A "European Conference of Ministers of Transport" (hereinafter referred to as the "Conference") is hereby organised.

The Conference shall include:

(a)

A Council of Ministers of Transport (hereafter referred to as the Council);

(b)

A Committee of Alternates (hereafter referred to as the Committee);

These two bodies are assisted by an Administrative Secretariat.

The objectives of the Conference are:

(a)

Take all measures designed to achieve, within a general or regional framework, the best use and the most rational development of European inland transport of international importance;

(b)

To coordinate and promote the work of the International Organisations interested in European inland transport, taking into account the activities of the supranational authorities in this field.

The Contracting Parties to this Protocol shall be members of the Conference.

2. Associate members of the Conference shall be the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada, if they so request, as well as any other government whose application for membership as an associate member has been approved unanimously By the Council.

3. Associate members may be represented by observers at all meetings of the Council and the Committee. All documents emanating from the Conference are communicated to them.

The Council is composed of Ministers who have internal transport within their own government. In the event that, in a government, various matters of internal transport fall within the competence of two or more Ministers, they may participate in the work of the Council, provided that no member government has more than one Votes in the Council.

The Committee shall be composed of officials appointed on the basis of a substitute by the Minister, on the understanding that no member Government shall have more than one vote in the Committee.

The role of the Committee is to:

(a)

Prepare Council meetings;

(b)

Deal with matters for which a delegation would be given to it by the Council;

(c)

To inform the Council of the measures taken in the various countries to give effect to the conclusions reached in the Conference.

(a) The administrative seat of the Conference shall be fixed in Paris. The Council shall meet at the administrative seat of the Conference or at any other place, as it shall decide. The Committee shall normally meet at the administrative seat of the Conference and may meet in another place if the Council so decides, in agreement with the Government concerned.

(b) The Administrative Secretariat is administratively attached to the Secretariat of the European Economic Cooperation Organization, but in the performance of its functions, it depends solely on the Conference. The Administrative Secretaries shall be appointed with the approval of the Conference. They are responsible for the drafting of agendas, minutes and minutes of meetings of the Council and the Committee. They record the conclusions of the Conference and are responsible for the distribution of documents and the preservation of the archives of the Conference.

(a) Restricted groups may be formed to study and continue the discussion, within the framework of the Conference, of issues of particular interest to certain members and returning to the objectives of the Conference.

(b) The formation of a small group shall be notified to the Council, which shall be kept informed of the general progress of the work of that group.

(c) Other members, if they consider themselves interested, will be allowed to follow the studies and discussions of the Restricted Group, but may not object to them being pursued in the course of the Conference.

(a) The conclusions of the Conference shall be implemented in the countries which have joined the Conference; for that purpose, the Ministers of Transport concerned shall either take or propose each as far as it is concerned, and within its competence All appropriate measures.

(b) If the conclusion of a general or restricted international agreement appears to be necessary, each Minister of Transport concerned shall require his Government to grant full powers to himself, or to one or more persons To conclude this international agreement. Any international agreement concluded between a number of member governments will be open to the accession of other member governments.

(c) In certain special cases, the Conference or a Restricted Group may, through a unanimous vote, and notwithstanding the provisions of paras. (a) and (b) above, transmit its findings to an international organization of decision-making authority, requesting that it adopt that conclusion, as a decision of its own.

(d) Any government that is a member of the Conference, but does not accede to an international organization that would have made a decision under the provisions of para. (c) above, may notify the Conference of its intention to act as if it were bound by that decision.

(a) The European Economic Cooperation Organization shall be invited to take responsibility for the salaries and expenses of the Administrative Secretariat and to provide the material resources necessary for the proper functioning of the Conference. However, when one of the organs of the Conference meets outside its headquarters, the inviting country shall bear the costs of the meeting, subject to the salaries of the Administrative Secretariat which are the responsibility of the European Organization Economic Cooperation.

(b) Governments that are members of the Conference that are not members of the European Economic Cooperation Organization shall contribute to the expenses of the Conference in accordance with the special provisions to be agreed between those Governments and the Organization European Economic Cooperation.

(c) The conditions of application of this article and of the art. 7 above will be the subject of an arrangement between the Conference and the European Organisation for Economic Cooperation.

(a) The Conference may establish relations with international, supranational, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations interested in European inland transport issues.

(b) If the Conference has identified specific technical issues which may require a particular study, the Council or the Committee shall, whenever possible and in the manner that it deems most appropriate, entrust to an organization International, intergovernmental or non-governmental competent, interested in European inland transport, the task of carrying out the necessary studies. Based on these studies, the Committee submits its findings to the Board for approval.

(c)

(1) It is recognised that the Conference has a major interest in consulting the European Organisation for Economic Cooperation on European inland transport issues of general economic interest, and also consulting others Organizations referred to in s. (a) above on transportation issues that are in their respective fields. This consultation will be of a reciprocal nature whenever possible.

(2)

If the European Economic Cooperation Organisation considers that a matter under consideration by the Conference is of general economic interest, it may require unanimity to be consulted, on the understanding that the Conference may also Problems of its own competence, request under the same conditions to be consulted by the European Organisation for Economic Cooperation.

The rules of procedure annexed to this Protocol shall govern the work of the Conference.

2. The Council may revise or supplement the Rules of Procedure by a unanimous decision.

This Protocol may be amended by the Council, the Ministers having to decide unanimously and be in possession of full powers of their Government; the amendments shall enter into force as soon as all Member Governments have approved them.

This Protocol shall remain open for signature in Brussels until the ^Er May 1954 to all the governments represented at the European Conference of Ministers of Transport held in Brussels from 13 to 17 October 1953.

2. Each of these Governments may become a Contracting Party to this Protocol:

(a)

By signature without reservation of ratification;

(b)

By signature subject to ratification, followed by ratification.

3. In the cases referred to in s. 2 (b) of this Article, the instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Government of Belgium and the ratification shall take effect on the date of deposit of the instruments. Notification will be made by the Government of Belgium to the Governments referred to in paragraph 1 above.

(4) This Protocol shall enter into force as soon as at least six Governments have approved it on a final basis, either by signature without reservation of ratification or by signature followed by ratification. For each Government which, after the entry into force of this Protocol, shall sign it without reservation of ratification or ratification, the Protocol shall enter into force at the time of that signature or ratification.

5. However, pending the entry into force of this Protocol, the Governments which have signed it subject to ratification shall agree, in order to avoid any delay, to implement it as soon as its signature, on a provisional basis, for As long as their respective constitutional requirements permit.

1. Any non-signatory European Government may become a Contracting Party to this Protocol, by acceding to it after its request to be a member of the Conference has been unanimously approved by the Council.

2. Instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Government of Belgium and accession shall take effect upon their deposit.

Any Member Government may denounce this Protocol by giving six months' notice to the Belgian Government, which shall notify it to the other Member Governments.

In witness whereof, The undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly authorized to that effect, have signed this Protocol.

Done at Brussels, on 17 October 1953, in English and in French, the two texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of Belgium, which shall transmit certified copies thereof to all Participating governments.

(Suivent signatures)