EU accedes to the 2002 Protocol to the Athens Convention 05 January 2012

The EU acceded to the 2002 Protocol to the Athens Convention on 15 December 2011.  This does not count towards the number of necessary accessions or ratifications; there are currently seven contracting states to the Protocol, with ten needed.  It does mean that EU member states can now go ahead and accede to the Protocol subject to their own parliamentary/legislative procedures.