"The undersigned Members of the League of Nations undertake to participate in an International Conference for the Reduction of Armaments which shall be convened by the Council of the League and shall meet at Geneva on Monday, the 15th June, 1925. States not Members of the League of Nations shall be invited to this Conference. "The ratifications of the present Protocol shall be deposited with the Secretariat of the League of Nations at the latest by the 1st May, 1925. If at least fifteen Members of the League, of which four are permanently represented on the Council, have not deposited their ratification by the 1st, May 1925, the Secretary-General of the League shall cancel the invitations. "The entry into force of the present Protocol shall be suspended until a plan for the reduction of armaments has been adopted by the Conference. "With a view to the summoning of the latter, the Council, taking into account the undertakings contained in articles 7 and 8 of the present Protocol, will prepare a general programme for the reduction of armaments which will be placed at the disposal of the Conference. "If, within a period of (Transcriber's note: blank space in source) after the adoption of the plan for the reduction of armaments, that plan has not been carried out, the Council shall make a declaration to that effect; this declaration shall under the present Protocol be null and void. "The grounds on which the Council may declare that the plan drawn up by the International Conference for the Reduction of Armaments has not been carried out, and that in consequence the present {259} rendered null and void, shall be laid down by the Conference itself. "A signatory State which, after the expiration of the period fixed above, fails to comply with the plan adopted by the Conference, shall not be admitted to benefit by the application of sanctions provided in the present Protocol." 120. The sub-committee adopted a proposal to add to the third paragraph "and communicated to Governments two months previously." In view of representations made by the Japanese Delegation, this was subsequently altered to "and communicated to Governments at the earliest possible date, and at the latest three months before the Conference meets." 121. The Swedish Delegation proposed that a clause should be added to the effect that "the present Protocol in no way effects obligations arising out of the Covenant." It was agreed that a clause to this effect could be either added or inserted as a separate article. The latter alternative was eventually adopted (see article 19 of the final Protocol). 122. After some discussion, the number of ratifications required in paragraph 2 of this article was finally fixed as now provided in the Protocol (see paragraph 4 of article 21 of the final Protocol).