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Evangelos Raftopoulos
reveal the need for replacing, instead of amending it, in its entirety
20
or
specific aspects of it. On the other hand, it is worth noting that the deci-
sion on replacement is usually promoted and supported by the
powerful
core of the contracting parties
when, being under pressure, they consider as
a necessity the timely entry into force of the renegotiated textual instru-
ment. Under this perspective, it is clear that the required low minimum of
ratifications to this effect has a relational importance: it forms, from the
outset, a proper base for an effective new regime governance, thus exer-
cising considerable leverage over the process of ratification by the rest of
the contracting parties.
The combination of the above criteria was underlying the decision of
the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention system to approve
the replacement instead of the amendment of two of its Protocols, in
spite of an initial institutional mandate to amendment. Thus, the recom-
mendation by the Eighth Meeting of the Contracting Parties (Antalya,
Turkey, 1993) calling upon the Contracting Parties to amend the Barcelo-
na Convention and its Protocols initiated a renegotiation process that led
to the amendment of the 1976 Barcelona Convention, the 1976 Dumping
Protocol and the 1980 Land-Based Sources Protocol, whereas the 1982
Specially Protected Areas Protocol was decided to be replaced by the new
1995 Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity Protocol. In a similar
fashion, some years later, the recommendation by the Twelfth Meeting of
the Contracting Parties (Monaco, 2001) to amend the 1976 Emergency
Protocol initiated a renegotiation process that was concluded by the re-
placement of the this Protocol by the new 2002 Prevention and Emer-
gency Protocol, a decision strongly supported by France (especially under
the terrible accident of ERIKA), but also by Spain and Italy.
20. A characteristic instance of it is the
1992 Paris Convention for the Protection of
the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic
that replaced both the
1972
Oslo Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and
Aircraft
and the
1974 Paris Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from
Land-Based Sources.
The initial decision to revise the 1972 Oslo and the 1974
Paris Conventions by the Contracting Parties was followed by the decision
to merge them into a single Convention, instead of revising each Convention
separately, was based on considerations of better environmental conventional
governance.
