Treaty

International Convention on maritime search and rescue, 1979

Parties with reservations, declarations and objections

Party Reservations / Declarations Objections
Australia Yes No
Chile Yes No
China Yes No
Colombia Yes No
Costa Rica Yes No
Cyprus Yes No
Greece Yes Yes
Malta Yes No
Russian Federation Yes No
Trinidad and Tobago Yes No
United Kingdom Yes No

Australia

07-11-1983

Australia has a federal constitutional system in which legislative, executive and judicial powers are shared or distributed between the Commonwealth and the constituent States.
The implementation of the Treaty throughout Australia will be effected by the Commonwealth, State and Territory authorities having regard to their respective constitutional powers and arrangements concerning their exercise.

Chile

14-10-1983

The Government of Chile states that the creation of the maritime search and rescue services and the delimitation of the corresponding regions must be carried out strictly in conformity with the standards set forth in paragraph 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 of chapter 2 of the Convention.
The Government of Chile states further that, without prejudice to co-operation with the International Civil Aviation Organization to harmonize aeronautical and maritime search and rescue plans and procedures, as recommended in resolution 1 of the Conference, the Parties to the Convention have full and sovereign liberty to establish within their territory and the waters under their jurisdiction such maritime search and rescue regions as they consider best suited to their interests.

China

24-06-1985

The delimitation of search and rescue regions, as stipulated in the Annex to the Convention 2.1.7, is not related to and shall not prejudice the delimitation of any boundary between States, either is not related to and shall not prejudice the delimitation of any exclusive economic zone and continental shelf between States.

Colombia

10-07-2001

For the purposes of the said instrument, the Republic of Colombia will recognize as regions of search and rescue only those which are established in conformity with the standards established in paragraph 2.1.4 of SAR 79, that is by agreement between the interested Parties. Exceptionally, and for humanitarian reasons only, will the Republic of Colombia provisionally accept the application of other equivalent global means of search and rescue services, strictly subject to the standards established in paragraph 2.1.7 of SAR 79.

Costa Rica

07-01-2019

1 The Government of the Republic of Costa Rica interprets, in relation to article III of the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979, that [future] amendments shall enter into force for the country once they have been approved according to the procedures established in the Political Constitution of Costa Rica.
2 The Government of the Republic of Costa Rica interprets, in relation to chapter 3 "Co-operation" of the Annex to the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979, that such co-operation, in the case of warships in waters under the jurisdiction of Costa Rica, will take place subject to prior legislative authorization, as established in paragraph 5 of article 121 of the Political Constitution of Costa Rica.

Cyprus

29-07-1994

As far as the Republic of Cyprus is concerned, the search and rescue region referred to in paragraphs 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 of the Annex to the present Convention, is the sea area which is included in the region of responsibility of the Republic of Cyprus, which has been delimited on the basis of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944, including the Thirteen Protocols attached thereon from 1947 to 1984, and ratified by the subsequent law of the Republic of Cyprus No. 213 of 1988.

Greece

04-09-1989

Region of responsibility: As far as Greece is concerned, the search and rescue region referred to in paragraph 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 of the Annex to the present Convention is the region within which Greece has already assumed the responsibility for search and rescue purposes, established in accordance with the relevant Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation of 7 December 1944, the regional air navigation plans of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the regulation 15 of Chapter V of the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea of 17 June 1960 (SOLAS 1960).
Such region, which constitutes the most appropriate arrangement in the sense of paragraph 2.1.5 of the Annex to that Convention, was notified to the International Maritime Organization by document No.44/7.1.1975 of the Greek Ministry of Merchant Marine, and Greece has been continuously carrying out within it search and rescue operations.

Objection Türkiye, 13-11-1989

With reference to the IMO document SAR/Circ.41, regarding the ratification of the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979, by the Government of Greece, I am writing to inform you that the Government of Turkey would like to record its formal objection to the reservation made by the Government of Greece on 4 September 1989 at the time of the ratification of the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979.
Paragraphs 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 of the Annex to the Convention clearly stipulate that regions shall be established by agreement and cannot be established unilaterally.
On the other hand, Search and Rescue regions established in accordance with the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation of 7 December 1944, as referred by Greece, pertains exclusively to the SAR services regarding air navigation and as such remains outside the scope of and does not prejudice the Annex to the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue 1979.
In view of the above, the Government of Turkey considers that the Greek reservation is incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention and cannot be construed as a reservation under the international law.
A similar communication dated 30 December 1980 from the Ambassador of Turkey in London was received by the depositary recording "the formal objection" of the Government of Turkey to the same reservation made by the Government of Greece at the time of the signature of the Convention.

Malta

22-12-2005

[...] the Ministry wishes to inform that, after careful consideration of the said amendments [of 2004], in accordance with article III(2)(f) of this Convention, the Government of Malta, as a Contracting Party to the said Convention, declares that it is not yet in a position to accept these amendments.

Russian Federation

25-03-1988

Search and rescue operations in and over the territorial waters (the territorial sea), the inland waters, the land territory of the USSR are performed as a rule by the Soviet rescue units. In exceptional cases entry of the foreign rescue units into and over the Soviet territorial waters (territorial sea), the inland waters and the land territory of the USSR for the purpose of searching and rescuing of the survivors of maritime casualties is performed in accordance with the procedures provided under the laws and regulations of the USSR unless otherwise is provided for by the treaties of the USSR.

Trinidad and Tobago

04-05-1989

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago declares that the delimitation of maritime search and rescue regions pursuant to the provisional Caribbean Maritime Search and Rescue Plan is not related to and does not prejudice in any way the delimitation of maritime boundaries between Trinidad and Tobago and other States.

United Kingdom

22-05-1980

... that the Convention will not enter into force for Gibraltar until 30 days after the date on which the Government of the United Kingdom notify the Secretary-General of the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization that the measures required to implement the provisions of the Convention in Gibraltar have been taken.

Go to top