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Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables

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Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables
Signed14 March 1884 (1884-03-14)[1]
LocationParis, France[1]
Effective1 May 1888[1]
ConditionExchange of ratifications
Signatories27
Parties36 (as of 2013)[2]
Ratifiers47
DepositaryGovernment of the French Republic[3]
Full text
Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables at Wikisource

The Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables is a multilateral treaty that was signed in 1884 in order to protect submarine communications cables that had begun to be laid in the 19th century.

Content

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The convention made it a punishable offence to damage submarine communications cables. In addition, all ships were to be regulated to staying a distance of 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) away from cable laying ships when in operation. Any ship that accidentally hooked a cable and sacrificed its fishing nets to avoid breaking it would be compensated for the lost equipment.[3]

State parties

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The convention has been signed, ratified, and acceded to by the following parties. A number of dependent territories ratified the convention or had the convention extended to them.

For states that were not original signatories, the date they accepted the convention is indicated.

State Signature Ratification Notes
 Algeria – 1976
 Argentina 1884 1885
 Australia – 1901 Upon federation, Australia accepted the ratifications of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia to be applicable to the Commonwealth of Australia.
 Austria-Hungary 1884 1885 Austria and Hungary both submitted separate notifications of succession.
Austria Austria – 1921 Notification of succession of ratification by Austria-Hungary.
 Belgium 1884 1885
Empire of Brazil Brazil 1884 1885
Canada Canada – 1888 Extension by the United Kingdom to cover Canada.
British Cape Colony Cape Colony – 1888 This ratification no longer has any force for any state; South Africa has not declared its succession to the ratification.
 Colombia 1884 –
 Costa Rica 1884 1885
 Czechoslovakia – 1925 This ratification no longer has any force for any state; neither the Czech Republic nor Slovakia have declared their succession to the ratification.
 Free City of Danzig – 1926 This ratification no longer has any force for any state.
 Denmark 1884 1885
 Dominican Republic 1884 1885
 El Salvador 1884 1885
 Fiji – 1971
France France 1884 1885
German Empire Germany 1884 1885
Greece Greece 1884 1888
 Guatemala 1884 1885
Hungary Hungary – 1922 Notification of succession of the ratification by Austria-Hungary.
Iran Iran (Persia) 1884 –
Kingdom of Italy Italy 1884 1885
Empire of Japan Japan – 1884
 Luxembourg 1884 1885
 Malta – 1968
Natal – 1888 This ratification no longer has any force for any state; South Africa has not declared its succession to the ratification.
 Netherlands 1884 1885 Also applied to the colonies of the Dutch East Indies, Territory of Curaçao and Suriname (1892). Presently still applies to the territories making up the Territory of Curaçao: Aruba (1986), Curaçao (2010), Sint Maarten (2010), Caribbean Netherlands (2010)
Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland – 1888 Extension by the United Kingdom to cover Newfoundland; this ratification is now subsumed within Canada's.
New South Wales New South Wales – 1888 This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
New Zealand New Zealand – 1888 Extension by the United Kingdom to cover New Zealand.
 Norway – 1905 Convention previously applied to Norway via the ratification of Sweden-Norway.
 Ottoman Empire 1884 1885 This ratification now applied to Turkey.
Poland Poland – 1934
Portugal Portugal 1884 1885
Queensland Queensland – 1886 This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
Romania Romania 1884 1886
Russia Russia 1884 1885
Kingdom of Serbia Serbia 1884 1885 This ratification was previously accepted as applicable to it by Yugoslavia and by Serbia and Montenegro.
South Australia South Australia – 1885 This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
Spain Spain 1884 1885
Union between Sweden and Norway Sweden-Norway 1884 1885 This ratification now applies to Sweden.
Tasmania Tasmania – 1888 This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
 Tunisia – 1889
 United Kingdom 1884 1885
 United States 1884 1885
 Uruguay 1884 1885
Victoria (state) Victoria – 1885 This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
Western Australia Western Australia – 1888 This ratification is now subsumed within the Convention's application to Australia.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c "International Convention on the Protection of Submarine Cables, with additional Article". Government of the Netherlands. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  2. ^ "Submarine Cables". Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables (Paris, 14 March 1884)" (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
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