Art. 102(1) of the United Nations Charter mandates that every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations shall be registered with the UN Secretariat and published by it. The General Assembly has adopted Regulations implementing this provision in Res. 97(I), 364B(IV), 482(V) and 33/141A.

Under Art. 102(2) of the UN Charter, noncompliance with this obligation would mean that the treaty cannot be invoked before any organ of the United Nations. Under Art. 92 of the UN Charter, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Therefore, without registration of the Convention, its Art. 64, providing for the settlement of disputes concerning the Convention's interpretation or application by the ICJ, would not be operative.

The Convention was registered with the Secretariat of the United Nations on 17 October 1966 under Registration Number 8359. It was published in the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) in Vol. 575 at pp. 19 et seq.