ICC member states late Friday agreed to add aggression to the list of the court's prosecutable offences, and reached a compromise on how such offences could be referred to the court, officials said. But the new deal will not come into force until 2017 at the earliest, they said. The amendment states that the UN Security Council will hold primary responsibility for determining whether an act of aggression has occurred. But where the Security Council takes no action, the ICC prosecutor or a state party could initiate an aggression case. The amendment provides for the Security Council to be able to halt any aggression case initiated by the prosecution or by a state party by passing a resolution to that affect. But such a resolution would need to be renewed every 12 months to stop the prosecution going ahead. ICC states can exempt themselves from jurisdiction over the crime of aggression by submitting a declaration of non-acceptance to the court. Citizens of countries not party to the court will also be immune from prosecution. Those exemptions, however, will not apply in cases where the Security Council has determined aggression has occurred. Christian Wenaweser, president of the assembly of state parties of the International Criminal Court, thanked the states for willingness to find a solution, as the two-week review conference drew to a close. 