Status of the HNS Convention and 2010 Protocol
IOPC Funds’ Director, Gaute Sivertsen (left), joins Arsenio Dominguez (fourth from left), Secretary-General of IMO, and Ambassadors of Belgium, Germany, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Sweden on the occasion of the States’ deposit of instruments of accession/ratification to the 2010 HNS Protocol at IMO Headquarters on 14 April 2026.
Status of Status of Accession/Ratification
The 2010 HNS Protocol will enter into force on 29 November 2027, 18 months after the date on which all the requirements set out under the Convention were met.
The conditions for entry into force included:
- ratification/accession by at least twelve States, including four States each with not less than 2 million units of gross tonnage,
- those States to have received collectively during the preceding calendar year a total quantity of at least 40 million tonnes of cargo that would be contributing to the general account.
By 29 May 2026, the following twelve States had acceded to/ratified the 2010 HNS Convention:
| Belgium | France |
Slovakia |
| Canada | Germany | South Africa |
| Denmark | the Kingdom of the Netherlands | Sweden |
| Estonia | Norway |
Türkiye |
The most recent deposits of instruments of ratification or accession to the 2010 HNS Convention with the Secretary-General of IMO were undertaken by Belgium, Germany, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Sweden at the 113th session of the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in April 2026.
As a result, the condition regarding the number of parties required to trigger the entry into force of the 2010 HNS Convention was met. In addition, with those ratifications and accessions, there were nine Contracting Parties having more than 2 million units of gross tonnage in their domestic shipping registries, thus well above the four required by Article 46 of the HNS Convention.
The final criterion for the entry into force of the 2010 HNS Convention was met on 29 May 2026 when it was confirmed that all contracting States had completed the submission of their contributing cargo reports for 2025 and the total amount of contributing cargo reported to the general account was 49 484 117 tonnes, comfortably above the threshold established by the Convention..
Next steps
Since the 2010 Diplomatic Conference which adopted the HNS Protocol, the Director of the IOPC Funds has been tasked with carrying out the necessary work to establish the HNS Fund and to prepare for the first session of the HNS Fund Assembly, in collaboration with the IMO.
At their recent sessions in May 2026, the governing bodies of the IOPC Funds celebrated the ratifications of the Convention in April and noted that a major milestone had been achieved. In anticipation of the final remaining condition in respect of the submission of the reports being fulfilled by 31 May 2026, the 1992 Fund Administrative Council took a number of decisions to facilitate the preparations for the entry into force of the Convention and the establishment of the HNS Fund.
Notably, following the recommendation of the HNS Convention Contracting States, it decided to approve the co-location of the headquarters of the HNS Fund with the IOPC Funds’ Secretariat in London and decided that the new Fund should have the same Director as the IOPC Funds.
Now that the 18-month period is underway, the IOPC Funds’ Secretariat, in close cooperation with the IMO Secretariat, has increased its work as part of a structured plan to ensure all necessary arrangements are in place for the smooth implementation of the Convention and establishment of a robust, secure and fully functioning HNS Fund.
The IOPC Funds and IMO Secretariats remain available to support States and potential contributors in their efforts to prepare for ratification or accession to the HNS Convention.
States seeking further information or assistance are encouraged to contact the IOPC Funds Secretariat via [email protected].