Czechoslovakia had signed and ratified the Convention on 29 October 1980 and 24 September 1981, respectively, with the following reservation:
"The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic does not consider itself bound by the provisions of article 17, paragraph 1, according to which all disputes between two or more Contracting States concerning the interpretation or in the matter of application of this Convention, not settled by negotiation, shall, unless the States concerned agree on some other method of settlement, be brought before the International Court of Justice for determination by it, and it declares that in every case an agreement of all the parties to the dispute is needed for bringing that dispute before the International Court of Justice."