Article 31 Entry into force

1. This Agreement shall enter into force definitively on 1 January 2017, provided that at least five of the Contracting Parties among those mentioned in annex A to this Agreement and accounting for at least 80 per cent of the participation shares out of the total 1,000 participation shares have signed this Agreement definitively or have ratified, accepted or approved it, or acceded thereto.

2. If, on 1 January 2017, this Agreement has not entered into force in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article, it shall enter into force provisionally if by that date Contracting Parties satisfying the percentage requirements of paragraph 1 of this article have signed this Agreement definitively or have ratified, accepted or approved it, or have notified the depositary that they will apply this Agreement provisionally.

3. If, on 31 December 2016, the requirements for entry into force under paragraph 1 or paragraph 2 of this article have not been met, the depositary shall invite those Contracting Parties which have signed this Agreement definitively or have ratified, accepted or approved it, or have notified that they will apply this Agreement provisionally, to decide whether to bring this Agreement into force definitively or provisionally among themselves, in whole or in part, on such date as they may determine.

4. For any Contracting Party which deposits an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession after the entry into force of this Agreement, this Agreement shall enter into force on the date of such deposit.