Organization shall convene a Conference of States Parties to this Protocol for revising or amending this Protocol at the request of not less than one-third of the States Parties.
Article 23 Amendment of limits
1. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 22, the special procedure in this Article shall apply solely for the purposes of amending the limits set out in Article 3, paragraph 1, Article 4bis, paragraph 1, Article 7, paragraph 1 and Article 8 of the Convention as revised by this Protocol. 2. Upon the request of at least one half, but in no case less than six, of the States Parties to this Protocol, any proposal to amend the limits, including the deductibles, specified in Article 3, paragraph 1, Article 4bis, paragraph 1, Article 7, paragraph 1, and Article 8 of the Convention as revised by this Protocol shall be circulated by the Secretary-General to all Members of the Organization and to all States Parties. 3. Any amendment proposed and circulated as above shall be submitted to the Legal Committee of the Organization (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Legal Committee’) for consideration at a date at least 6 months after the date of its circulation. 4. All States Parties to the Convention as revised by this Protocol, whether or not Members of the Organization, shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings of the Legal Committee for the consideration and adoption of amendments. 5. Amendments shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the States Parties to the Convention as revised by this Protocol present and voting in the Legal Committee expanded as provided for in paragraph 4, on condition that at least one half of the States Parties to the Convention as revised by this Protocol shall be present at the time of voting. 6. When acting on a proposal to amend the limits, the Legal Committee shall take into account the experience of incidents and, in particular, the amount of damage resulting therefrom, changes in the monetary values and the effect of the proposed amendment on the cost of insurance. 7. (a) No amendment of the limits under this Article may be considered less than 5 years from the date on which this Protocol was opened for signature nor less than 5 years from the date of entry into force of a previous amendment under this Article. (b) No limit may be increased so as to exceed an amount which corresponds to the limit laid down in the Convention as revised by this Protocol increased by six per cent per year calculated on a compound basis from the date on which this Protocol was opened for signature. (c) No limit may be increased so as to exceed an amount which corresponds to the limit laid down in the Convention as revised by this Protocol multiplied by three. 8. Any amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 5 shall be notified by the Organization to all States Parties. The amendment shall be deemed to have been accepted at the end of a period of eighteen months after the date of notification, unless within that period not less than one fourth of the States that were States Parties at the time of the adoption of the amendment have communicated to the Secretary-General that they do not accept the amendment, in which case the amendment is rejected and shall have no effect. 9. An amendment deemed to have been accepted in accordance with paragraph 8 shall enter into force eighteen months after its acceptance. 10. All States Parties shall be bound by the amendment, unless they denounce this Protocol in accordance with Article 21, paragraphs 1 and 2 at least 6 months before the amendment enters into force. Such denunciation shall take effect when the amendment enters into force. 11. When an amendment has been adopted but the eighteen-month period for its acceptance has not yet expired, a State which becomes a State Party during that period shall be bound by the amendment if it enters into force. A State which becomes a State Party after that period shall be bound by an amendment which has been accepted in accordance with paragraph 8. In the cases referred to in this paragraph, a State becomes bound by an amendment when that amendment enters into force, or when this Protocol enters into force for that State, if later.
Article 24 Depositary
1. This Protocol and any amendments adopted under Article 23 shall be deposited with the Secretary-General. 2. The Secretary-General shall: (a) inform all States which have signed or acceded to this Protocol of: (i) each new signature or deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession together with the date thereof; (ii) each declaration and communication under Article 9, paragraphs 2 and 3, Article 18, paragraph 1 and Article 19, paragraph 4 of the Convention as revised by this Protocol; (iii) the date of entry into force of this Protocol; (iv) any proposal to amend the limits which has been made in accordance with Article 23, paragraph 2 of this Protocol; (v) any amendment which has been adopted in accordance with Article 23, paragraph 5 of this Protocol; (vi) any amendment deemed to have been accepted under Article 23, paragraph 8 of this Protocol, together with the date on which that amendment shall enter into force in accordance with paragraphs 9 and 10 of that Article; (vii) the deposit of any instrument of denunciation of this Protocol together with the date of the deposit and the date on which it takes effect; (viii) any communication called for by any Article of this Protocol; (b) transmit certified true copies of this protocol to all States which have signed or acceded to this Protocol. 3. As soon as this Protocol comes into force, the text shall be transmitted by the Secretary-General to the Secretariat of the United Nations for registration and publication in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.
Article 25 Languages
This Protocol is established in a single original in the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each text being equally authentic.