Article 5
1. A third party may become a Contracting Party to this Convention, provided that the candidate country or territory has a free trade agreement in force, providing for preferential rules of origin, with at least one of the Contracting Parties. 2. A third party shall submit a written request for accession to the depositary. 3. The depositary shall submit the request to the Joint Committee for its consideration. 4. The decision of the Joint Committee inviting a third party to accede to this Convention shall be sent to the depositary, which shall, within two months, forward it, together with a text of the Convention in force on that date, to the requesting third party. One single Contracting Party may not oppose that decision. 5. A third party invited to become a Contracting Party to this Convention shall do so by depositing an instrument of accession with the depositary. The said instruments shall be accompanied by a translation of the Convention into the official language(s) of the acceding third party. 6. The accession shall become effective on the first day of the second month following the depositing of the instrument of accession. 7. The depositary shall notify all Contracting Parties of the date on which the instrument of accession was deposited and the date on which the accession will become effective. 8. Recommendations and decisions of the Joint Committee referred to in Article 4(2) and (3) adopted between the date of submission of the request referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article and the date on which accession becomes effective shall also be communicated to the acceding third party via the depositary. A declaration accepting such acts shall be inserted either in the instrument of accession or in a separate instrument deposited with the depositary within six months of the communication. If the declaration is not deposited within that period, the accession shall be considered void. 9. From the date referred to in paragraph 4, the third party concerned may be represented with observer status in the Joint Committee and any sub-committee and working groups.