10 II. ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES A. The Convention and its Protocols 22. The Convention was ratified by an additional five States during 1994; Slovenia deposited its instrument of ratification in February, Bulgaria and Slovakia in May, and Poland and Romania in October. To date, the Convention is in force in respect of 29 of the 34 member States of the Council of Europe2. 23. The two Protocols amending the Convention3, which were opened for signature on 4 November 1993, were signed and/or ratified by a number of States during 1994. It should be recalled that before the Protocols can enter into force, they must be ratified (or signed without reservation as to ratification) by all the Parties to the Convention. To date, 16 of the current 29 Parties to the Convention have taken this step, and 10 of the remaining 13 Parties have signed the Protocols with reservation as to ratification4. 24. The CPT is somewhat concerned by the time being taken for the entry into force of Protocol No. 2. Unlike the 1st Protocol, this is a technical text, providing mainly for the grouping of the CPT members for election purposes, along the lines of the system already followed in the European Commission of Human Rights. The entry into force of this Protocol will make it possible to avoid the current profusion of different term of office expiry dates (see Appendix 2 A) and thereby greatly facilitate the CPT's work, in particular as regards the organisation of visits and the membership of delegations. The CPT therefore hopes that those Parties to the Convention which have not yet consented to be bound by Protocol No. 2 shall expedite the domestic procedures required for this step to be taken. In this context, consideration might usefully be given to dealing with Protocol No. 2 quite separately from Protocol No. 1. 2 3 4 See Appendix 1 A for the state of signatures and ratifications of the Convention. Protocol No. 1 "opens" the Convention by providing that the Committee of Ministers may invite any non-member State to accede to it; Protocol No. 2 introduces amendments regarding the renewal of the CPT's membership and provides that members may be reelected twice. See Appendix 1 B and C for the state of signatures and ratifications of the Protocols.