invited to accede to it in accordance with the provisions of Article 20. 2. Any amendment proposed in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be examined by the Standing Committee which:(a) for amendments to Articles 1 to 12, submit the text adopted by a three-quarters majority of the votes cast to the Contracting Parties for acceptance; (b) for amendments to Articles 13 to 24, shall submit the text adopted by a three-quarters majority of the votes cast, to the Committee of Ministers for approval. After its approval, this text shall be forwarded to the Contracting Parties for acceptance. 3. Any amendment shall enter into force on the 30th day after all the Contracting Parties have informed the Secretary General that they have accepted it. 4. The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 (a) and 3 of this Article shall apply to the adoption of new Appendices to this Convention. Article 171. Any amendment to the Appendices to this Convention proposed by a Contracting Party or the Committee of Ministers, shall be communicated to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and forwarded by him at least two months before the meeting of the Standing Committee to the Member States of the Council of Europe, to any signatory, to any Contracting Party, to any State invited to sign this Convention in accordance with the provisions of Article 19 and to any State invited to accede to it in accordance with the provisions of Article 20. 2. Any amendment proposed in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be examined by the Standing Committee, which may adopt it by a two-thirds majority of the Contracting Parties. The text adopted shall be forwarded to the Contracting Parties. 3. Three months after its adoption by the Standing Committee and unless one-third of the Contracting Parties have notified objections, any amendment shall enter into force for those Contracting Parties which have not notified objections. CHAPTER VIII Settlement of disputesArticle 181. The Standing Committee shall use its best endeavours to facilitate a friendly settlement of any difficulty to which the execution of this Convention may give rise. 2. Any dispute between Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention which has not been settled on the basis of the provisions of the preceding paragraph or by negotiation between the parties concerned shall, unless the said parties agree otherwise, be submitted, at the request of one of them, to arbitration. Each party shall designate an arbitrator and the two arbitrators shall designate a third arbitrator. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 3 of this Article, if one of the parties has not designated its arbitrator within the three months following the request for arbitration, he shall be designated at the request of the other party by the President of the European Court of Human Rights within a further three-month period. The same procedure shall be observed if the arbitrators cannot agree on the choice of the third arbitrator within the three months following the designation of the two first arbitrators. 3. In the event of a dispute between two Contracting Parties one of which is a Member State of the European Economic Community, the latter itself being a Contracting Party, the other Contracting Party shall address the request for arbitration both to the Member State and to the Community; which jointly shall notify it, within two months of receipt of the request, whether the Member State or the Community, or the member and the Community jointly, shall be party to the dispute. In the absence of such notification within the said time limit, the Member State and the Community shall be considered as being one and the same party to the dispute for the purposes of the application of the provisions governing the constitution and procedure of the arbitration tribunal. The same shall apply when the Member State and the Community jointly present themselves as party to the dispute. 4. The arbitration tribunal shall draw up its own Rules of Procedure. Its decisions shall be taken by majority vote. Its award shall be final and binding. 5. Each party to the dispute shall bear the expenses of the arbitrator designated by it and the parties shall share equally the expenses of the third arbitrator, as well as other costs entailed by the arbitration. CHAPTER IX Final provisionsArticle 191. This Convention shall be open for signature by the Member States of the Council of Europe and non-member States which have participated in its elaboration and by the European Economic Community. Up until the date when the Convention enters into force, it is also open to signature by any other State so invited by the Committee of Ministers. The Convention is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. 2. The Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the expiry of a period of three months after the date on which five States, including at least four Member States of the Council of Europe, have expressed their consent to be bound by the Convention in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph. 3. In respect of any signatory State or the European Economic Community which subsequently express their consent to be bound by