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The key aim was to get the High Seas Treaty ratified by 60 countries to bring it into force.

Both the House of Commons and House of Lords have until 3 July to pass a resolution to oppose the deal being ratified.

President Macron declared in his opening speech that an additional 15 had ratified but that only brings the total number to 47.

The treaty will not come into force until it is ratified by 60 countries, with the current number standing at 28.

By December 1976, the bill had been passed by both houses of parliament and ratified by 13 state legislatures and signed into law by the president.