Article 36 Territorial application clause 1. Any State may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession declare that this Convention shall extend to all or any of the territories for the international relations of which it is responsible. Such a declaration shall take effect when the Convention enters into force for the State concerned. 2. At any time thereafter any such extension shall be made by notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and shall take effect as from the ninetieth day after the day of receipt by the Secretary-General of the United Nations of this notification, or as from the date of entry into force of the Convention for the State concerned, whichever is the later. 3. With respect to those territories to which this Convention is not extended at the time of signature, ratification or accession, each State concerned shall consider the possibility of taking the necessary steps in order to extend the application of this Convention to such territories, subject, where necessary for constitutional reasons, to the consent of the Governments of such territories. This article provoked certain discussion in the conference, in connection with a Dutch proposal (E/CONF.17/L.6) which sought to amend the corresponding article of the Refugee Convention so as to permit dependent territories to make, through the metropolitan government, reservations to the substantive article of the Convention in order to bring them 235 in accord with their local legislation. The proposal was withdrawn when it was explained that the reservation clause (Article 38) refers also to the territorial application of the Convention. The inclusion of this Article in the Convention was approved by 13 votes to one, with 3 236 abstentions. 237 This Article is more or less a standard provision under the United Nations. Paragraph 1 permits variations in the geographical application but only insofar as dependent territories are concerned. States may not restrict it to parts of their metropolitan territory, neither under Article 36 nor under Article 38. Paragraph 2 is the result of the freedom granted to states regarding the geographical application of the Convention: once it is left to their discretion to extend it to any of their dependencies, they may do so at any time by unilateral notification. Paragraph 3 is an innovation introduced by the Refugee Conference. It is a moral obligation on the part of the Contracting States to extend the application of the Convention wherever possible. Article 37 Federal clause In the case of a Federal or non-unitary State the following provisions shall apply. (a) With respect to those articles of this Convention that come within the legislative jurisdiction of the federal legislative authority, the obligations of the Federal Government shall to this extent be the same as those of Parties which are not Federal States. 235 See the statement by the Israel representative (SR.13, p. 3). 236 SR.13, pp. 2-4. 237 For a survey on the United Nations practice in regard to the "colonial clause", see Yuen-li Liang "Notes on Legal Questions Concerning the United Nations" (Colonial Clauses and Federal Clauses in United Nations Multilateral Instruments)", 108, American Journal of International Law 45; see also A/CONF.2/21.