Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables

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.

Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables

Signed	14 March 1884 (1884-03-14)[1]
Location	Paris, France[1]
Effective	1 May 1888[1]
Condition	Exchange of ratifications
Signatories	27
Parties	36 (as of 2013)[2]
Ratifiers	47
Depositary	Government of the French Republic[3]
Full text
Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables at Wikisource

Content

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

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	–	1921	Notification of succession of ratification by Austria-Hungary.
Belgium	1884	1885
Brazil	1884	1885
Canada	–	1888	Extension by the United Kingdom to cover Canada.
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	1884	1885
Germany	1884	1885
Greece	1884	1888
Guatemala	1884	1885
Hungary	–	1922	Notification of succession of the ratification by Austria-Hungary.
Iran (Persia)	1884	–
Italy	1884	1885
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)
Newfoundland	–	1888	Extension by the United Kingdom to cover Newfoundland; this ratification is now subsumed within Canada's.
New South Wales	–	1888	This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
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	–	1934
Portugal	1884	1885
Queensland	–	1886	This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
Romania	1884	1886
Russia	1884	1885
Serbia	1884	1885	This ratification was previously accepted as applicable to it by Yugoslavia and by Serbia and Montenegro.
South Australia	–	1885	This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
Spain	1884	1885
Sweden-Norway	1884	1885	This ratification now applies to Sweden.
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	–	1885	This ratification is now subsumed within the convention's application to Australia.
Western Australia	–	1888	This ratification is now subsumed within the Convention's application to Australia.