| CHAPTER II.
ARMAMENT, MUNITIONS AND MATERIAL.
ARTICLE 164.
Up till the time at which Germany is admitted as a
member of the League of Nations the German Army must not possess an
armament greater than the amounts fixed in Table No. II annexed to this
Section, with the exception of an optional increase not exceeding one-twentyfifth
part for small arms and one-fiftieth part for guns, which shall be
exclusively used to provide for such eventual replacements as may be
necessary.
Germany agrees that after she has become a member of
the League of Nations the armaments fixed in the said Table shall remain
in force until they are modified by the Council of the League.
Furthermore she hereby agrees strictly to observe the decisions of the
Council of the League on this subject.
ARTICLE 165.
The maximum number of guns, machine guns,
trench-mortars, rifles and the amount of ammunition and equipment which
Germany is allowed to maintain during the period between the coming into
force of the present Treaty and the date of March 31, 1920, referred to
in Article 160, shall bear the same proportion to the amount authorized
in Table No. III annexed to this Section as the strength of the German
Army as reduced from time to time in accordance with Article 163 bears
to the strength permitted under Article 160.
ARTICLE 166
At the date of March 31, 1920, the stock of munitions
which the German Army may have at its disposal shall not exceed the
amounts fixed in Table No. III annexed to this Section.
Within the same period the German Government will
store these stocks at points to be notified to the Governments of the
Principal Allied and Associated Powers. The German Government is
forbidden to establish any other stocks, depots or reserves of
munitions.
ARTICLE 167.
The number and calibre of the guns constituting at the
date of the coming into force of the present Treaty the armament of the
fortified works, fortresses, and any land or coast forts which Germany
is allowed to retain must be notified immediately by the German
Government to the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated
Powers, and will constitute maximum amounts which may not be exceeded.
Within two months from the coming into force of the
present Treaty, the maximum stock of ammunition for these guns will be
reduced to, and maintained at, the following uniform rates: fifteen
hundred rounds per piece for those the calibre of which is 10.5 cm. and
under: five hundred rounds per piece for those of higher calibre.
ARTICLE 168.
The manufacture of arms, munitions, or any war
material, shall only be carried out in factories or works the location
of which shall be communicated to and approved by the Governments of the
Principal Allied and Associated Powers, and the number of which they
retain the right to restrict.
Within three months from the coming into force of the
present Treaty, all other establishments for the manufacture,
preparation, storage or design of arms, munitions, or any war material
whatever shall be closed down. The same applies to all arsenals except
those used as depots for the authorised stocks of munitions. Within the
same period the personnel of these arsenals will be dismissed.
ARTICLE 169.
Within two months from the coming into force of the
present Treaty German arms, munitions and war material, including
anti-aircraft material, existing in Germany in excess of the quantities
allowed, must be surrendered to the Governments of the Principal Allied
and Associated Powers to be destroyed or rendered useless. This will
also apply to any special plant intended for the manufacture of military
material, except such as may be recognised as necessary for equipping
the authorised strength of the German army.
The surrender in question will be effected at such
points in German territory as may be selected by the said Governments.
Within the same period arms, munitions and war
material, including anti-aircraft material, of origin other than German,
in whatever state they may be, will be delivered to the said
Governments, who will decide as to their disposal.
Arms and munitions which on account of the successive
reductions in the strength of the German army become in excess of the
amounts authorised by Tables II and III annexed to this Section must be
handed over in the manner laid down above within such periods as may be
decided by the Conferences referred to in Article 163.
ARTICLE 170.
Importation into Germany of arms, munitions and war
material of every kind shall be strictly prohibited.
The same applies to the manufacture for, and export
to, foreign countries of arms, munitions and war material of every kind.
ARTICLE 171
The use of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and
all analogous liquids, materials or devices being prohibited, their
manufacture and importation are strictly forbidden in Germany.
The same applies to materials specially intended for
the manufacture, storage and use of the said products or devices.
The manufacture and the importation into Germany of
armoured cars, tanks and all similar constructions suitable for use in
war are also prohibited.
ARTICLE 172.
Within a period of three months from the coming into
force of the present Treaty, the German Government will disclose to the
Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers the nature and
mode of manufacture of all explosives, toxic substances or other like
chemical preparations used by them in the war or prepared by them for
the purpose of being so used.
CHAPTER III
RECRUITING AND MILITARY TRAINING
ARTICLE 173.
Universal compulsory military service shall be
abolished in Germany.
The German Army may only be constituted and recruited
by means of voluntary enlistment.
ARTICLE 174
The period of enlistment for non-commissioned officers
and privates must be twelve consecutive years.
The number of men discharged for any reason before the
expiration of their term of enlistment must not exceed in any year five
per cent. of the total effectives fixed by the second subparagraph of
paragraph (I) of Article 160 of the present Treaty.
ARTICLE 175.
The officers who are retained in the Army must
undertake the obligation to serve in it up to the age of forty-five
years at least.
Officers newly appointed must undertake to serve on
the active list for twenty-five consecutive years at least.
Officers who have previously belonged to any
formations whatever of the Army, and who are not retained in the units
allowed to be maintained, must not take part in any military exercise
whether theoretical or practical, and will not be under any military
obligations whatever.
The number of officers discharged for any reason
before the expiration of their term of service must not exceed in any
year five per cent. of the total effectives of officers provided for in
the third sub-paragraph (I) of Article 160 of the present Treaty.
ARTICLE 176.
On the expiration of two months from the coming into
force of the present Treaty there must only exist in Germany the number
of military schools which is absolutely indispensable for the
recruitment of the officers of the units allowed. These schools will be
exclusively intended for the recruitment of officers of each arm, in the
proportion of one school per arm.
The number of students admitted to attend the courses
of the said schools will be strictly in proportion to the vacancies to
be filled in the cadres of officers. The students and the cadres will be
reckoned in the effectives fixed by the second and third subparagraphs
of paragraph (I) of Article 160 of the present Treaty.
Consequently, and during the period fixed above, all
military academies or similar institutions in Germany, as well as the
different military schools for officers, student officers (Aspiranten),
cadets, non-commissioned officers or student non-commissioned officers (Aspiranten),
other than the schools above provided for, will be abolished.
ARTICLE 171.
Educational establishments, the universities,
societies of discharged soldiers, shooting or touring clubs and,
generally speaking associations of every description, whatever be the
age of their members, must not occupy themselves with any military
matters.
In particular they will be forbidden to instruct or
exercise their members or to allow them to be instructed or exercised,
in the profession or use of arms.
These societies, associations, educational
establishments and universities must have no connection with the
Ministries of War or any other military authority.
ARTICLE l78.
All measures of mobilisation or appertaining to
mobilisation are forbidden.
In no case must formations, administrative services or
General Staffs include supplementary cadres.
ARTICLE 179.
Germany agrees, from the coming into force of the
present Treaty, not to accredit nor to send to any foreign country any
military, naval or air mission, nor to allow any such mission to leave
her territory, and Germany further agrees to take appropriate measures
to prevent German nationals from leaving her territory to become
enrolled in the Army, Navy or Air service of any foreign Power, or to be
attached to such Army, Navy or Air service for the purpose of assisting
in the military, naval or air training thereof, or otherwise for the
purpose of giving military, naval or air instruction in any foreign
country.
The Allied and Associated Powers agree, so far as they
are concerned, from the coming into force of the present Treaty, not to
enroll in nor to attach to their armies or naval or air forces any
German national for the purpose of assisting in the military training of
such armies or naval or air forces, or otherwise to employ any such
German national as military, naval or aeronautic instructor.
The present provision does not, however, affect the
right of France to recruit for the Foreign Legion in accordance with
French military laws and regulations.
CHAPTER IV.
FORTIFICATIONS
ARTICLE l80.
All fortified works, fortresses and field works
situated in German territory to the west of a line drawn fifty
kilometres to the east of the Rhine shall be disarmed and dismantled.
Within a period of two months from the coming into
force of the present Treaty such of the above fortified works,
fortresses and field works as are situated in territory not occupied by
Allied and Associated troops shall be disarmed, and within a further
period of four months they shall be dismantled. Those which are situated
in territory occupied by Allied and Associated troops shall be disarmed
and dismantled within such periods as may be fixed by the Allied High
Command.
The construction of any new fortification, whatever
its nature and importance, is forbidden in the zone referred to in the
first paragraph above.
The system of fortified works of the southern and
eastern frontiers of Germany shall be maintained in its existing state.
[SEE TABLES]
SECTION II .
NAVAL CLAUSES.
ARTICLE 181.
After the expiration of a period of two months from
the coming into force of the present Treaty the German naval forces in
commission must not exceed:
6 battleships of the Deutschland or Lothringen type, 6
light cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats,
or an equal number of ships constructed to replace
them as provided in Article l90.
No submarines are to be included.
All other warships, except where there is provision to
the contrary in the present Treaty, must be placed in reserve or devoted
to commercial purposes.
ARTICLE 182,
Until the completion of the minesweeping prescribed by
Article 193 Germany will keep in commission such number of minesweeping
vessels as may be fixed by the Governments of the Principal Allied and
Associated Powers.
ARTICLE 183,
After the expiration of a period of two months from
the coming into force of the present Treaty, the total personnel of the
German Navy, including the manning of the Deet, coast defences, signal
stations, administration and other land services, must not exceed
fifteen thousand, including officers and men of all grades and corps,
The total strength of officers and warrant officers
must not exceed fifteen hundred.
Within two months from the coming into force of the
present Treaty the personnel in excess of the above strength shall be
demobilised.
No naval or military corps or reserve force in
connection with the Navy may be organised in Germany without being
included in the above strength.
From the date of the coming into force of the present
Treaty all the German surface warships which are not in German ports
cease to belong to Germany, who renounces all rights over them.
Vessels which, in compliance with the Armistice of
November 11, 1918, are now interned in the ports of the Allied and
Associated Powers are declared to be finally surrendered.
Vessels which are now interned in neutral ports will
be there surrendered to the Governments of the Principal Allied and
Associated Powers. The German Government must address a notification to
that effect to the neutral Powers on the coming into force of the
present Treaty.
ARTICLE 185.
Within a period of two months from the coming into
force of the present Treaty the German surface warships enumerated below
will be surrendered to the Governments of the Principal Allied and
Associated Powers in such Allied ports as the said Powers may direct.
These warships will have been disarmed as provided in
Article XXIII of the Armistice of November 11, 1918. Nevertheless they
must have all their guns on board.
BATTLESHIPS.
Oldenburg. Thuringen. Ostfriesland. Helgoland. Posen.
Westfalen. Rheinland. Nassau.
LIGHT CRUISERS.
Stettin. Danzig. Munchen. Lubeck. Stralsund. Augsburg.
Kolberg. Stuttgart.
and, in addition, forty-two modern destroyers and
fifty modern torpedo boats, as chosen by the Governments of the
Principal Allied and Associated Powers.
ARTICLE 186.
On the coming into force of the present Treaty the
German Government must undertake, under the supervision of the
Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, the breaking
up of all the German surface warships now under construction.
ARTICLE 187 .
The German auxiliary cruisers and fleet auxiliaries
enumerated below will be disarmed and treated as merchant ships.
INTERNED IN NEUTRAL COUNTRIES:
Berlin. Santa Fe. Seydlitz. Yorck.
IN GERMANY:
Ammon. Answald. Bosnia. Cordoba. Cassel. Dania. Rio
Negro. Rio Pardo. Santa Cruz. Schwaben. Solingen. Steigerwald. Franken.
Gundomar. Furst Bulow. Gertrud. Kigoma. Rugia. Santa Elena. Schleswig.
Mowe. Sierra Ventana. Chemnitz. Emil Georg von Strauss. Habsburg.
Meteor. Waltraute. Scharnhorst.
ARTICLE 188.
On the expiration of one month from the coming into
force of the present Treaty all German submarines, submarine salvage
vessels and docks for submarines, including the tubular dock, must have
been handed over to the Governments of the Principal Allied and
Associated Powers.
Such of these submarines, vessels and docks as are
considered by the said Governments to be fit to proceed under their own
power or to be towed shall be taken by the German Government. into such
Allied ports as have been indicated
The remainder, and also those in course of
construction, shall be broken up entirely by the German Government under
the supervision of the said Governments. The breaking-up must be
completed within three months at the most after the coming into force of
the present Treaty.
ARTICLE l89.
Articles, machinery and material arising from the
breaking-up of German warships of all kinds, whether surface vessels or
submarines, may not be used except for purely industrial or commercial
purposes.
They may not be sold or disposed of to foreign
countries.
ARTICLE 190.
Germany is forbidden to construct or acquire any
warships other than those intended to replace the units in commission
provided for in Article l81 of the present Treaty
The warships intended for replacement purposes as
above shall not exceed the following displacement:
Armoured ships 10,000 tons
Light cruisers 6,000 tons
Destroyers 800 tons
Torpedo boats 200 tons
Except where a ship has been lost, units of the
different classes shall only be replaced at the end of a period of
twenty years in the case of battleships and cruisers, and fifteen years
in the case of destroyers and torpedo boats, counting from the launching
of the ship.
ARTICLE 191 .
The construction or acquisition of any submarine, even
for commercial purposes, shall be forbidden in Germany.
ARTICLE 192.
The warships in commission of the German fleet must
have on board or in reserve only the allowance of arms, munitions and
war material fixed by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers. Within
a month from the fixing of the quantities as above, arms, munitions and
war material of all kinds, including mines and torpedoes, now in the
hands of the German Government and in excess of the said quantities,
shall be surrendered to the Governments of the said Powers at places to
be indicated by them. Such arms, munitions and war material will be
destroyed or rendered useless.
All other stocks, depots or reserves of arms,
munitions or naval war material of all kinds are forbidden.
The manufacture of these articles in German territory
for, and their export to, foreign countries shall be forbidden.
ARTICLE 193.
On the coming into force of the present Treaty Germany
will forthwith sweep up the mines in the following areas in the North
Sea to the eastward of longitude 4° 00', E. of Greenwich:
(1) Between parallels of latitude 53° 00', N. and 59°
00', N.; (2) To the northward of latitude 60° 30' N.
Germany must keep these areas free from mines.
Germany must also sweep and keep free from mines such
areas in the Baltic as may ultimately be notified by the Governments of
the Principal Allied and Associated Powers.
ARTICLE 194.
The personnel of the German Navy shall be recruited
entirely by voluntary engagements entered into for a minimum period of
twenty-five consecutive years for officers and warrant officers; twelve
consecutive years for petty officers and men.
The number engaged to replace those discharged for any
reason before the expiration of their term of service must not exceed
five per cent. per annum of the totals laid down in this Section
(Article 183).
The personnel discharged from the Navy must not
receive any kind of naval or military training or undertake any further
service in the Navy or Army.
Officers belonging to the Germany Navy and not
demobilised must engage to serve till the age of forty-five, unless
discharged for sufficient reasons.
No officer or man of the German mercantile marine
shall receive any training in the Navy.
ARTICLE 195.
In order to ensure free passage into the Baltic to all
nations, Germany shall not erect any fortifications in the area
comprised between latitudes 55° 27' N. and 54° 00' N. and longitudes
9°Ŭ00' E. and 16°Ŭ00' E. of the meridian of Greenwich, nor install any
guns commanding the maritime routes between the North Sea and the
Baltic. The fortifications now existing in this area shall be demolished
and the guns removed under the supervisions of the Allied Governments
and in periods to be fixed by them.
The German Government shall place at the disposal of
the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers all
information now in its possession concerning the channels and adjoining
waters between the Baltic and the North Sea.
ARTICLE 196.
All fortified works and fortifications, other than
those mentioned in Section XIII (Heligoland) of Part III (Political
Clauses for Europe) and in Article 195, now established within fifty
kilometres of the German coast or on German islands off that coast shall
be considered as of a defensive nature and may remain in their existing
condition.
No new fortifications shall be constructed within
these limits. The armament of these defences shall not exceed, as
regards the number and calibre of guns, those in position at the date of
the coming into force of the present Treaty. The German Government shall
communicate forthwith particulars thereof to all the European
Governments.
On the expiration of a period of two months from the
coming into force of the present Treaty the stocks of ammunition for
these guns shall be reduced to and maintained at a maximum figure of
fifteen hundred rounds per piece for calibres of 4.1-inch and under, and
five hundred rounds per piece for higher calibres.
ARTICLE 197.
During the three months following the coming into
force of the present Treaty the German high-power wireless telegraphy
stations at Nauen, Hanover and Berlin shall not be used for the
transmission of messages concerning naval, military or political
questions of interest to Germany or any State which has been allied to
Germany in the war, without the assent of the Governments of the
Principal Allied and Associated Powers. These stations may be used for
commercial purposes, but only under the supervision of the said
Governments, who will decide the wavelength to be used.
During the same period Germany shall not build any
more high-power wireless telegraphy stations in her own territory or
that of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey.
SECTION III.
AIR CLAUSES.
ARTICLE 198.
The armed forces of Germany must not include any
military or naval air forces.
Germany may, during a period not extending beyond
October 1, 1919, maintain a maximum number of one hundred seaplanes or
flying boats, which shall be exclusively employed in searching for
submarine mines, shall be furnished with the necessary equipment for
this purpose, and shall in no case carry arms, munitions or bombs of any
nature whatever.
In addition to the engines installed in the seaplanes
or flying boats above mentioned, one spare engine may be provided for
each engine of each of these craft.
No dirigible shall be kept.
ARTICLE 199.
Within two months from the coming into force of the
present Treaty the personnel of air forces on the rolls of the German
land and sea forces shall be demobilised. Up to October 1, 1919,
however, Germany may keep and maintain a total number of one thousand
men, including officers, for the whole of the cadres and personnel,
flying and non-flying, of all formations and establishments.
ARTICLE 200.
Until the complete evacuation of German territory by
the Allied and Associated troops, the aircraft of the Allied and
Associated Powers shall enjoy in Germany freedom of passage through the
air, freedom of transit and of landing.
ARTICLE 201.
During the six months following the coming into force
of the present Treaty, the manufacture and importation of aircraft,
parts of aircraft, engines for aircraft, and parts of engines for
aircraft, shall be forbidden in all German territory.
ARTICLE 202.
On the coming into force of the present Treaty, all
military and naval aeronautical material, except the machines mentioned
in the second and third paragraphs of Article 198, must be delivered to
the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers.
Delivery must be effected at such places as the said
Governments may select, and must be completed within three months.
In particular, this material will include all items
under the following heads which are or have been in use or were designed
for warlike purposes:
Complete aeroplanes and seaplanes, as well as those
being manufactured, repaired or assembled.
Dirigibles able to take the air, being manufactured,
repaired or assembled.
Plant for the manufacture of hydrogen.
Dirigible sheds and shelters of every kind for
aircraft.
Pending their delivery, dirigibles will, at the
expense of Germany, be maintained inflated with hydrogen; the plant for
the manufacture of hydrogen, as well as the sheds for dirigibles may at
the discretion of the said Powers, be left to Germany until the time
when the dirigibles are handed over.
Engines for aircraft.
Nacelles and fuselages.
Armament (guns, machine guns, light machine guns,
bombdropping apparatus, torpedo-dropping apparatus, synchronisation
apparatus, aiming apparatus).
Munitions (cartridges, shells, bombs loaded or
unloaded, stocks of explosives or of material for their manufacture).
Instruments for use on aircraft.
Wireless apparatus and photographic or cinematograph
apparatus for use on aircraft.
Component parts of any of the items under the
preceding heads.
The material referred to above shall not be removed
without special permission from the said Governments.
SECTION IV.
INTER-ALLIED COMMISSIONS OF CONTROL.
ARTICLE 203.
All the military, naval and air clauses contained in
the present Treaty, for the execution of which a time-limit is
prescribed, shall be executed by Germany under the control of
Inter-Allied Commissions specially appointed for this purpose by the
Principal Allied and Associated Powers.
ARTICLE 204.
The Inter-Allied Commissions of Control will be
specially charged with the duty of seeing to the complete execution of
the delivery, destruction, demolition and rendering things useless to be
carried out at the expense of the German Government in accordance with
the present Treaty.
They will communicate to the German authorities the
decisions which the Principal Allied and Associated Powers have reserved
the right to take, or which the execution of the military, naval and air
clauses may necessitate.
ARTICLE 205.
The Inter-Allied Commissions of Control may establish
their organisations at the seat of the central German Government.
They shall be entitled as often as they think
desirable to proceed to any point whatever in German territory, or to
send subcommissions, or to authorise one or more of their members to go,
to any such point.
ARTICLE 206.
The German Government must give all necessary
facilities for the accomplishment of their missions to the Inter-Allied
Commissions of Control and to their members.
It shall attach a qualified representative to each
Inter-Allied Commission of Control for the purpose of receiving the
communications which the Commission may have to address to the German
Government and of supplying or procuring for the Commission all
information or documents which may be required.
The German Government must in all cases furnish at its
own cost all labour and material required to effect the deliveries and
the works of destruction, dismantling, demolition, and of rendering
things useless, provided for in the present Treaty.
ARTICLE 207.
The upkeep and cost of the Commissions of Control and
the expenses involved by their work shall be borne by Germany.
ARTICLE 208.
The Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control will
represent the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers
in dealing with the German Government in all matters concerning the
execution of the military clauses.
In particular it will be its duty to receive from the
German Government the notifications relating to the location of the
stocks and depots of munitions, the armament of the fortified works,
fortresses and forts which Germany is allowed to retain, and the
location of the works or factories for the production of arms, munitions
and war material and their operations.
It will take delivery of the arms, munitions and war
material, will select the points where such delivery is to be effected,
and will supervise the works of destruction, demolition, and of
rendering things useless, which are to be carried out in accordance with
the present Treaty.
The German Government must furnish to the Military
Inter-Allied Commission of Control all such information and documents as
the latter may deem necessary to ensure the complete execution of the
military clauses, and in particular all legislative and administrative
documents and regulations.
ARTICLE 209.
The Naval Inter-Allied Commission of Control will
represent the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers
in dealing with the German Government in all matters concerning the
execution of the naval clauses.
In particular it will be its duty to proceed to the
building yards and to supervise the breaking-up of the ships which are
under construction there, to take delivery of all surface ships or
submarines, salvage ships, docks and the tubular docks, and to supervise
the destruction and breaking-up provided for.
The German Government must furnish to the Naval
Inter-Allied Commission of Control all such information and documents as
the Commission may deem necessary to ensure the complete execution of
the naval clauses, in particular the designs of the warships, the
composition of their armaments, the details and models of the guns,
munitions, torpedoes, mines, explosives, wireless telegraphic apparatus
and, in general, everything relating to naval war material, as well as
all legislative or administrative documents or regulations.
ARTICLE 210.
The Aeronautical Inter-Allied Commission of Control
will represent the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated
Powers in dealing with the German Government in all matters concerning
the execution of the air clauses.
In particular it will be its duty to make an inventory
of the aeronautical material existing in German territory, to inspect
aeroplane, balloon and motor manufactories, and factories producing
arms, munitions and explosives capable of being used by aircraft, to
visit all aerodromes, sheds, landing grounds, parks and depots, to
authorise, where necessary, a removal of material and to take delivery
of such material.
The German Government must furnish to the Aeronautical
Inter-Allied Commission of Control all such information and legislative,
administrative or other documents which the Commission may consider
necessary to ensure the complete execution of the air clauses, and in
particular a list of the personnel belonging to all the German Air
Services, and of the existing material, as well as of that in process of
manufacture or on order, and a list of all establishments working for
aviation, of their positions, and of all sheds and landing grounds.
SECTION V.
GENERAL ARTICLES.
ARTICLE 211.
After the expiration of a period of three months from
the coming into force of the present Treaty, the German laws must have
been modified and shall be maintained by the German Government in
conformity with this Part of the present Treaty.
Within the same period all the administrative or other
measures relating to the execution of this Part of the Treaty must have
been taken.
ARTICLE 212.
The following portions of the Armistice of November
11, 1918 Article VI, the first two and the sixth and seventh paragraphs
of Article VII; Article IX; Clauses I, II and V of Annex n° 2, and the
Protocol, dated April 4, 1919, supplementing the Armistice of November
11, 1918, remain in force so far as they are not inconsistent with the
above stipulations.
ARTICLE 213.
So long as the present Treaty remains in force,
Germany undertakes to give every facility for any investigation which
the Council of the League of Nations, acting if need be by a majority
vote, may consider necessary.
PART VI.
PRISONERS OF WAR AND GRAVES.
SECTION I.
PRISONERS OF WAR.
ARTICLE 214.
The repatriation of prisoners of war and interned
civilians shall take place as soon as possible after the coming into
force of the present Treaty and shall be carried out with the greatest
rapidity.
ARTICLE 215.
The repatriation of German prisoners of war and
interned civilians shall, in accordance with Article 214, be carried out
by a Commission composed of representatives of the Allied and Associated
Powers on the one part and of the German Government on the other part.
For each of the Allied and Associated Powers a
Sub-Commission, composed exclusively of Representatives of the
interested Power and of Delegates of the German Government, shall
regulate the details of carrying into effect the repatriation of the
prisoners of war.
ARTICLE 216.
From the time of their delivery into the hands of the
German authorities the prisoners of war and interned civilians are to be
returned without delay to their homes by the said authorities.
Those amongst them who before the war were habitually
resident in territory occupied by the troops of the Allied and
Associated Powers are likewise to be sent to their homes, subject to the
consent and control of the military authorities of the Allied and
Associated armies of occupation.
ARTICLE 217.
The whole cost of repatriation from the moment of
starting shall be borne by the German Government who shall also provide
the land and sea transport and staff considered necessary by the
Commission referred to in Article 215.
ARTICLE 218.
Prisoners of war and interned civilians awaiting
disposal or undergoing sentence for offences against discipline shall be
repatriated irrespective of the completion of their sentence or of the
proceedings pending against them.
This stipulation shall not apply to prisoners of war
and interned civilians punished for offences committed subsequent to May
1, 1919.
During the period pending their repatriation all
prisoners of war and interned civilians shall remain subject to the
existing regulations, more especially as regards work and discipline.
ARTICLE 219.
Prisoners of war and interned civilians who are
awaiting disposal or undergoing sentence for offences other than those
against discipline may be detained.
ARTICLE 220.
The German Government undertakes to admit to its
territory without distinction all persons liable to repatriation.
Prisoners of war or other German nationals who do not
desire to be repatriated may be excluded from repatriation; but the
Allied and Associated Governments reserve to themselves the right either
to repatriate them or to take them to a neutral country or to allow them
to reside in their own territories.
The German Government undertakes not to institute any
exceptional proceedings against these persons or their families nor to
take any repressive or vexatious measures of any kind whatsoever against
them on this account.
ARTICLE 221.
The Allied and Associated Governments reserve the
right to make the repatriation of German prisoners of war or German
nationals in their hands conditional upon the immediate notification and
release by the German Government of any prisoners of war who are
nationals of the Allied and Associated Powers and may still be in
Germany.
ARTICLE 222.
Germany undertakes:
(1) To give every facility to Commissions to enquire
into the cases of those who cannot be traced; to furnish such
Commissions with all necessary means of transport; to allow them access
to camps, prisons, hospitals and all other places; and to place at their
disposal all documents, whether public or private, which would
facilitate their enquiries;
(2) To impose penalties upon any German officials or
private persons who have concealed the presence of any nationals of any
of the Allied and Associated Powers or have neglected to reveal the
presence of any such after it had come to their knowledge.
ARTICLE 223.
Germany undertakes to restore without delay from the
date of the coming into force of the present Treaty all articles, money,
securities and documents which have belonged to nationals of the Allied
and Associated Powers and which have been retained by the German
authorities.
ARTICLE 224.
The High Contracting Parties waive reciprocally all
repayment of sums due for the maintenance of prisoners of war in their
respective territories.
SECTION II.
GRAVES.
ARTICLE 225.
The Allied and Associated Governments and the German
Government will cause to be respected and maintained the graves of the
soldiers and sailors buried in their respective territories.
They agree to recognise any Commission appointed by an
Allied or Associated Government for the purpose of identifying,
registering, caring for or erecting suitable memorials over the said
graves and to facilitate the discharge of its duties.
Furthermore they agree to afford, so far as the
provisions of their laws and the requirements of public health allow,
every facility for giving effect to requests that the bodies of their
soldiers and sailors may be transferred to their own country.
ARTICLE 226.
The graves of prisoners of war and interned civilians
who are nationals of the different belligerent States and have died in
captivity shall be properly maintained in accordance with Article 225 of
the present Treaty.
The Allied and Associated Governments on the one part
and the German Government on the other part reciprocally undertake also
to furnish to each other:
(1) A complete list of those who have died, together
with all information useful for identification;
(2) All information as to the number and position of
the graves of all those who have been buried without identification.
PART VII.
PENALTIES.
ARTICLE 227.
The Allied and Associated Powers publicly arraign
William II of Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, for a supreme
offence against international morality and the sanctity of treaties.
A special tribunal will be constituted to try the
accused, thereby assuring him the guarantees essential to the right of
defence. It will be composed of five judges, one appointed by each of
the following Powers: namely, the United States of America, Great
Britain, France, Italy and Japan.
In its decision the tribunal will be guided by the
highest motives of international policy, with a view to vindicating the
solemn obligations of international undertakings and the validity of
international morality. It will be its duty to fix the punishment which
it considers should be imposed.
The Allied and Associated Powers will address a
request to the Government of the Netherlands for the surrender to them
of the ex-Emperor in order that he may be put on trial.
ARTICLE 228.
The German Government recognises the right of the
Allied and Associated Powers to bring before military tribunals persons
accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and customs of
war. Such persons shall, if found guilty, be sentenced to punishments
laid down by law. This provision will apply notwithstanding any
proceedings or prosecution before a tribunal in Germany or in the
territory of her allies.
The German Government shall hand over to the Allied
and Associated Powers, or to such one of them as shall so request, all
persons accused of having committed an act in violation of the laws and
customs of war, who are specified either by name or by the rank, office
or employment which they held under the German authorities.
ARTICLE 229.
Persons guilty of criminal acts against the nationals
of one of the Allied and Associated Powers will be brought before the
military tribunals of that Power.
Persons guilty of criminal acts against the nationals
of more than one of the Allied and Associated Powers will be brought
before military tribunals composed of members of the military tribunals
of the Powers concerned.
In every case the accused will be entitled to name his
own counsel.
ARTICLE 230.
The German Government undertakes to furnish all
documents and information of every kind, the production of which may be
considered necessary to ensure the full knowledge of the incriminating
acts, the discovery of offenders and the just appreciation of
responsibility.
PART VIII.
REPARATION.
SECTION l.
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
ARTICLE 231.
The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and
Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing
all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments
and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war
imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.
ARTICLE: 232.
The Allied and Associated Governments recognise that
the resources of Germany are not adequate, after taking into account
permanent diminutions of such resources which will result from other
provisions of the present Treaty, to make complete reparation for all
such loss and damage.
The Allied and Associated Governments, however,
require, and Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all
damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated
Powers and to their property during the period of the belligerency of
each as an Allied or Associated Power against Germany by such aggression
by land, by sea and from the air, and in general all damage as defined
in Annex l hereto.
In accordance with Germany's pledges, already given,
as to complete restoration for Belgium, Germany undertakes, in addition
to the compensation for damage elsewhere in this Part provided for, as a
consequence of the violation of the Treaty of 1839, to make
reimbursement of all sums which Belgium has borrowed from the Allied and
Associated Governments up to November 11, 1918, together with interest
at the rate of five per cent (5%) per annum on such sums. This amount
shall be determined by the Reparation Commission, and the German
Government undertakes thereupon forthwith to make a special issue of
bearer bonds to an equivalent amount payable in marks gold, on May 1,
1926, or, at the option of the German Government, on the 1st of May in
any year up to 1926. Subject to the foregoing, the form of such bonds
shall be determined by the Reparation Commission. Such bonds shall be
handed over to the Reparation Commission, which has authority to take
and acknowledge receipt thereof on behalf of Belgium.
ARTICLE 233.
The amount of the above damage for which compensation
is to be made by Germany shall be determined by an Inter-Allied
Commission, to be called the Reparation Commission and constituted in
the form and with the powers set forth hereunder and in Annexes II to
VII inclusive hereto.
This Commission shall consider the claims and give to
the German Government a just opportunity to be heard.
The findings of the Commission as to the amount of
damage defined as above shall be concluded and notified to the German
Government on or before May 1, 1921, as representing the extent of that
Government's obligations. ,
The Commission shall concurrently draw up a schedule
of payments prescribing the time and manner for securing and discharging
the entire obligation within a period of thirty years from May 1, 1921.
If, however, within the period mentioned, Germany fails to discharge her
obligations, any balance remaining unpaid may, within the discretion of
the Commission, be postponed for settlement in subsequent years, or may
be handled otherwise in such manner as the Allied and Associated
Governments, acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in this
Part of the present Treaty, shall determine.
ARTICLE 234.
The Reparation Commission shall after May 1 , 1921,
from time to time, consider the resources and capacity of Germany, and,
after giving her representatives a just opportunity to be heard, shall
have discretion to extend the date, and to modify the form of payments,
such as are to be provided for in accordance with Article 233; but not
to cancel any part, except with the specific authority of the several
Governments represented upon the Commission.
ARTICLE 235.
In order to enable the Allied and Associated Powers to
proceed at once to the restoration of their industrial and economic
life, pending the full determination of their claims, Germany shall pay
in such installments and in such manner (whether in gold, commodities,
ships, securities or otherwise) as the Reparation Commission may fix,
during 1919, 1920 and the first four months Of 1921 , the equivalent of
20,000,000,000 gold marks. Out of this sum the expenses of the armies of
occupation subsequent to the Armistice of November 11, 1918, shall first
be met, and such supplies of food and raw materials as may be judged by
the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers to be
essential to enable Germany to meet her obligations for reparation may
also, with the approval of the said Governments, be paid for out of the
above sum. The balance shall be reckoned towards liquidation of the
amounts due for reparation. Germany shall further deposit bonds as
prescribed in paragraph 12 (c) Of Annex II hereto.
ARTICLE 236.
Germany further agrees to the direct application of
her economic resources to reparation as specified in Annexes, III, IV,
V, and VI, relating respectively to merchant shipping, to physical
restoration, to coal and derivatives of coal, and to dyestuffs and other
chemical products; provided always that the value of the property
transferred and any services rendered by her under these Annexes,
assessed in the manner therein prescribed shall be credited to her
towards liquidation of her obligations under the above Articles.
ARTICLE 237.
The successive installments, including the above sum,
paid over by Germany in satisfaction of the above claims will be divided
by the Allied and Associated Governments in proportions which have been
determined upon by them in advance on a basis of general equity and of
the rights of each.
For the purposes of this division the value of
property transferred and services rendered under Article 243, and under
Annexes III, IV, V, VI, and VII, shall be reckoned in the same manner as
cash payments effected in that year.
ARTICLE 238.
In addition to the payments mentioned above Germany
shall effect, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the
Reparation Commission, restitution in cash of cash taken away, seized or
sequestrated, and also restitution of animals, objects of every nature
and securities taken away, seized or sequestrated, in the cases in which
it proves possible to identify them in territory belonging to Germany or
her allies.
Until this procedure is laid down, restitution will
continue in accordance with the provisions of the Armistice of November
11, 1918, and its renewals and the Protocols thereto.
ARTICLE 239.
The German Government undertakes to make forthwith the
restitution contemplated by Article 238 and to make the payments and
deliveries contemplated by Articles 233, 234, 235 and 236.
ARTICLE 240.
The German Government recognises the Commission
provided for by Article 233 as the same may be constituted by the Allied
and Associated Governments in accordance with Annex II, and agrees
irrevocably to the possession and exercise by such Commission of the
power and authority given to it under the present Treaty.
The German Government will supply to the Commission
all the information which the Commission may require relative to the
financial situation and operations and to the property, productive
capacity, and stocks and current production of raw materials and
manufactured articles of Germany and her nationals, and further any
information relative to military operations which in the judgment of the
Commission may be necessary for the assessment of Germany's liability
for reparation as defined in Annex I.
The German Government will accord to the members of
the Commission and its authorised agents the same rights and immunities
as are enjoyed in Germany by duly accredited diplomatic agents of
friendly Powers.
Germany further agrees to provide for the salaries and
expenses of the Commission and of such staff as it may employ.
ARTICLE 241.
Germany undertakes to pass, issue and maintain in
force any legislation, orders and decrees that may be necessary to give
complete effect to these provisions.
ARTICLE 242.
The provisions of this Part of the present Treaty do
not apply to the property, rights and interests referred to in Sections
III and IV of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty, nor to
the product of their liquidation, except so far as concerns any final
balance in favour of Germany under Article 243 (a).
ARTICLE 243
The following shall be reckoned as credits to Germany
in respect of her reparation obligations:
(a) Any final balance in favour of Germany under
Section V (Alsace-Lorraine) of Part III (Political Clauses for Europe)
and Sections III and IV of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present
Treaty;
(b) Amounts due to Germany in respect of transfers
under Section IV (Saar Basin) of Part III (Political Clauses for
Europe), Part IX Financial Clauses), and Part XII (Ports, Waterways and
Railways);
(c) Amounts which in the judgment of the Reparation
Commission should be credited to Germany on account of any other
transfers under the present Treaty of property, rights, concessions or
other interests.
In no case, however, shall credit be given for
property restored in accordance with Article 238 of the present Part.
ARTICLE 244
The transfer of the German submarine cables which do
not form the subject of particular provisions of the present Treaty is
regulated by Annex VII hereto.
ANNEX I.
Compensation may be claimed from Germany under Article
232 above in respect of the total damage under the following categories:
(l) Damage to injured persons and to surviving
dependents by personal injury to or death of civilians caused by acts of
war, including bombardments or other attacks on land, on sea, or from
the air, and all the direct consequences thereof, and of all operations
of war by the two groups of belligerents wherever arising.
(2) Damage caused by Germany or her allies to civilian
victims of acts of cruelty, violence or maltreatment (including injuries
to life or health as a consequence of imprisonment, deportation,
internment or evacuation, of exposure at sea or of being forced to
labour), wherever arising, and to the surviving dependents of such
victims.
(3) Damage caused by Germany or her allies in their
own territory or in occupied or invaded territory to civilian victims of
all acts injurious to health or capacity to work, or to honour, as well
as to the surviving dependents of such victims.
(4) Damage caused by any kind of maltreatment of
prisoners of war.
(5) As damage caused to the peoples of the Allied and
Associated Powers, all pensions and compensation in the nature of
pensions to naval and military victims of war (including members of the
air force), whether mutilated, wounded, sick or invalided, and to the
dependents of such victims, the amount due to the Allied and Associated
Governments being calculated for each of them as being the capitalised
cost of such pensions and compensation at the date of the coming into
force of the present Treaty on the basis of the scales in force in
France at such date.
(6) The cost of assistance by the Government of the
Allied and Associated Powers to prisoners of war and to their families
and dependents.
(7) Allowances by the Governments of the Allied and
Associated Powers to the families and dependents of mobilised persons or
persons serving with the forces, the amount due to them for each
calendar year in which hostilities occurred being calculated for each
Government on the basis of the average scale for such payments in force
in France during that year.
(8) Damage caused to civilians by being forced by
Germany or her allies to labour without just remuneration.
(9) Damage in respect of all property wherever
situated belonging to any of the Allied or Associated States or their
nationals, with the exception of naval and military works or materials,
which has been carried off, seized, injured or destroyed by the acts of
Germany or her allies on land, on sea or from the air, or damage
directly in consequence of hostilities or of any operations of war.
(10) Damage in the form of levies, fines and other
similar exactions imposed by Germany or her allies upon the civilian
population.
ANNEX II.
1.
The Commission referred to in Article 233 shall be
called "The Reparation Commission" and is hereinafter referred to as
"the Commission".
2.
Delegates to this Commission shall be nominated by the
United States of America, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium
and the Serb-Croat-Slovene State. Each of these Powers will appoint one
Delegate and also one Assistant Delegate, who will take his place in
case of illness or necessary absence, but at other times will only have
the right to be present at proceedings without taking any part therein.
On no occasion shall the Delegates of more than five
of the above Powers have the right to take part in the proceedings of
the Commission and to record their votes. The Delegates of the United
States, Great Britain, France and Italy shall have this right on all
occasions. The Delegate of Belgium shall have this right on all
occasions other than those referred to below. The Delegate of Japan
shall have this right on occasions when questions relating to damage at
sea, and questions arising under Article 200 of Part IX (Financial
Clauses) in which Japanese interests are concerned, are under
consideration. The Delegate of the Serb-Croat-Slovene State shall have
this right when questions relating to Austria, Hungary or Bulgaria are
under consideration.
Each Government represented on the Commission shall
have the right to withdraw therefrom upon twelve months, notice filed
with the Commission and confirmed in the course of the sixth month after
the date of the original notice.
3.
Such of the other Allied and Associated Powers as may
be interested shall have the right to appoint a Delegate to be present
and act as Assessor only while their respective claims and interests are
under examination or discussion, but without the right to vote.
4.
In case of the death, resignation or recall of any
Delegate, Assistant Delegate or Assessor, a successor to him shall be
nominated as soon as possible.
5.
The Commission will have its principal permanent
Bureau in Paris and will hold its first meeting in Paris as soon as
practicable after the coming into force of the present Treaty, and
thereafter will meet in such place or places and at such time as it may
deem convenient and as may be necessary for the most expeditious
discharge of its duties.
6.
At its first meeting the Commission shall elect, from
among the Delegates referred to above, a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman,
who shall hold office for one year and shall be eligible for
re-election. If a vacancy in the Chairmanship or Vice-Chairmanship
should occur during the annual period, the Commission shall proceed to a
new election for the remainder of the said period.
7.
The Commission is authorised to appoint all necessary
officers, agents and employees who may be required for the execution of
its functions, and to fix their remuneration; to constitute committees,
whose members need not necessarily be members of the Commission, and to
take all executive steps necessary for the purpose of discharging its
duties; and to delegate authority and discretion to officers, agents and
committees.
8.
All proceedings of the Commission shall be private,
unless, on particular occasions, the Con mission shall otherwise
determine for special reasons.
9
The Commission shall be required, if the German
Government so desire, to hear, within a period which it will fix from
time to time, evidence and arguments on the part of Germany on any
question connected with her capacity to pay.
10.
The Commission shall consider the claims and give to
the German Government a just opportunity to be heard, but not to take
any part whatever in the decisions of the Commission The Commission
shall afford a similar opportunity to the allies of Germany, when it
shall consider that their interests are in question
11.
The Commission shall not be bound by any particular
code or rules of law or by any particular rule of evidence or of
procedure, but shall be guided by justice, equity and good faith. Its
decisions must follow the same principles and rules in all cases where
they are applicable. It will establish rules relating to methods of
proof of claims. It may act on any trustworthy modes of computation.
12.
The Commission shall have all the powers conferred
upon it, and shall exercise all the functions assigned to it, by the
present Treaty.
The Commission shall in general have wide latitude as
to its control and handling of the whole reparation problem as dealt
with in this Part of the present Treaty and shall have authority to
interpret its provisions. Subject to the provisions of the present
Treaty, the Commission is constituted by the several Allied and
Associated Governments referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 above as the
exclusive agency of the said Governments respectively for receiving,
selling, holding, and distributing the reparation payments to be made by
Germany under this Part of the present Treaty. The Commission must
comply with the following conditions and provisions:
(a) Whatever part of the full amount of the proved
claims is not paid in gold, or in ships, securities and commodities or
otherwise, Germany shall be required, under such conditions as the
Commission may determine, to cover by way of guarantee by an equivalent
issue of bonds, obligations or otherwise, in order to constitute an
acknowledgment of the said part of the debt.
(b) In periodically estimating Germany's capacity to
pay, the Commission shall examine the German system of taxation, first,
to the end that the sums for reparation which Germany is required to pay
shall become a charge upon all her revenues prior to that for the
service or discharge of any domestic loan, and secondly, so as to
satisfy itself that, in general, the German scheme of taxation is fully
as heavy proportionately as that of any of the Powers represented on the
Commission.
(c) In order to facilitate and continue the immediate
restoration of the economic life of the Allied and Associated countries,
the Commission will as provided in Article 235 take from Germany by way
of security for and acknowledgment of her debt a first installment of
gold bearer bonds free of all taxes and charges of every description
established or to be established by the Government of the German Empire
or of the German States, or by any authority subject to them; these
bonds will be delivered on account and in three portions, the marks gold
being payable in conformity with Article 262 of Part IX (Financial
Clauses) of the present Treaty as follows:
(1) To be issued forthwith, 20,000,000,000 Marks gold
bearer bonds, payable not later than May l, 1921, without interest.
There shall be specially applied towards the amortisation of these bonds
the payments which Germany is pledged to make in conformity with Article
235, after deduction of the sums used for the reimbursement of expenses
of the armies of occupation and for payment of foodstuffs and raw
materials. Such bonds as have not been redeemed by May l, 1921, shall
then be exchanged for new bonds of the same type as those provided for
below (paragraph l2, C, (2).
(2) To be issued forthwith, further 40,000,000,000
Marks gold bearer bonds, bearing interest at 2-1/2 per cent. per annum
between 1921 and l926, and thereafter at 5 per cent. per annum with an
additional l per cent. for amortisation beginning in 1926 on the whole
amount of the issue.
(3) To be delivered forthwith a covering undertaking
in writing to issue when, but not until, the Commission is satisfied
that Germany can meet such interest and sinking fund obligations, a
further installment of 40,000,000,000 Marks gold 5 per cent. bearer
bonds, the time and mode of payment of principal and interest to be
determined by the Commission.
The dates for payment of interest, the manner of
applying the amortisation fund, and all other questions relating to the
issue, management and regulation of the bond issue shall be determined
by the Commission from time to time.
Further issues by way of acknowledgment and security
may be required as the Commission subsequently determines from time to
time.
(d) In the event of bonds, obligations or other
evidence of indebtedness issued by Germany by way of security for or
acknowledgment of her reparation debt being disposed of outright, not by
way of pledge, to persons other than the several Governments in whose
favour Germany's original reparation indebtedness was created, an amount
of such reparation indebtedness shall be deemed to be extinguished
corresponding to the nominal value of the bonds, etc., so disposed of
outright, and the obligation of Germany in respect of such bonds shall
be confined to her liabilities to the holders of the bonds, as expressed
upon their face.
(e) The damage for repairing, reconstructing and
rebuilding property in the invaded and devastated districts, including
reinstallation of furniture, machinery and other equipment, will be
calculated according to the cost at the dates when the work is done.
(f) Decisions of the Commission relating to the total
or partial cancellation of the capital or interest of any verified debt
of Germany must be accompanied by a statement of its reasons.
13.
As to voting, the Commission will observe the
following rules:
When a decision of the Commission is taken, the votes
of all the Delegates entitled to vote, or in the absence of any of them,
of their Assistant Delegates, shall be recorded. Abstention from voting
is to be treated as a vote against the proposal under discussion.
Assessors have no vote.
On the following questions unanimity is necessary:
(a) Questions involving the sovereignty of any of the
Allied and Associated Powers, or the cancellation of the whole or any
part of the debt or obligations of Germany;
(b) Questions of determining the amount and conditions
of bonds or other obligations to be issued by the German Government and
of fixing the time and manner for selling, negotiating or distributing
such bonds;
(c) Any postponement, total or partial, beyond the end
of 1930, of the payment of installments falling due between May 1, 1921,
and the end of 1926 inclusive;
(d) Any postponement, total or partial, of any
installment falling due after 1926 for a period exceeding three years;
(e) Questions of applying in any particular case a
method of measuring damages different from that which has been
previously applied in a similar case;
(f) Questions of the interpretation of the provisions
of this Part of the present Treaty.
All other questions shall be decided by the vote of a
majority.
In case of any difference of opinion among the
Delegates, which cannot be solved by reference to their Governments,
upon the question whether a given case is one which requires a unanimous
vote for its decision or not, such difference shall be referred to the
immediate arbitration of some impartial person to be agreed upon by
their Governments, whose award the Allied and Associated Governments
agree to accept.
14.
Decisions of the Commission, in accordance with the
powers conferred upon it, shall forthwith become binding and may be put
into immediate execution without further Proceedings.
15.
The Commission will issue to each of the interested
Powers, in such form as the Commission shall fix:
(l) A certificate stating that it holds for the
account of the said Power bonds of the issues mentioned above, the said
certificate, on the demand of the Power concerned, being divisible in a
number of parts not exceeding five;
(2) From time to time certificates stating the goods
delivered by Germany on account of her reparation debt which it holds
for the account of the said Power.
The said certificates shall be registered, and upon
notice to the Commission, may be transferred by endorsement.
When bonds are issued for sale or negotiation, and
when goods are delivered by the Commission, certificates to an
equivalent value must be withdrawn.
16.
Interest shall be debited to Germany as from May 1,
1921, in respect of her debt as determined by the Commission, after
allowing for sums already covered by cash payments or their equivalent,
or by bonds issued to the Commission, or under Article 243. The rate of
interest shall be 5 per cent. unless the Commission shall determine at
some future time that circumstances justify a variation of the rate.
The Commission, in fixing on May 1, 1921, the total
amount of the debt of Germany, may take account of interest due on sums
arising out of the reparation of material damage as from November 11,
1918, up to May 1, 1921.
17.
In case of default by Germany in the performance of
any obligation under this Part of the present Treaty, the Commission
will forthwith give notice of such default to each of the interested
Powers and may make such recommendations as to the action to be taken in
consequence of such default as it may think necessary.
18.
The measures which the Allied and Associated Powers
shall have the right to take, in case of voluntary default by Germany,
and which Germany agrees not to regard as acts of war may include
economic and financial prohibitions and reprisals and in general such
other measures as the respective Governments may determine to be
necessary in the circumstances.
19.
Payments required to be made in gold or its equivalent
on account of the proved claims of the Allied and Associated Powers may
at any time be accepted by the Commission in the form of chattels,
properties, commodities, businesses, rights, concessions within or
without German territory, ships, bonds, shares or securities of any
kind, or currencies of Germany or other States, the value of such
substitutes for good being fixed at a fair and just amount by the
Commission itself.
20.
The Commission, in fixing or accepting payment in
specified properties or rights, shall have due regard for any legal or
equitable interests of the Allied and Associated Powers or of neutral
Powers or of their nationals therein.
21.
No member of the Commission shall be responsible,
except to the Government appointing him, for any action or omission as
such member. No one of the Allied or Associated Governments assumes any
responsibility in respect of any other Government.
22.
Subject to the provisions of the present Treaty this
Annex may be amended by the unanimous decision of the Governments
represented from time to time upon the Commission.
23
When all the amounts due from Germany and her allies
under the present Treaty or the decisions of the Commission have been
discharged and all sums received, or their equivalents, shall have been
distributed to the Powers interested, the Commission shall be dissolved.
ANNEX III.
1.
Germany recognises the right of the Allied and
Associated Powers to the replacement, ton for ton (gross tonnage) and
class for class, of all merchant ships and fishing boats lost or damaged
owing to the war.
Nevertheless, and in spite of the fact that the
tonnage of German shipping at present in existence is much less than
that lost by the Allied and Associated Powers in consequence of the
German aggression, the right thus recognised will be enforced on German
ships and boats under the following conditions:
The German Government, on behalf of themselves and so
as to bind all other persons interested, cede to the Allied and
Associated Governments the property in all the German merchant ships
which are of 1,600 tons gross and upwards; in one-half, reckoned in
tonnage, of the ships which are between 1,000 tons and 1,600 tons gross;
in one-quarter, reckoned in tonnage, of the steam trawlers; and in
one-quarter, reckoned in tonnage, of the other fishing boats.
2.
The German Government will, within two months of the
coming into force of the present Treaty, deliver to the Reparation
Commission all the ships and boats mentioned in paragraph 1.
3.
The ships and boats mentioned in paragraph 1 include
all ships and boats which (a) fly, or may be entitled to fly, the German
merchant flag; or (b) are owned by any German national, company or
corporation or by any company or corporation belonging to a country
other than an Allied or Associated country and under the control or
direction of German nationals; or (c) are now under construction (1) in
Germany, (2) in other than Allied or Associated countries for the
account of any German national, company or corporation.
4.
For the purpose of providing documents of title for
the ships and boats to be handed over as above mentioned, the German
Government will:
(a) Deliver to the Reparation Commission in respect of
each vessel a bill of sale or other document of title evidencing the
transfer to the Commission of the entire property in the vessel free
from all encumbrances, charges and liens of all kinds, as the Commission
may require;
(b) Take all measures that may be indicated by the
Reparation Commission for ensuring that the ships themselves shall be
placed at its disposal.
5.
As an additional part of reparation, Germany agrees to
cause merchant ships to be built in German yards for the account of the
Allied and Associated Governments as follows:
(a) Within three months of the coming into force of
the present Treaty, the Reparation Commission will notify to the German
Government the amount of tonnage to be laid down in German ship-yards in
each of the two years next succeeding the three months mentioned above.
(b) Within two years of the coming into force of the
present Treaty, the Reparation Commission will notify to the German
Government the amount of tonnage to be laid down in each of the three
years following the two years mentioned above.
(c) The amount of tonnage to be laid down in each year
shall not exceed 200,000 tons, gross tonnage.
(d) The specifications of the ships to be built, the
conditions under which they are to be built and delivered, the price per
ton at which they are to be accounted for by the Reparation Commission,
and all other questions relating to the accounting ordering, building
and delivery of the ships, shall be determined by the Commission.
6.
Germany undertakes to restore in kind and in normal
condition of upkeep to the Allied and Associated Powers, within two
months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, in accordance
with procedure to be laid down by the Reparation Commission, any boats
and other movable appliances belonging to inland navigation which since
August 1, 1914, have by any means whatever come into her possession or
into the possession of her nationals, and which can be identified
With a view to make good the loss in inland navigation
tonnage from whatever cause arising, which has been incurred during the
war by the Allied and Associated Powers, and which cannot be made good
by means of the restitution prescribed above, Germany agrees to cede to
the Reparation Commission a portion of the German river fleet up to the
amount of the loss mentioned above, provided that such cession shall not
exceed 20 per cent. of the river fleet as it existed on November 11,
1918.
The conditions of this cession shall be settled by the
arbitrators referred to in Article 339 of Part XII (Ports, Waterways and
Railways) of the present Treaty, who are charged with the settlement of
difficulties relating to the apportionment of river tonnage resulting
from the new international regime applicable to certain river systems or
from the territorial changes affecting those systems.
7.
Germany agrees to take any measures that may be
indicated to her by the Reparation Commission for obtaining the full
title to the property in all ships which have during the war been
transferred, or are in process of transfer, to neutral flags, without
the consent of the Allied and Associated Governments.
8.
Germany waives all claims of any description against
the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals in respect of
the detention, employment, loss or damage of any German ships or boats,
exception being made of payments due in respect of the employment of
ships in conformity with the Armistice Agreement of January 13, 1919,
and subsequent Agreements.
The handing over of the ships of the German mercantile
marine must be continued without interruption in accordance with the
said Agreement.
9.
Germany waives all claims to vessels or cargoes sunk
by or in consequence of naval action and subsequently salved, in which
any of the Allied or Associated Governments or their nationals may have
any interest either as owners, charterers, insurers or otherwise,
notwithstanding any decree of condemnation which may have been made by a
Prize Court of Germany or of her allies.
ANNEX IV.
1.
The Allied and Associated Powers require, and Germany
undertakes, that in part satisfaction of her obligations expressed in
the present Part she will, as hereinafter provided, devote her economic
resources directly to the physical restoration of the invaded areas of
the Allied and Associated Powers, to the extent that these Powers may
determine.
2.
The Allied and Associated Governments may file with
the Reparation Commission lists showing:
(a) Animals, machinery, equipment, tools and like
articles of a commercial character, which have been seized, consumed or
destroyed by Germany or destroyed in direct consequence of military
operations, and which such Governments, for the purpose of meeting
immediate and urgent needs, desire to have replaced by animals and
articles of the same nature which are in being in German territory at
the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty;
(b) Reconstruction materials (stones, bricks,
refractory bricks, tiles, wood, window-glass, steel, lime, cement,
etc.), machinery, heating apparatus, furniture and like articles of a
commercial character which the said Governments desire to have produced
and manufactured in Germany and delivered to them to permit of the
restoration of the invaded areas.
3.
The lists relating to the articles mentioned in 2 (a)
above shall be filed within sixty days after the date of the coming into
force of the present Treaty.
The lists relating to the articles in 2 (b) above
shall be filed on or before December 31, 1919.
The lists shall contain all such details as are
customary in commercial contracts dealing with the subject matter,
including specifications, dates of delivery (but not extending over more
than four years), and places of delivery, but not price or value, which
shall be fixed as hereinafter provided by the Commission.
4.
Immediately upon the filing of such lists with the
Commission, the Commission shall consider the amount and number of the
materials and animals mentioned in the lists provided for above which
are to be required of Germany. In reaching a decision on this matter the
Commission shall take into account such domestic requirements of Germany
as it deems essential for the maintenance of Germany's social and
economic life, the prices and dates at which similar articles can be
obtained in the Allied and Associated countries as compared with those
to be fixed for German articles, and the general interest of the Allied
and Associated Governments that the industrial life of Germany be not so
disorganised as to affect adversely the ability of Germany to perform
the other acts of reparation stipulated for.
Machinery, equipment, tools and like articles of a
commercial character in actual industrial use are not, however, to be
demanded of Germany unless there is no free stock of such articles
respectively which is not in use and is available, and then not m excess
of thirty per cent. of the quantity of such articles in use in any one
establishment or undertaking.
The Commission shall give representatives of the
German Government an opportunity and a time to be heard as to their
capacity to furnish the said materials, articles and animals.
The decision of the Commission shall thereupon and at
the earliest possible moment be communicated to the German Government
and to the several interested Allied and Associated Governments.
The German Government undertakes to deliver the
materials, articles and animals as specified in the said communication,
and the interested Allied and Associated Governments severally agree to
accept the same, provided they conform to the specification given, or
are not, in the judgment of the Commission, unfit to be utilised in the
work of reparation.
5.
The Commission shall determine the value to be
attributed to the materials, articles and animals to be delivered in
accordance with the foregoing, and the Allied or Associated Power
receiving the same agrees to be charged with such value, and the amount
thereof shall be treated as a payment by Germany to be divided in
accordance with Article 237 of this Part of the present Treaty.
In cases where the right to require physical
restoration as above provided is exercised, the Commission shall ensure
that the amount to be credited against the reparation obligation of
Germany shall be the fair value of work done or materials supplied by
Germany, and that the claim made by the interested Power in respect of
the damage so repaired by physical restoration shall be discharged to
the extent of the proportion which the damage thus repaired bears to the
whole of the damage thus claimed for.
6.
As an immediate advance on account of the animals
referred to in paragraph 2 (a) above, Germany undertakes to deliver in
equal monthly installments in the three months following the coming into
force of the present Treaty the following quantities of live stock:
(1) To the French Government.
500 stallions (3 to 7 years);
30,000 fillies and mares (18 months to 7 years), type:
Ardennais, Boulonnais or Belgian;
2,000 bulls (18 months to 3 years);
90,000 milch cows (2 to 6 years);
1,000 rams;
100,000 sheep;
10,000 goats.
(2) To the Belgian Government.
200 stallions (3 to 7 years), large Belgian type;
5,000 mares (3 to 7 years), large Belgian type;
5,000 fillies (18 months to 3 years), large Belgian
type;
2,000 bulls (18 months to 3 years);
50,000 milch cows (2 to 6 years);
40,000 heifers;
200 rams;
20,000 Sheep;
15,000 sows.
The animals delivered shall be of average health and
condition.
To the extent that animals so delivered cannot be
identified as animals taken away or seized, the value of such animals
shall be credited against the reparation obligations of Germany in
accordance with paragraph 5 of this Annex.
7.
Without waiting for the decisions of the Commission
referred to in paragraph 4 of this Annex to be taken, Germany must
continue the delivery to France of the agricultural material referred to
in Article III of the renewal dated January 16, 1919, of the Armistice.
ANNEX V.
1.
Germany accords the following options for the delivery
of coal and derivatives of coal to the undermentioned signatories of the
present Treaty.
2.
Germany undertakes to deliver to France seven million
tons of coal per year for ten years. In addition, Germany undertakes to
deliver to France annually for a period not exceeding ten years an
amount of coal equal to the difference between the annual production
before the war of the coal mines of the Nord and Pas de Calais,
destroyed as a result of the war, and the production of the mines of the
same area during the years in question: such delivery not to exceed
twenty million tons in any one year of the first five years, and eight
million tons in any one year of the succeeding five years.
It is understood that due diligence will be exercised
in the restoration of the destroyed mines in the Nord and the Pas de
Calais.
3.
Germany undertakes to deliver to Belgium eight million
tons of coal annually for ten years.
4.
Germany undertakes to deliver to Italy up to the
following . quantities of coal:
July 1919 to June 1920 4-1/2 million tons, 1920 1921
6 1921 1922 7-1/2 1922 1923 8 1923 1924 and each of the
following five years 8-1/2
At least two-thirds of the actual deliveries to be
land-borne.
5.
Germany further undertakes to deliver annually to
Luxemburg, if directed by the Reparation Commission, a quantity of coal
equal to the pre-war annual consumption of German coal in Luxemburg.
6.
The prices to be paid for coal delivered under these
options shall be as follows:
(a) For overland delivery, including delivery by
barge, the German pithead price to German nationals, plus the freight to
French, Belgian, Italian or Luxemburg frontiers, provided that the
pithead price does not exceed the pithead price of British coal for
export. In the case of Belgian bunker coal, the price shall not exceed
the Dutch bunker price.
Railroad and barge tariffs shall not be higher than
the lowest similar rates paid in Germany.
(b) For sea delivery, the German export price f. o. b.
German ports, or the British export price f. o. b. British ports,
whichever may be lower.
7.
The Allied and Associated Governments interested may
demand the delivery, in place of coal, of metallurgical coke in the
proportion of 3 tons of coke to 4 tons of coal.
8.
Germany undertakes to deliver to France, and to
transport to the French frontier by rail or by water, the following
products, during each of the three years following the coming into force
of this Treaty:
Benzol 35,000 tons.
Coal tar 50,000 tons
Sulphate of ammonia 30,000 tons.
All or part of the coal tar may, at the option of the
French Government, be replaced by corresponding quantities of products
of distillation, such as light oils, heavy oils, anthracene, napthalene
or pitch
9.
The price paid for coke and for the articles referred
to in the preceding paragraph shall be the same as the price paid by
German nationals under the same conditions of shipment to the French
frontier or to the German ports, and shall be subject to any advantages
which may be accorded similar products furnished to German nationals.
10.
The foregoing options shall be exercised through the
intervention of the Reparation Commission, which, subject to the
specific provisions hereof, shall have power to determine all questions
relative to procedure and the qualities and quantities of products, the
quantity of coke which may be substituted for coal, and the times and
modes of delivery and payment. In giving notice to the German Government
of the foregoing options the Commission shall give at least 120 days,
notice of deliveries to be made after January 1, 1920, and at least 30
days, notice of deliveries to be made between the coming into force of
this Treaty and January 1, 1920. Until Germany has received the demands
referred to in this paragraph, the provisions of the Protocol of
DecemberŬ25, 1918, (Execution of Article VI of the Armistice of November
11, 1918) remain in force. The notice to be given to the German
Government of the exercise of the right of substitution accorded by
paragraphs 7 and 8 shall be such as the Reparation Commission may
consider sufficient. If the Commission shall determine that the full
exercise of the foregoing options would interfere unduly with the
industrial requirements of Germany, the Commission is authorised to
postpone or to cancel deliveries, and in so doing to settle all
questions of priority; but the coal to replace coal from destroyed mines
shall receive priority over other deliveries.
ANNEX VI.
1.
Germany accords to the Reparation Commission an option
to require as part of reparation the delivery by Germany of such
quantities and kinds of dyestuffs and chemical drugs as the Commission
may designate, not exceeding 50 per cent. of the total stock of each and
every kind of dyestuff and chemical drug in Germany or under German
control at the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty.
This option shall be exercised within sixty days of
the receipt by the Commission of such particulars as to stocks as may be
considered necessary by the Commission.
2.
Germany further accords to the Reparation Commission
an option to require delivery during the period from the date of the
coming into force of the present Treaty until January 1, 1920, and
during each period of six months thereafter until January 1 , 1925, of
any specified kind of dyestuff and chemical drug up to an amount not
exceeding 25 per cent. of the German production of such dyestuffs and
chemical drugs during the previous six months period. If in any case the
production during such previous six months was, in the opinion of the
Commission, less than normal, the amount required may be 25 per cent. of
the normal production.
Such option shall be exercised within four weeks after
the receipt of such particulars as to production and in such form as may
be considered necessary by the Commission; these particulars shall be
furnished by the German Government immediately after the expiration of
each six months period.
3.
For dyestuffs and chemical drugs delivered under
paragraph 1 , the price shall be fixed by the Commission having regard
to prewar net export prices and to subsequent increases of cost.
For dyestuffs and chemical drugs delivered under
paragraph 2, the price shall be fixed by the Commission having regard to
pre-war net export prices and subsequent variations of cost, or the
lowest net selling price of similar dyestuffs and chemical drugs to any
other purchaser.
[See Map The Former German Cables]
4.
All details, including mode and times of exercising
the options, and making delivery, and all other questions arising under
this arrangement shall be determined by the Reparation Commission; the
German Government will furnish to the Commission all necessary
information and other assistance which it may require.
5.
The above expression ,,dyestuffs and chemical drugs,,
includes all synthetic dyes and drugs and intermediate or other products
used in connection with dyeing, so far as they are manufactured for
sale. The present arrangement shall also apply to cinchona bark and
salts of quinine.
ANNEX VII.
Germany renounces on her own behalf and on behalf of
her nationals in favour of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers
all rights, titles or privileges of whatever nature in the submarine
cables set out below, or in any portions thereof:
Emden-vigo: from the Straits of Dover to off vigo;
Emden-Brest: from off Cherbourg to Brest; Emden-Teneriffe: from off
Dunkirk to off Teneriffe; Emden-Azores (1): from the Straits of Dover to
Fayal; Emden-Azores (2): from the Straits of Dover to Fayal; Azores-New
York (1): from Fayal to New York; Azores-New York (2): from Fayal to the
longitude of Halifax, Teneriffe-Monrovia: from off Teneriffe to off
Monrovia; Monrovia-Lome:
from about lat. :2° 30' N.; long.:7° 40' W. of
Greenwich: to about lat. :2° 20' N.; long.:5° 30, W. of Greenwich; and
from about lat. :3° 48' N.; long.:0° 00', to Lome;
Lome-Duala: from Lome to Duala; Monrovia-Pernambuco:
from off Monrovia to off Pernambuco; Constantinople-Constanza: from
Constantinople to Constanza; Yap-Shanghai, Yap-Guam, and Yap-Menado
(Celebes): from Yap Island to Shanghai, from Yap Island to Guam Island,
and from Yap Island to Menado.
The value of the above mentioned cables or portions
thereof in so far as they are privately owned, calculated on the basis
of the original cost less a suitable allowance for depreciation, shall
be credited to Germany in the reparation account.
SECTION II.
SPECIAL PROVISIONS.
ARTICLE 245.
Within six months after the coming into force of the
present Treaty the German Government must restore to the French
Government the trophies, archives, historical souvenirs or works of art
carried away from France by the German authorities in the course of the
war of 1870-1871 and during this last war, in accordance with a list
which will be communicated to it by the French Government; particularly
the French flags taken in the course of the war of 1870-1871 and all the
political papers taken by the German authorities on October 1o, 1870, at
the chateau of Cercay, near Brunoy (Seine-et-Oise) belonging at the time
to Mr. Rouher, formerly Minister of State.
ARTICLE 246.
Within six months from the coming into force of the
present Treaty, Germany will restore to His Majesty the King of the
Hedjaz the original Koran of the Caliph Othman, which was removed from
Medina by the Turkish authorities and is stated to have been presented
to the ex-Emperor William II.
Within the same period Germany will hand over to His
Britannic Majesty's Government the skull of the Sultan Mkwawa which was
removed from the Protectorate of German East Africa and taken to
Germany.
The delivery of the articles above referred to will be
effected in such place and in such conditions as may be laid down by the
Governments to which they are to be restored.
ARTICLE 247.
Germany undertakes to furnish to the University of
Louvain, within three months after a request made by it and transmitted
through the intervention of the Reparation Commission, manuscripts,
incunabula, printed books, maps and objects of collection corresponding
in number and value to those destroyed in the burning by Germany of the
Library of Louvain. All details regarding such replacement will be
determined by the Reparation Commission.
Germany undertakes to deliver to Belgium, through the
Reparation Commission, within six months of the coming into force of the
present Treaty, in order to enable Belgium to reconstitute two great
artistic works:
(1) The leaves of the triptych of the Mystic Lamb
painted by the Van Eyck brothers, formerly in the Church of St. Bavon at
Ghent, now in the Berlin Museum;
(2) The leaves of the triptych of the Last Supper,
painted by Dierick Bouts, formerly in the Church of St. Peter at Louvain,
two of which are now in the Berlin Museum and two in the Old Pinakothek
at Munich.
PART IX.
FINANCIAL CLAUSES.
ARTICLE 248.
Subject to such exceptions as the Reparation
Commission may approve, a first charge upon all the assets and revenues
of the German Empire and its constituent States shall be the cost of
reparation and all other costs arising under the present Treaty or any
treaties or agreements supplementary thereto or under arrangements
concluded between Germany and the Allied and Associated Powers during
the Armistice or its extensions.
Up to May 1, 1921, the German Government shall not
export or dispose of, and shall forbid the export or disposal of, gold
without the previous approval of the Allied and Associated Powers acting
through the Reparation Commission.
ARTICLE 249.
There shall be paid by the German Government the total
cost of all armies of the Allied and Associated Governments in occupied
German territory from the date of the signature of the Armistice of
November 11, 1918, including the keep of men and beasts, lodging and
billeting, pay and allowances, salaries and wages, bedding, heating,
lighting, clothing, equipment, harness and saddlery, armament and
rolling-stock, air services, treatment of sick and wounded, veterinary
and remount services, transport service of all sorts (such as by rail,
sea or river, motor lorries), communications and correspondence, and in
general the cost of all administrative or technical services the working
of which is necessary for the training of troops and for keeping their
numbers up to strength and preserving their military efficiency.
The cost of such liabilities under the above heads so
far as they relate to purchases or requisitions by the Allied and
Associated Governments in the occupied territories shall be paid by the
German Government to the Allied and Associated Governments in marks at
the current or agreed rate of exchange. All other of the above costs
shall be paid in gold marks.
ARTICLE 250.
Germany confirms the surrender of all material handed
over to the Allied and Associated Powers in accordance with the
Armistice of November 11, 1918, and subsequent Armistice Agreements, and
recognises the title of the Allied and Associated Powers to such
material.
There shall be credited to the German Government,
against the sums due from it to the Allied and Associated Powers for
reparation, the value, as assessed by the Reparation Commission,
referred to in Article 233 of Part VIII (Reparation) of the present
Treaty, of the material handed over in accordance with Article VII of
the Armistice of November 11, 1918, or Article III of the Armistice
Agreement of January l6, 1919, as well as of any other material handed
over in accordance with the Armistice of November 11, 1918, and of
subsequent Armistice Agreements, for which, as having non-military
value, credit should in the judgment of the Reparation Commission be
allowed to the German Government.
Property belonging to the Allied and Associated
Governments or their nationals restored or surrendered under the
Armistice Agreements in specie shall not be credited to the German
Government.
ARTICLE 251.
The priority of the charges established by Article 248
shall, subject to the qualifications made below, be as follows:
(a) The cost of the armies of occupation as defined
under Article 249 during the Armistice and its extensions;
(b) The cost of any armies of occupation as defined
under Article 249 after the coming into force of the present Treaty;
(c) The cost of reparation arising out of the present
Treaty or any treaties or conventions supplementary thereto;
(d) The cost of all other obligations incumbent on
Germany under the Armistice Conventions or under this Treaty or any
treaties or conventions supplementary thereto.
The payment for such supplies of food and raw material
for Germany and such other payments as may be judged by the Allied and
Associated Powers to be essential to enable Germany to meet her
obligations in respect of reparation will have priority to the extent
and upon the conditions which have been or may be determined by the
Governments of the said Powers.
ARTICLE 252.
The right of each of the Allied and Associated Powers
to dispose of enemy assets and property within its jurisdiction at the
date of the coming into force of the present Treaty is not affected by
the foregoing provisions.
ARTICLE 253.
Nothing in the foregoing provisions shall prejudice in
any manner charges or mortgages lawfully effected in favour of the
Allied or Associated Powers or their nationals respectively, before the
date at which a state of war existed between Germany and the Allied or
Associated Power concerned, by the German Empire or its constituent
States, or by German nationals, on assets in their ownership at that
date.
ARTICLE 254/
The Powers to which German territory is ceded shall,
subject to the qualifications made in Article 255, undertake to pay:
(1) A portion of the debt of the German Empire as it
stood on August 1, 1914, calculated on the basis of the ratio between
the average for the three financial years 1911, 1912, 1913, of such
revenues of the ceded territory, and the average for the same years of
such revenues of the whole German Empire as in the judgment of the
Reparation Commission are best calculated to represent the relative
ability of the respective territories to make payment;
A portion of the debt as it stood on August 1, 1914,
of the German State to which the ceded territory belonged, to be
determined in accordance with the principle stated above.
Such portions shall be determined by the Reparation
Commission.
The method of discharging the obligation, both in
respect of capital and of interest, so assumed shall be fixed by the
Reparation Commission. Such method may take the form, inter alia, of the
assumption by the Power to which the territory is ceded of Germany's
liability for the German debt held by her nationals. But in the event of
the method adopted involving any payments to the German Government, such
payments shall be transferred to the Reparation Commission on account of
the sums due for reparation so long as any balance in respect of such
sums remains unpaid.
ARTICLE 255.
(1) As an exception to the above provision and
inasmuch as in 1871 Germany refused to undertake any portion of the
burden of the French debt, France shall be, in respect of
Alsace-Lorraine, exempt from any payment under Article 254.
(2) In the case of Poland that portion of the debt
which, in the opinion of the Reparation Commission, is attributable to
the measures taken by the German and Prussian Governments for the German
colonisation of Poland shall be excluded from the apportionment to be
made under Article 254.
(3) In the case of all ceded territories other than
Alsace-Lorraine, that portion of the debt of the German Empire or German
States which, in the opinion of the Reparation Commission, represents
expenditure by the Governments of the German Empire or States upon the
Government properties referred to in Article 256 shall be excluded from
the apportionment to be made under Article 254.
ARTICLE 256.
Powers to which German territory is ceded shall
acquire all property and possessions situated therein belonging to the
German Empire or to the German States, and the value of such
acquisitions shall be fixed by the Reparation Commission, and paid by
the State acquiring the territory to the Reparation Commission for the
credit of the German Government on account of the sums due for
reparation.
For the purposes of this Article the property and
possessions of the German Empire and States shall be deemed to include
all the property of the Crown, the Empire or the States, and the private
property of the former German Emperor and other Royal personages.
In view of the terms on which Alsace-Lorraine was
ceded to Germany in 1871, France shall be exempt in respect thereof from
making any payment or credit under this Article for any property or
possessions of the German Empire or States situated therein.
Belgium also shall be exempt from making any payment
or any credit under this Article for any property or possessions of the
German Empire or States situated in German territory ceded to Belgium
under the present Treaty.
ARTICLE 257.
In the case of the former German territories,
including colonies, protectorates or dependencies, administered by a
Mandatory under Article 22 of Part I (League of Nations) of the present
Treaty, neither the territory nor the Mandatory Power shall be charged
with any portion of the debt of the German Empire or States.
All property and possessions belonging to the German
Empire or to the German States situated in such territories shall be
transferred with the territories to the Mandatory Power in its capacity
as such and no payment shall be made nor any credit given to those
Governments in consideration of this transfer.
For the purposes of this Article the property and
possessions of the German Empire and of the German States shall be
deemed to include all the property of the Crown, the Empire or the
States and the private property of the former German Emperor and other
Royal personages.
ARTICLE 258.
Germany renounces all rights accorded to her or her
nationals by treaties, conventions or agreements, of whatsoever kind, to
representation upon or participation in the control or administration of
commissions, state banks, agencies or other financial or economic
organisations of an international character, exercising powers of
control or administration, and operating in any of the Allied or
Associated States, or in Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey, or in the
dependencies of these States, or in the former Russian Empire.
ARTICLE 259.
(1) Germany agrees to deliver within one month from
the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty, to such
authority as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers may designate,
the sum in gold which was to be deposited in the Reichsbank in the name
of the Council of the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt as
security for the first issue of Turkish Government currency notes.
(2) Germany recognises her obligation to make annually
for the period of twelve years the payments in gold for which provision
is made in the German Treasury Bonds deposited by her from time to time
in the name of the Council of the Administration of the Ottoman Public
Debt as security for the second and subsequent issues of Turkish
Government currency notes.
(3) Germany undertakes to deliver, within one month
from the coming into force of the present Treaty, to such authority as
the Principal Allied and Associated Powers may designate, the gold
deposit constituted in the Reichsbank or elsewhere, representing the
residue of the advance in gold agreed to on May 5, 1915, by the Council
of the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt to the Imperial Ottoman
Government.
(4) Germany agrees to transfer to the Principal Allied
and Associated Powers any title that she may have to the sum in gold and
silver transmitted by her to the Turkish Ministry of Finance in
November, 1918, in anticipation of the payment to be made in May, 1919,
for the service of the Turkish Internal Loan.
(5) Germany undertakes to transfer to the Principal
Allied and Associated Powers, within a period of one month from the
coming into force of the present Treaty, any sums in gold transferred as
pledge or as collateral security to the German Government or its
nationals in connection with loans made by them to the Austro-Hungarian
Government.
(6) Without prejudice to Article 292 of Part X
(Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty, Germany confirms the
renunciation provided for in Article XV of the Armistice of November 11,
1918, of any benefit disclosed by the Treaties of Bucharest and of
Brest-Litovsk and by the treaties supplementary thereto.
Germany undertakes to transfer, either to Roumania or
to the Principal Allied and Associated Powers as the case may be, all
monetary instruments, specie, securities and negotiable instruments, or
goods, which she has received under the aforesaid Treaties.
(7) The sums of money and all securities, instruments
and goods of whatsoever nature, to be delivered, paid and transferred
under the provisions of this Article, shall be disposed of by the
Principal Allied and Associated Powers in a manner hereafter to be
determined by those Powers.
ARTICLE 260.
Without prejudice to the renunciation of any rights by
Germany on behalf of herself or of her nationals in the other provisions
of the present Treaty, the Reparation Commission may within one year
from the coming into force of the present Treaty demand that the German
Government become possessed of any rights and interests of German
nationals in any public utility undertaking or in any concession
operating in Russia, China, Turkey, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria, or in
the possessions or dependencies of these States or in any territory
formerly belonging to Germany or her allies, to be ceded by Germany or
her allies to any Power or to be administered by a Mandatory under the
present Treaty, and may require that the German Government transfer,
within six months of the date of demand, all such rights and interests
and any similar rights and interests the German Government may itself
possess to the Reparation Commission.
Germany shall be responsible for indemnifying her
nationals so dispossessed, and the Reparation Commission shall credit
Germany, on account of sums due for reparation, with such sums in
respect of the value of the transferred rights and interests as may be
assessed by the Reparation Commission, and the German Government shall,
within six months from the coming into force of the present Treaty,
communicate to the Reparation Commission all such rights and interests,
whether already granted, contingent or not yet exercised, and shall
renounce on behalf of itself and its nationals in favour of the Allied
and Associated Powers all such rights and interests which have not been
so communicated.
ARTICLE 261.
Germany undertakes to transfer to the Allied and
Associated Powers any claims she may have to payment or repayment by the
Governments of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey, and, in particular,
any claims which may arise, now or hereafter, from the fulfilment of
undertakings made by Germany during the war to those Governments.
ARTICLE 262.
Any monetary obligation due by Germany arising out of
the present Treaty and expressed in terms of gold marks shall be payable
at the option of the creditors in pounds sterling payable in London;
gold dollars of the United States of America payable in New York; gold
francs payable in Paris; or gold lire payable in Rome.
For the purpose of this Article the gold coins
mentioned above shall be defined as being of the weight and fineness of
gold as enacted by law on January 1, 1914.
ARTICLE 263.
Germany gives a guarantee to the Brazilian Government
that all sums representing the sale of coffee belonging to the State of
Sao Paolo in the ports of Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp and Trieste, which
were deposited with the Bank of Bleichroder at Berlin, shall be
reimbursed together with interest at the rate or rates agreed upon.
Germany having prevented the transfer of the sums in question to the
State of Sao Paolo at the proper time, guarantees also that the
reimbursement shall be effected at the rate of exchange of the day of
the deposit.
PART X.
ECONOMIC CLAUSES.
SECTION l.
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS.
CHAPTER I.
CUSTOMS REGULATIONS, DUTIES AND RESTRICTIONS.
ARTICLE 264.
Germany undertakes that goods the produce or
manufacture of any one of the Allied or Associated States imported into
Germany territory, from whatsoever place arriving, shall not be
subjected to other or higher duties or charges (including internal
charges) than those to which the like goods the produce or manufacture
of any other such State or of any other foreign country are subject.
Germany will not maintain or impose any prohibition or
restriction on the importation into German territory of any goods the
produce or manufacture of the territories of any one of the Allied or
Associated States, from whatsoever place arriving, which shall not
equally extend to the importation of the like goods the produce or
manufacture of any other such State or of any other foreign country.
ARTICLE 265.
Germany further undertakes that, in the matter of the
regime applicable on importation, no discrimination against the commerce
of any of the Allied and Associated States as compared with any other of
the said States or any other foreign country shall be made, even by
indirect means, such as customs regulations or procedure, methods of
verification or analysis conditions of payment of duties, tariff
classification or interpretation, or the operation of monopolies.
ARTICLE 266.
In all that concerns exportation Germany undertakes
that goods, natural products or manufactured articles, exported from
German territory to the territories of any one of the Allied or
Associated States shall not be subjected to other or higher duties or
charges (including internal charges) than those paid on the like goods
exported to any other such State or to any other foreign country.
Germany will not maintain or impose any prohibition or
restriction on the exportation of any goods sent from her territory to
any one of the Allied or Associated States which shall not equally
extend to the exportation of the like goods, natural products or
manufactured articles, sent to any other such State or to any other
foreign country.
ARTICLE: 267.
Every favour, immunity or privilege in regard to the
importation, exportation or transit of goods granted by Germany to any
Allied or Associated State or to any other foreign country whatever
shall simultaneously and unconditionally, without request and without
compensation, be extended to all the Allied and Associated States.
ARTICLE 268.
The provisions of Articles 264 to 267 inclusive of
this Chapter and of Article 323 of Part XII (Ports, Waterways and
Railways) of the present Treaty are subject to the following exceptions:
(a) For a period of five years from the coming into
force of the present Treaty, natural or manufactured products which both
originate in and come from the territories of Alsace and Lorraine
reunited to France shall, on importation into German customs territory,
be exempt from all customs duty.
The French Government shall fix each year, by decree
communicated to the German Government, the nature and amount of the
products which shall enjoy this exemption.
The amount of each product which may be thus sent
annually into Germany shall not exceed the average of the amounts sent
annually in the years 1911-1913.
Further, during the period above mentioned the German
Government shall allow the free export from Germany, and the free
re-importation into Germany, exempt from all customs duties and other
charges (including internal charges), of yarns, tissues, and other
textile materials or textile products of any kind and in any condition,
sent from Germany into the territories of Alsace or Lorraine, to be
subjected there to any finishing process, such as bleaching, dyeing,
printing, mercerisation, gassing, twisting or dressing.
(b) During a period of three years from the coming
into force of the present Treaty natural or manufactured products which
both originate in and come from Polish territories which before the war
were part of Germany shall, on importation into German customs
territory, be exempt from all customs duty.
The Polish Government shall fix each year, by decree
communicated to the German Government, the nature and amount of the
products which shall enjoy this exemption.
The amount of each product which may be thus sent
annually into Germany shall not exceed the average of the amounts sent
annually in the years 1911-1913.
(c) The Allied and Associated Powers reserve the right
to require Germany to accord freedom from customs duty, on importation
into German customs territory, to natural products and manufactured
articles which both originate in and come from the Grand Duchy of
Luxemburg, for a period of five years from the coming into force of the
present Treaty.
The nature and amount of the products which shall
enjoy the benefits of this regime shall be communicated each year to the
German Government.
The amount of each product which may be thus sent
annually into Germany shall not exceed the average of the amounts sent
annually in the years 1911-1913.
ARTICLE 269.
During the first six months after the coming into
force of the present Treaty, the duties imposed by Germany on imports
from Allied and Associated States shall not be higher than the most
favourable duties which were applied to imports into Germany on July 31,
1914.
During a further period of thirty months after the
expiration of the first six months, this provision shall continue to be
applied exclusively with regard to products which, being comprised in
Section A of the First Category of the German Customs Tariff of December
25, 1902, enjoyed at the above-mentioned date (July 31, 1914) rates
conventionalised by treaties with the Allied and Associated Powers, with
the addition of all kinds of wine and vegetable oils, of artificial silk
and of washed or scoured wool whether or not they were the subject of
special conventions before July 31, 1914.
ARTICLE 270.
The Allied and Associated Powers reserve the right to
apply to German territory occupied by their troops a special customs
regime as regards imports and exports, in the event of such a measure
being necessary in their opinion in order to safeguard the economic
interests of the population of these territories.
CHAPTER II.
SHIPPING.
ARTICLE 271.
As regards sea fishing, maritime coasting trade, and
maritime towage, vessels of the Allied and Associated Powers shall
enjoy, in German territorial waters, the treatment accorded to vessels
of the most favoured nation.
ARTICLE 272.
Germany agrees that, notwithstanding any stipulation
to the contrary contained in the Conventions relating to the North Sea
fisheries and liquor traffic, all rights of inspection and police shall,
in the case of fishing-boats of the Allied Powers, be exercised solely
by ships belonging to those Powers.
ARTICLE 273.
In the case of vessels of the Allied or Associated
Powers, all classes of certificates or documents relating to the vessel,
which were recognised as valid by Germany before the war, or which may
hereafter be recognised as valid by the principal maritime States, shall
be recognised by Germany as valid and as equivalent to the corresponding
certificates issued to German vessels.
A similar recognition shall be accorded to the
certificates and documents issued to their vessels by the Governments of
new States, whether they have a sea-coast or not, provided that such
certificates and documents shall be issued m conformity with the general
practice observed in the principal maritime States.
The High Contracting Parties agree to recognise the
flag flown by the vessels of an Allied or Associated Power having no
seacoast which are registered at some one specified place situated in
its territory; such place shall serve as the port of registry of such
vessels.
CHAPTER III
UNFAIR COMPETITION.
ARTICLE 274.
Germany undertakes to adopt all the necessary
legislative and administrative measures to protect goods the produce or
manufacture of any one of the Allied and Associated Powers from all
forms of unfair competition in commercial transactions.
Germany undertakes to prohibit and repress by seizure
and by other appropriate remedies the importation, exportation,
manufacture, distribution, sale or offering for sale in its territory of
all goods bearing upon themselves or their usual get-up or wrappings any
marks, names, devices, or description whatsoever which are calculated to
convey directly or indirectly a false indication of the origin, type,
nature, or special characteristics of such goods.
ARTICLE 275
Germany undertakes on condition that reciprocity is
accorded in these matters to respect any law, or any administrative or
judicial decision given in conformity with such law, in force in any
Allied or Associated State and duly communicated to her by the proper
authorities, defining or regulating the right to any regional
appellation in respect of wine or spirits produced in the State to which
the region belongs, or the conditions under which the use of any such
appellation may be permitted; and the importation, exportation,
manufacture, distribution, sale or offering for sale of products or
articles bearing regional appellations inconsistent with such law or
order shall be prohibited by the German Government and repressed by the
measures prescribed in the preceding Article.
CHAPTER IV.
TREATMENT OF NATIONALS OF ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED
POWERS.
ARTICLE 276.
Germany undertakes:
(a) Not to subject the nationals of the Allied and
Associated Powers to any prohibition in regard to the exercise of
occupations, professions, trade and industry, which shall not be equally
applicable to all aliens without exception;
(b) Not to subject the nationals of the Allied and
Associated Powers in regard to the rights referred to in paragraph (a)
to any regulation or restriction which might contravene directly or
indirectly the stipulations of the said paragraph, or which shall be
other or more disadvantageous than those which are applicable to
nationals of the most favoured nation;
(c) Not to subject the nationals of the Allied and
Associated Powers, their property, rights or interests, including
companies and associations In which they are interested, to any charge,
tax or impost, direct or indirect, other or higher than those which are
or may be imposed on her own nationals or their property, rights or
interests;
(d) Not to subject the nationals of any one of the
Allied and Associated Powers to any restriction which was not applicable
on July l, 1914, to the nationals of such Powers unless such restriction
is likewise imposed on her own nationals.
ARTICLE 277.
The nationals of the Allied and Associated Powers
shall enjoy in German territory a constant protection for their persons
and for their property, rights and interests, and shall have free access
to the courts of law.
ARTICLE 278.
Germany undertakes to recognise any new nationality
which has been or may be acquired by her nationals under the laws of the
Allied and Associated Powers and in accordance with the decisions of the
competent authorities of these Powers pursuant to naturalisation laws or
under treaty stipulations, and to regard such persons as having, in
consequence of the acquisition of such new nationality, in all respects
severed their allegiance to their country of origin.
ARTICLE 279.
The Allied and Associated Powers may appoint
consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, and consular agents in German
towns and ports. Germany undertakes to approve the designation of the
consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, and consular agents, whose names
shall be notified to her, and to admit them to the exercise of their
functions in conformity with the usual rules and customs.
CHAPTER V.
GENERAL ARTICLES
ARTICLE 280.
The obligations imposed on Germany by Chapter I and by
Articles 27l and 272 of Chapter II above shall cease to have effect five
years from the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty,
unless otherwise provided in the text, or unless the Council of the
League of Nations shall, at least twelve months before the expiration of
that period, decide that these obligations shall be maintained for a
further period with or without amendment.
Article 276 of Chapter IV shall remain in operation,
with or without amendment, after the period of five years for such
further period, if any, not exceeding five years, as may be determined
by a majority of the Council of the League of Nations.
ARTICLE 28l.
If the German Government engages in international
trade, it shall not in respect thereof have or be deemed to have any
rights, privileges or immunities of sovereignty.
SECTION II.
TREATIES.
ARTICLE 282.
From the coming into force of the present Treaty and
subject to the provisions thereof the multilateral treaties, conventions
and agreements of an economic or technical character enumerated below
and in the subsequent Articles shall alone be applied as between Germany
and those of the Allied and Associated Powers party thereto:
(l) Conventions of March l4, 1884, December 1, 1886,
and March 23, 1887, and Final Protocol of July 7, 1887, regarding the
protection of submarine cables.
(2) Convention of October 11, 1909, regarding the
international circulation of motor-cars.
(3) Agreement of May 15, 1886, regarding the sealing
of railway trucks subject to customs inspection, and Protocol of May 18,
1907.
(4) Agreement of May 15, 1886, regarding the technical
standardisation of railways.
(5) Convention of July 5, 1890, regarding the
publication of customs tariffs and the organisation of an International
Union for the publication of customs tariffs.
(6) Convention of December 31, 1913, regarding the
unification of commercial statistics.
(7) Convention of April 25, 1907, regarding the
raising of the Turkish customs tariff.
(8) Convention of March 14, 1857, for the redemption
of toll dues on the Sound and Belts.
(9) Convention of June 22, 1861, for the redemption of
the Stade Toll on the Elbe.
(10) Convention of July 16, 1863, for the redemption
of the toll dues on the Scheldt.
(11) Convention of October 29, 1888, regarding the
establishment of a definite arrangement guaranteeing the free use of the
Suez Canal.
(12) Conventions of September 23, 1910, respecting the
unification of certain regulations regarding collisions and salvage at
sea.
(13) Convention of December 21, 1904, regarding the
exemption of hospital ships from dues and charges in ports
(14) Convention of February 4, 1898, regarding the
tonnage measurement of vessels for inland navigation.
(15) Convention of September 26, 1906, for the
suppression of nightwork for women.
(16) Convention of September 26, 1906, for the
suppression of the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of
matches.
(17) Conventions of May 18, 1904, and May 4, 1910,
regarding the suppression of the White Slave Traffic.
(18) Convention of May 4, 1910, regarding the
suppression of obscene publications.
(19) Sanitary Conventions of January 30, 1892, April
l5, l893, April 3, l894, March l9, 1897, and December 3, 1903.
(20) Convention of May 20, 1875, regarding the
unification and improvement of the metric system.
(21) Convention of November 29, 1906, regarding the
unification of pharmacopoeial formulae for potent drugs.
(22) Convention of November 16 and 19, 1885, regarding
the establishment of a concert pitch.
(23) Convention of June 7, 1905, regarding the
creation of an International Agricultural Institute at Rome.
(24) Conventions of November 3, 188l, and April l5,
l889, regarding precautionary measures against phylloxera.
(25) Convention of March 19, l902, regarding the
protection of birds useful to agriculture.
(26) Convention of June l2, 1902, as to the protection
of minors.
ARTICLE 283.
From the coming into force of the present Treaty the
High Contracting Parties shall apply the conventions and agreements
hereinafter mentioned, in so far as concerns them, on condition that the
special stipulations contained in this Article are fulfilled by Germany.
Postal Conventions:
Conventions and agreements of the Universal Postal
Union concluded at Vienna, July 4, 1891.
Conventions and agreements of the Postal Union signed
at Washington, June 15, 1897.
Conventions and agreements of the Postal Union signed
at Rome, May 26, 1906.
Telegraphic Conventions:
International Telegraphic Conventions signed at St.
Petersburg July 10, 22, 1875.
Regulations and Tariffs drawn up by the International
Telegraphic Conference, Lisbon, June 11, 1908.
Germany undertakes not to refuse her assent to the
conclusion by the new States of the special arrangements referred to in
the conventions and agreements relating to the Universal Postal Union
and to the International Telegraphic Union, to which the said new States
have adhered or may adhere.
ARTICLE 284.
From the coming into force of the present Treaty the
High Contracting Parties shall apply, in so far as concerns them, the
International Radio-Telegraphic Convention of July S, 1912, on condition
that Germany fulfills the provisional regulations which will be
indicated to her by the Allied and Associated Powers.
If within five years after the coming into force of
the present Treaty a new convention regulating international
radio-telegraphic communications should have been concluded to take the
place of the Convention of July 5, 1912, this new convention shall bind
Germany, even if Germany should refuse either to take part in drawing up
the convention, or to subscribe thereto.
This new convention will likewise replace the
provisional regulations in force.
ARTICLE 285.
From the coming into force of the present Treaty, the
High Contracting Parties shall apply in so far as concerns them and
under the conditions stipulated in Article 272, the conventions
hereinafter mentioned:
(1) The Conventions of May 6, 1882, and February 1,
1889, regulating the fisheries in the North Sea outside territorial
waters.
(2) The Conventions and Protocols of November 16,
1887, February 14, 1893, and April 11, 1894, regarding the North Sea
liquor traffic.
ARTICLE 286.
The International Convention of Paris of March 20,
1883, for the protection of industrial property, revised at Washington
on June 2, 1911; and the International Convention of Berne of September
9, 1886, for the protection of literary and artistic works, revised at
Berlin on November 13, 1908, and completed by the additional Protocol
signed at Berne on March 20, 1914, will again come into effect as from
the coming into force of the present Treaty, in so far as they are not
affected or modified by the exceptions and restrictions resulting
therefrom.
ARTICLE 287.
From the coming into force of the present Treaty the
High Contracting Parties shall apply, in so far as concerns them, the
Convention of the Hague of July 17, 1905, relating to civil procedure.
This renewal, however, will not apply to France, Portugal and Roumania.
ARTICLE 288.
The special rights and privileges granted to Germany
by Article 3 of the Convention of December 2, 1899, relating to Samoa
shall be considered to have terminated on August 4, 1914.
ARTICLE 289.
Each of the Allied or Associated Powers, being guided
by the general principles or special provisions of the present Treaty,
shall notify to Germany the bilateral treaties or conventions which such
Allied or Associated Power wishes to revive with Germany.
The notification referred to in the present Article
shall be made either directly or through the intermediary of another
Power. Receipt thereof shall be acknowledged in writing by Germany. The
date of the revival shall be that of the notification.
The Allied and Associated Powers undertake among
themselves not to revive with Germany any conventions or treaties which
are not in accordance with the terms of the present Treaty.
The notification shall mention any provisions of the
said conventions and treaties which, not being in accordance with the
terms of the present Treaty, shall not be considered as revived.
In case of any difference of opinion, the League of
Nations will be called on to decide.
A period of six months from the coming into force of
the present Treaty is allowed to the Allied and Associated Powers within
which to make the notification.
Only those bilateral treaties and conventions which
have been the subject of such a notification shall be revived between
the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany; all the others are and
shall remain abrogated.
The above regulations apply to all bilateral treaties
or conventions existing between all the Allied and Associated Powers
signatories to the present Treaty and Germany, even if the said Allied
and Associated Powers have not been in a state of war with Germany.
ARTICLE 290.
Germany recognises that all the treaties, conventions
or agreements which she has concluded with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria or
Turkey since August 1, 1914, until the coming into force of the present
Treaty are and remain abrogated by the present Treaty.
ARTICLE 291.
Germany undertakes to secure to the Allied and
Associated Powers, and to the officials and nationals of the said
Powers, the enjoyment of all the rights and advantages of any kind which
she may have granted to Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey, or to the
officials and nationals of these States by treaties, conventions or
arrangements concluded before August 1, 1914, so long as those treaties,
conventions or arrangements remain in force.
The Allied and Associated Powers reserve the right to
accept or not the enjoyment of these rights and advantages.
ARTICLE 292.
Germany recognises that all treaties, conventions or
arrangements which she concluded with Russia, or with any State or
Government of which the territory previously formed a part of Russia, or
with Roumania, before August 1, 1914, or after that date until coming
into force of the present Treaty, are and remain abrogated.
ARTICLE 293.
Should an Allied or Associated Power, Russia, or a
State or Government of which the territory formerly constituted a part
of Russia, have been forced since August 1, 1914, by reason of military
occupation or by any other means or for any other cause, to grant or to
allow to be granted by the act of any public authority, concessions,
privileges and favours of any kind to Germany or to a German national,
such concessions, privileges and favours are ipso facto annulled by the
present Treaty.
No claims or indemnities which may result from this
annulment hall be charged against the Allied or Associated Powers or the
Powers, States, Governments or public authorities which are released
from their engagements by the present Article.
ARTICLE 294.
From the coming into force of the present Treaty
Germany undertakes to give the Allied and Associated Powers and their
nationals the benefit ipso facto of the rights and advantages of any
kind which she has granted by treaties, conventions, or arrangements to
nonbelligerent States or their nationals since August 1, 1914, until the
coming into force of the present Treaty, so long as those treaties,
conventions or arrangements remain in force.
ARTICLE 295.
Those of the High Contracting Parties who have not yet
signed, or who have signed but not yet ratified, the Opium Convention
signed at The Hague on January 23, 1912, agree to bring the said
Convention into force, and for this purpose to enact the necessary
legislation without delay and in any case within a period of twelve
months from the coming into force of the present Treaty.
Furthermore, they agree that ratification of the
present Treaty should in the case of Powers which have not yet ratified
the Opium Convention be deemed in all respects equivalent to the
ratification of that Convention and to the signature of the Special
Protocol which was opened at The Hague in accordance with the
resolutions adopted by the Third Opium Conference in 1914 for bringing
the said Convention into force.
For this purpose the Government of the French Republic
will communicate to the Government of the Netherlands a certified copy
of the protocol of the deposit of ratifications of the present Treaty,
and will invite the Government of the Netherlands to accept and deposit
the said certified copy as if it were a deposit of ratifications of the
Opium Convention and a signature of the Additional Protocol of 1914.
SECTION III.
DEBTS.
ARTICLE 296.
There shall be settled through the intervention of
clearing offices to be established by each of the High Contracting
Parties within three months of the notification referred to in paragraph
(e) hereafter the following classes of pecuniary obligations:
(1) Debts payable before the war and due by a national
of one of the Contracting Powers, residing within its territory, to a
national of an Opposing Power, residing within its territory;
(2) Debts which became payable during the war to
nationals of one Contracting Power residing within its territory and
arose out of transactions or contracts with the nationals of an Opposing
Power, resident within its territory, of which the total or partial
execution was suspended on account of the declaration of war;
(3) Interest which has accrued due before and during
the war to a national of one of the Contracting Powers in respect of
securities issued by an Opposing Power, provided that the payment of
interest on such securities to the nationals of that Power or to
neutrals has not been suspended during the war;
(4) Capital sums which have become payable before and
during the war to nationals of one of the Contracting Powers in respect
of securities issued by one of the Opposing Powers, provided that the
payment of such capital sums to nationals of that Power or to neutrals
has not been suspended during the war.
The proceeds of liquidation of enemy property, rights
and interests mentioned in Section IV and in the Annex thereto will be
accounted for through the Clearing Offices, in the currency and at the
rate of exchange hereinafter provided in paragraph (d), and disposed of
by them under the conditions provided by the said Section and Annex.
The settlements provided for in this Article shall be
effected according to the following principles and in accordance with
the Annex to this Section:
(a) Each of the High Contracting Parties shall
prohibit, as from the coming into force of the present Treaty, both the
payment and the acceptance of payment of such debts, and also all
communications between the interested parties with regard to the
settlement of the said debts otherwise than through the Clearing
Offices;
(b) Each of the High Contracting Parties shall be
respectively responsible for the payment of such debts due by its
nationals, except in the cases where before the war the debtor was in a
state of bankruptcy or failure, or had given formal indication of
insolvency or where the debt was due by a company whose business has
been liquidated under emergency legislation during the war.
Nevertheless, debts due by the inhabitants of territory invaded or
occupied by the enemy before the Armistice will not be guaranteed by the
States of which those territories form part;
(c) The sums due to the nationals of one of the High
Contracting Parties by the nationals of an Opposing State will be
debited to the Clearing Office of the country of the debtor, and paid to
the creditor by the Clearing Office of the country of the creditor;
(d) Debts shall be paid or credited in the currency of
such one of the Allied and Associated Powers, their colonies or
protectorates, or the British Dominions or India, as may be concerned.
If the debts are payable in some other currency they shall be paid or
credited in the currency of the country concerned, whether an Allied or
Associated Power, Colony, Protectorate, British Dominion or India, at
the pre-war rate of exchange.
For the purpose of this provision the pre-war rate of
exchange shall be defined as the average cable transfer rate prevailing
in the Allied or Associated country concerned during the month
immediately preceding the outbreak of war between the said country
concerned and Germany.
If a contract provides for a fixed rate of exchange
governing the conversion of the currency in which the debt is stated
into the currency of the Allied or Associated country concerned, then
the above provisions concerning the rate of exchange shall not apply.
In the case of new States the currency in which and
the rate of exchange at which debts shall be paid or credited shall be
determined by the Reparation Commission provided for in Part VIII
(Reparation);
(e) The provisions of this Article and of the Annex
hereto shall not apply as between Germany on the one hand and any one of
the Allied and Associated Powers, their colonies or protectorates, or
any one of the British Dominions or India on the other hand, unless
within a period of one month from the deposit of the ratification of the
present Treaty by the Power in question, or of the ratification on
behalf of such Dominion or of India, notice to that effect is given to
Germany by the Government of such Allied or Associated Power or of such
Dominion or of India as the case may be;
(f) The Allied and Associated Powers who have adopted
this Article and the Annex hereto may agree between themselves to apply
them to their respective nationals established in their territory so far
as regards matters between their nationals and German nationals. In this
case the payments made by application of this provision will be subject
to arrangements between the Allied and Associated Clearing Offices
concerned.
ANNEX.
1.
Each of the High Contracting Parties will, within
three months from the notification provided for in Article 296,
paragraph (e) establish a Clearing Office for the collection and payment
of enemy debts.
Local Clearing Offices may be established for any
particular portion of the territories of the High Contracting Parties.
Such local Clearing Offices may perform all the functions of a central
Clearing Office in their respective districts, except that all
transactions with the Clearing Office in the Opposing State must be
effected through the central Clearing Office.
2.
In this Annex the pecuniary obligations referred to in
the first paragraph of Article 296 are described "as enemy debts", the
persons from whom the same are due as "enemy debtors", the persons to
whom they are due as "enemy creditors", the Clearing Office in the
country of the creditor is called the "Creditor Clearing Office", and
the Clearing Office in the country of the debtor is called the "Debtor
Clearing Office."
3.
The High Contracting Parties will subject
contraventions of paragraph (a) of Article 296 to the same penalties as
are at present provided by their legislation for trading with the enemy.
They will similarly prohibit within their territory all legal process
relating to payment of enemy debts, except in accordance with the
provisions of this Annex.
4.
The Government guarantee specified in paragraph (b) of
Article 296 shall take effect whenever, for any reason, a debt shall not
be recoverable, except in a case where at the date of the outbreak of
war the debt was barred by the laws of prescription in force in the
country of the debtor, or where the debtor was at that time in a state
of bankruptcy or failure or had given formal indication of insolvency,
or where the debt was due by a company whose business has been
liquidated under emergency legislation during the war. In such case the
procedure specified by this Annex shall apply to payment of the
dividends.
The terms "bankruptcy" and "failure" refer to the
application of legislation providing for such juridical conditions. The
expression "formal indication of insolvency" bears the same meaning as
it has in English law.
6.
When a debt has been admitted, in whole or in part,
the Debtor Clearing Office will at once credit the Creditor Clearing
Office with the amount admitted, and at the same time notify it of such
credit.
7.
The debt shall be deemed to be admitted in full and
shall be credited forthwith to the Creditor Clearing Office unless
within three months from the receipt of the notification or such longer
time as may be agreed to by the Creditor Clearing Office notice has been
given by the Debtor Clearing Office that it is not admitted.
8.
When the whole or part of a debt is not admitted the
two Clearing Offices will examine into the matter jointly and will
endeavour to bring the parties to an agreement.
9.
The Creditor Clearing Office will pay to the
individual creditor the sums credited to it out of the funds placed at
its disposal by the Government of its country and in accordance with the
conditions fixed by the said Government, retaining any sums considered
necessary to cover risks, expenses or commissions.
10.
Any person having claimed payment of an enemy debt
which is not admitted in whole or in part shall pay to the clearing
office, by way of fine, interest at 5 per cent. on the part not
admitted. Any person having unduly refused to admit the whole or part of
a debt claimed from him shall pay, by way of fine, interest at 5 per
cent. on the amount with regard to which his refusal shall be
disallowed.
Such interest shall run from the date of expiration of
the period provided for in paragraph 7 until the date on which the claim
shall have been disallowed or the debt paid.
Each Clearing Office shall in so far as it is
concerned take steps to collect the fines above provided for, and will
be responsible if such fines cannot be collected.
The fines will be credited to the other Clearing
Office, which shall retain them as a contribution towards the cost of
carrying out the present provisions.
11.
The balance between the Clearing Offices shall be
struck monthly and the credit balance paid in cash by the debtor State
within a week.
Nevertheless, any credit balances which may be due by
one or more of the Allied and Associated Powers shall be retained until
complete payment shall have been effected of the sums due to the Allied
or Associated Powers or their nationals on account of the war.
12.
To facilitate discussion between the Clearing Offices
each of them shall have a representative at the place where the other is
established.
13.
Except for special reasons all discussions in regard
to claims will, so far as possible, take place at the Debtor Clearing
Office.
14
In conformity with Article 296, paragraph (b), the
High Contracting Parties are responsible for the payment of the enemy
debts owing by their nationals.
The Debtor Clearing Office will therefore credit the
Creditor Clearing Office with all debts admitted, even in case of
inability to collect them from the individual debtor. The Governments
concerned will, nevertheless, invest their respective Clearing Offices
with all necessary powers for the recovery of debts which have been
admitted.
As an exception, the admitted debts owing by persons
having suffered injury from acts of war shall only be credited to the
Creditor Clearing Office when the compensation due to the person
concerned in respect of such injury shall have been paid.
15.
Each Government will defray the expenses of the
Clearing Office set up in its territory, including the salaries of the
staff.
16.
Where the two Clearing Offices are unable to agree
whether a debt claimed is due, or in case of a difference between an
enemy debtor and an enemy creditor or between the Clearing Offices, the
dispute shall either be referred to arbitration if the parties so agree
under conditions fixed by agreement between them, or referred to the
Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for in Section VI hereafter.
At the request of the Creditor Clearing Office the
dispute may, however, be submitted to the jurisdiction of the Courts of
the place of domicile of the debtor.
17.
Recovery of sums found by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal,
the Court, or the Arbitration Tribunal to be due shall be effected
through the Clearing Offices as if these sums were debts admitted by the
Debtor Clearing Office.
18.
Each of the Governments concerned shall appoint an
agent who will be responsible for the presentation to the Mixed Arbitral
Tribunal of the cases conducted on behalf of its Clearing Office. This
agent will exercise a general control over the representatives or
counsel employed by its nationals.
Decisions will be arrived at on documentary evidence,
but it will be open to the Tribunal to hear the parties in person, or
according to their preference by their representatives approved by the
two Governments, or by the agent referred to above, who shall be
competent to intervene along with the party or to reopen and maintain a
claim abandoned by the same.
19.
The Clearing Offices concerned will lay before the
Mixed Arbitral Tribunal all the information and documents in their
possession, so as to enable the Tribunal to decide rapidly on the cases
which are brought before it.
20.
Where one of the parties concerned appeals against the
joint decision of the two Clearing Offices he shall make a deposit
against the costs, which deposit shall only be refunded when the first
judgment is modified in favour of the appellant and in proportion to the
success he may attain, his opponent in case of such a refund being
required to pay an equivalent proportion of the costs and expenses.
Security accepted by the Tribunal may be substituted for a deposit.
A fee of 5 per cent. of the amount in dispute shall be
charged in respect of all cases brought before the Tribunal. This fee
shall, unless the Tribunal directs otherwise, be borne by the
unsuccessful party. Such fee shall be added to the deposit referred to.
It is also independent of the security.
The Tribunal may award to one of the parties a sum in
respect of the expenses of the proceedings.
Any sum payable under this paragraph shall be credited
to the Clearing Office of the successful party as a separate item.
21.
With a view to the rapid settlement of claims, due
regard shall be paid in the appointment of all persons connected with
the Clearing Offices or with the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal to their
knowledge of the language of the other country concerned.
Each of the Clearing Offices will be at liberty to
correspond with the other and to forward documents in its own language.
22.
Subject to any special agreement to the contrary
between the Governments concerned, debts shall carry interest in
accordance with the following provisions:
Interest shall not be payable on sums of money due by
way of dividend, interest or other periodical payments which themselves
represent interest on capital.
The rate of interest shall be 5 per cent. per annum
except in cases where, by contract, law or custom, the creditor is
entitled to payment of interest at a different rate. In such cases the
rate to which he is entitled shall prevail.
Interest shall run from the date of commencement of
hostilities (or, if the sum of money to be recovered fell due during the
war, from the date at which it fell due) until the sum is credited to
the Clearing Office of the creditor.
Sums due by way of interest shall be treated as debts
admitted by the Clearing Offices and shall be credited to the Creditor
Clearing Office in the same way as such debts.
23.
Where by decision of the Clearing Offices or the Mixed
Arbitral Tribunal a claim is held not to fall within Article 296, the
creditor shall be at liberty to prosecute the claim before the Courts or
to take such other proceedings as may be open to him.
The presentation of a claim to the Clearing Office
suspends the operation of any period of prescription.
24.
The High Contracting Parties agree to regard the
decisions of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal as final and conclusive, and to
render them binding upon their nationals.
25.
In any case where a Creditor Clearing Office declines
to notify a claim to the Debtor Clearing Office, or to take any step
provided for in this Annex, intended to make effective in whole or in
part a request of which it has received due notice, the enemy creditor
shall be entitled to receive from the Clearing Office a certificate
setting out the amount of the claim, and shall then be entitled to
prosecute the claim before the courts or to take such other proceedings
as may be open to him.
SECTION IV.
PROPERTY, RIGHTS AND INTERESTS.
ARTICLE 297.
The question of private property, rights and interests
in an enemy country shall be settled according to the principles laid
down in this Section and to the provisions of the Annex hereto.
(a) The exceptional war measures and measures of
transfer (defined in paragraph 3 of the Annex hereto) taken by Germany
with respect to the property, rights and interests of nationals of
Allied or Associated Powers, including companies and associations in
which they are interested, when liquidation has not been completed,
shall be immediately discontinued or stayed and the property, rights and
interests concerned restored to their owners, who shall enjoy full
rights therein in accordance with the provisions of Article 298.
(b) Subject to any contrary stipulations which may be
provided for in the present Treaty, the Allied and Associated Powers
reserve the right to retain and liquidate all property, rights and
interests belonging at the date of the coming into force of the present
Treaty to German nationals, or companies controlled by them, within
their territories, colonies, possessions and protectorates including
territories ceded to them by the present Treaty.
The liquidation shall be carried out in accordance
with the laws of the Allied or Associated State concerned, and the
German manowners shall not be able to dispose of such property, rights
or interests nor to subject them to any charge without the consent of
that State.
German nationals who acquire ipso facto the
nationality of an Allied or Associated Power in accordance with the
provisions of the present Treaty will not be considered as German
nationals within the meaning of this paragraph.
(c) The price or the amount of compensation in respect
of the exercise of the right referred to in the preceding paragraph (b)
will be fixed in accordance with the methods of sale or valuation
adopted by the laws of the country in which the property has been
retained or liquidated.
(d) As between the Allied and Associated Powers or
their nationals on the one hand and Germany or her nationals on the
other hand, all the exceptional war measures, or measures of transfer,
or acts done or to be done in execution of such measures as defined in
paragraphs 1 and 3 of the Annex hereto shall be considered as final and
binding upon all persons except as regards the reservations laid down in
the present Treaty.
(e) The nationals of Allied and Associated Powers
shall be entitled to compensation in respect of damage or injury
inflicted upon their property, rights or interests, including any
company or association in which they are interested, in German territory
as it existed on August 1, 1914, by the application either of the
exceptional war measures or measures of transfer mentioned in paragraphs
1 and 3 of the Annex hereto. The claims made in this respect by such
nationals shall be investigated, and the total of the compensation shall
be determined by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for in Section VI
or by an Arbitrator appointed by that Tribunal. This compensation shall
be borne by Germany, and may be charged upon the property of German
nationals within the territory or under the control of the claimant's
State. This property may be constituted as a pledge for enemy
liabilities under the conditions fixed by paragraph 4 of the Annex
hereto. The payment of this compensation may be made by the Allied or
Associated State, and the amount will be debited to Germany.
(f) Whenever a national of an Allied or Associated
Power is entitled to property which has been subjected to a measure of
transfer in German territory and expresses a desire for its restitution,
his claim for compensation in accordance with paragraph (6) shall be
satisfied by the restitution of the said property if it still exists in
specie.
In such case Germany shall take all necessary steps to
restore the evicted owner to the possession of his property, free from
all encumbrances or burdens with which it may have been charged after
the liquidation, and to indemnify all third parties injured by the
restitution.
If the restitution provided for in this paragraph
cannot be effected, private agreements arranged by the intermediation of
the Powers concerned or the Clearing Offices provided for in the Annex
to Section III may be made, in order to secure that the national of the
Allied or Associated Power may secure compensation for the injury
referred to in paragraph (e) by the grant of advantages or equivalents
which he agrees to accept in place of the property, rights or interests
of which he was deprived.
Through restitution in accordance with this Article,
the price or the amount of compensation fixed by the application of
paragraph (e) will be reduced by the actual value of the property
restored, account being taken of compensation in respect of loss of use
or deterioration.
(g) The rights conferred by paragraph (f) are reserved
to owners who are nationals of Allied or Associated Powers within whose
territory legislative measures prescribing the general liquidation of
enemy property, rights or interests were not applied before the
signature of the Armistice.
(h) Except in cases where, by application of paragraph
(f), restitutions in specie have been made, the net proceeds of sales of
enemy property, rights or interests wherever situated carried out either
by virtue of war legislation, or by application of this Article, and in
general all cash assets of enemies, shall be dealt with as follows:
(1) As regards Powers adopting Section III and the
Annex thereto, the said proceeds and cash assets shall be credited to
the Power of which the owner is a national, through the Clearing Office
established thereunder; any credit balance in favour of Germany
resulting therefrom shall be dealt with as provided in Article 243.
(2) As regards Powers not adopting Section III and the
Annex thereto, the proceeds of the property, rights and interests, and
the cash assets, of the nationals of Allied or Associated Powers held by
Germany shall be paid immediately to the person entitled thereto or to
his Government; the proceeds of the property, rights and interests, and
the cash assets, of German nationals received by an Allied or Associated
Power shall be subject to disposal by such Power in accordance with its
laws and regulations and may be applied in payment of the claims and
debts defined by this Article or paragraph 4 of the Annex hereto. Any
property, rights and interests or proceeds thereof or cash assets not
used as above provided may be retained by the said Allied or Associated
Power and if retained the cash value thereof shall be dealt with as
provided in Article 243.
In the case of liquidations effected in new States,
which are signatories of the present Treaty as Allied and Associated
Powers, or in States which are not entitled to share in the reparation
payments to be made by Germany, the proceeds of liquidations effected by
such States shall, subject to the rights of the Reparation Commission
under the present Treaty, particularly under Articles 235 and 260, be
paid direct to the owner. If on the application of that owner, the Mixed
Arbitral Tribunal, provided for by Section VI of this Part, or an
arbitrator appointed by that Tribunal is satisfied that the conditions
of the sale or measures taken by the Government of the State in question
outside its general legislation were unfairly prejudicial to the price
obtained, they shall have discretion to award to the owner equitable
compensation to be paid by that State.
(i) Germany undertakes to compensate her nationals in
respect of the sale or retention of their property, rights or interests
in Allied or Associated States.
(j) The amount of all taxes and imposts upon capital
levied or to be levied by Germany on the property, rights and interests
of the nationals of the Allied or Associated Powers from November 11,
1918, until three months from the coming into force of the present
Treaty, or, in the case of property, rights or interests which have been
subjected to exceptional measures of war, until restitution in
accordance with the present Treaty, shall be restored to the owners.
ARTICLE 298.
Germany undertakes, with regard to the property,
rights and interests, including companies and associations in which they
were interested, restored to nationals of Allied and Associated Powers
in accordance with the provisions of Article 297, paragraph (a) or (f):
(a) to restore and maintain, except as expressly
provided in the present Treaty, the property, rights and interests of
the nationals of Allied or Associated Powers in the legal position
obtaining in respect of the property, rights and interests of German
nationals under the laws in force before the war;
(b) not to subject the property, rights or interests
of the nationals of the Allied or Associated Powers to any measures in
derogation of property rights which are not applied equally to the
property, rights and interests of German nationals, and to pay adequate
compensation in the event of the application of these measures.
ANNEX.
1.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 297
paragraph (d), the validity of vesting orders and of orders for the
winding up of businesses or companies, and of any other orders,
directions, decisions or instructions of any court or any department of
the Government of any of the High Contracting Parties made or given, or
purporting to be made or given, in pursuance of war legislation with
regard to enemy property, rights and interests is confirmed. The
interests of all persons shall be regarded as having been effectively
dealt with by any order, direction, decision or instruction dealing with
property in which they may be interested, whether or not such interests
are specifically mentioned in the order, direction, decision, or
instruction. No question shall be raised as to the regularity of a
transfer of any property, rights or interests dealt with in pursuance of
any such order, direction, decision or instruction. Every action taken
with regard to any property, business, or company, whether as regards
its investigation, sequestration, compulsory administration, use,
requisition, supervision, or winding up, the sale or management of
property, rights or interests, the collection or discharge of debts, the
payment of costs, charges or expenses, or any other matter whatsoever,
in pursuance of orders, directions, decisions, or instructions of any
court or of any department of the Government of any of the High
Contracting Parties, made or given, or purporting to be made or given,
in pursuance of war legislation with regard to enemy property, rights or
interests, is confirmed. Provided that the provisions of this paragraph
shall not be held to prejudice the titles to property heretofore
acquired in good faith and for value and in accordance with the laws of
the country in which the property is situated by nationals of the Allied
and Associated Powers.
The provisions of this paragraph do not apply to such
of the above-mentioned measures as have been taken by the German
authorities in invaded or occupied territory, nor to such of the above
mentioned measures as have been taken by Germany or the German
authorities since November 11, 1918, all of which shall be void.
2.
No claim or action shall be made or brought against
any Allied or Associated Power or against any person acting on behalf of
or under the direction of any legal authority or Department of the
Government of such a Power by Germany or by any German national wherever
resident in respect of any act or omission with regard to his property,
rights or interests during the war or in preparation for the war.
Similarly no claim or action shall be made or brought against any person
in respect of any act or omission under or in accordance with the
exceptional war measures, laws or regulations of any Allied or
Associated Power.
3.
In Article 297 and this Annex the expression
"exceptional war measures" includes measures of all kinds, legislative
administrative, judicial or others, that have been taken or will be
taken hereafter with regard to enemy property, and which have had or
will have the effect of removing from the proprietors the power of
disposition over their property, though without affecting the ownership,
such as measures of supervision, of compulsory administration, and of
sequestration; or measures which have had or will have as an object the
seizure of, the use of, or the interference with enemy assets, for
whatsoever motive, under whatsoever form or in whatsoever place. Acts in
the-execution of these measures include all detentions, instructions,
orders or decrees of Government departments or courts applying these
measures to enemy property, as well as acts performed by any person
connected with the administration or the supervision of enemy property,
such as the payment of debts, the collecting of credits, the payment of
any costs, charges or expenses, or the collecting of fees.
Measures of transfer are those which have affected or
will affect the ownership of enemy property by transferring it in whole
or in part to a person other than the enemy owner, and without his
consent, such as measures directing the sale, liquidation, or devolution
of ownership in enemy property, or the cancelling of titles or
securities.
4.
All property, rights and interests of German nationals
within the territory of any Allied or Associated Power and the net
proceeds of their sale, liquidation or other dealing therewith may be
charged by that Allied or Associated Power in the first place with
payment of amounts due in respect of claims by the nationals of that
Allied or Associated Power with regard to their property, rights and
interests, including companies and associations in which they are
interested, in German territory, or debts owing to them by German
nationals, and with payment of claims growing out of acts committed by
the German Government or by any German authorities since July 31, 1914,
and before that Allied or Associated Power entered into the war. The
amount of such claims may be assessed by an arbitrator appointed by Mr.
Gustave Ador, if he is willing, or if no such appointment is made by
him, by an arbitrator appointed by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided
for in Section VI. They may be charged in the second place with payment
of the amounts due in respect of claims by the nationals of such Allied
or Associated Power with regard to their property, rights and interests
in the territory of other enemy Powers, in so far as those claims are
otherwise unsatisfied.
5.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 297, where
immediately before the outbreak of war a company incorporated in an
Allied or Associated State had rights in common with a company
controlled by it and incorporated in Germany to the use of trademarks in
third countries, or enjoyed the use in common with such company of
unique means of reproduction of goods or articles for sale in third
countries, the former company shall alone have the right to use these
trade-marks in third countries to the exclusion of the German company,
and these unique means of reproduction shall be handed over to the
former company, notwithstanding any action taken under German war
legislation with regard to the latter company or its business,
industrial property or shares. Nevertheless, the former company, if
requested, shall deliver the latter company derivative copies permitting
the continuation of reproduction of articles for use within German
territory.
6.
Up to the time when restitution is carried out in
accordance with Article 297, Germany is responsible for the conservation
of property, rights and interests of the nationals of Allied or
Associated Powers, including companies and associations in which they
are interested, that have been subjected by her to exceptional war
measures.
7
Within one year from the coming into force of the
present Treaty the Allied or Associated Powers will specify the
property, rights and interests over which they intend to exercise the
right provided in Article 297, paragraph (f).
8.
The restitution provided in Article 297 will be
carried out by order of the German Government or of the authorities
which have been substituted for it. Detailed accounts of the action of
administrators shall be furnished to the interested persons by the
German authorities upon request, which may be made at any time after the
coming into force of the present Treaty.
9.
Until completion of the liquidation provided for by
Article 297, paragraph (b), the property, rights and interests of German
nationals will continue to be subject to exceptional war measures that
have been or will be taken with regard to them.
10.
Germany will, within six months from the coming into
force of the present Treaty, deliver to each Allied or Associated Power
all securities, certificates, deeds, or other documents of title held by
its nationals and relating to property, rights or interests situated in
the territory of that Allied or Associated Power, including any shares,
stock, debentures, debenture stock, or other obligations of any company
incorporated in accordance with the laws of that Power.
Germany will at any time on demand of any Allied or
Associated Power furnish such information as may be required with regard
to the property, rights and interests of German nationals within the
territory of such Allied or Associated Power, or with regard to any
transactions concerning such property, rights or interests effected
since July 1, 1914.
11.
The expression "cash assets" includes all deposits or
funds established before or after the declaration of war, as well as all
assets coming from deposits, revenues, or profits collected by
administrators, sequestrators, or others from funds placed on deposit or
otherwise, but does not include sums belonging to the Allied or
Associated Powers or to their component States, Provinces, or
Municipalities.
12.
All investments wheresoever effected with the cash
assets of nationals of the High Contracting Parties, including companies
and associations in which such nationals were interested, by persons
responsible for the administration of enemy properties or having control
over such administration, or by order of such persons or of any
authority whatsoever shall be annulled. These cash assets shall be
accounted for irrespective of any such investment.
13.
Within one month from the coming into force of the
present Treaty, or on demand at any time, Germany will deliver to the
Allied and Associated Powers all accounts, vouchers, records, documents
and information of any kind which may be within German territory, and
which concern the property, rights and interests of the nationals of
those Powers, including companies and associations in which they are
interested, that have been subjected to an exceptional war measure, or
to a measure of transfer either in German territory or in territory
occupied by Germany or her allies.
The controllers, supervisors, managers,
administrators, sequestrators, liquidators and receivers shall be
personally responsible under guarantee of the German Government for the
immediate delivery in full of these accounts and documents, and for
their accuracy.
14.
The provisions of Article 297 and this Annex relating
to property, rights and interests in an enemy country, and the proceeds
of the liquidation thereof, apply to debts, credits and accounts,
Section III regulating only the method of payment.
In the settlement of matters provided for in Article
297 between Germany and the Allied or Associated States, their colonies
or protectorates, or any one of the British Dominions or India, in
respect of any of which a declaration shall not have been made that they
adopt Section III, and between their respective nationals, the
provisions of Section III respecting the currency in which payment is to
be made and the rate of exchange and of interest shall apply unless the
Government of the Allied or Associated Power concerned shall within six
months of the coming into force of the present Treaty notify Germany
that the said provisions are not to be applied.
15.
The provisions of Article 297 and this Annex apply to
industrial, literary and artistic property which has been or will be
dealt with in the liquidation of property, rights, interests, companies
or businesses under war legislation by the Allied or Associated Powers,
or in accordance with the stipulations of Article 297, paragraph (b).
SECTION V.
CONTRACTS, PRESCRIPTIONS, JUDGMENTS.
ARTICLE 299.
(a) Any contract concluded between enemies shall be
regarded as having been dissolved as from the time when any two of the
parties became enemies, except in respect of any debt or other pecuniary
obligation arising out of any act done or money paid thereunder, and
subject to the exceptions and special rules with regard to particular
contracts or classes of contracts contained herein or in the Annex
hereto.
(b) Any contract of which the execution shall be
required in the general interest, within six months from the date of the
coming into force of the present Treaty, by the Allied or Associated
Governments of which one of the parties is a national, shall be excepted
from dissolution under this Article.
When the execution of the contract thus kept alive
would owing to the alteration of trade conditions, cause one of the
parties substantial prejudice the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for
by Section VI shall be empowered to grant to the prejudiced party
equitable compensation.
(c) Having regard to the provisions of the
constitution and law of the United States of America, of Brazil, and of
Japan, neither the present Article, nor Article 300, nor the Annex
hereto shall apply to contracts made between nationals of these States
and German nationals; nor shall Article 305 apply to the United States
of America or its nationals.
(d) The present Article and the annex hereto shall not
apply to contracts the parties to which became enemies by reason of one
of them being an inhabitant of territory of which the sovereignty has
been transferred, if such party shall acquire under the present Treaty
the nationality of an Allied or Associated Power, nor shall they apply
to contracts between nationals of the Allied and Associated Powers
between whom trading has been prohibited by reason of one of the parties
being in Allied or Associated territory in the occupation of the enemy.
(e) Nothing in the present Article or the annex hereto
shall be deemed to invalidate a transaction lawfully carried out in
accordance with a contract between enemies if it has been carried out
with the authority of one of the belligerent Powers.
ARTICLE 300.
(a) All periods of prescription, or limitation of
right of action, whether they began to run before or after the outbreak
of war, shall be treated in the territory of the High Contracting
Parties, so far as regards relations between enemies, as having been
suspended for the duration of the war. They shall begin to run again at
earliest three months after the coming into force of the present Treaty.
This provision shall apply to the period prescribed for the presentation
of interest or dividend coupons or for the presentation for repayment of
securities drawn for repayment or repayable on any other ground.
(b) Where, on account of failure to perform any act or
comply with any formality during the war, measures of execution have
been taken in German territory to the prejudice of a national of an
Allied or Associated Power, the claim of such national shall, if the
matter does not fall within the competence of the Courts of an Allied or
Associated Power, be heard by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for
by Section VI.
(c) Upon the application of any interested person who
is a national of an Allied or Associated Power the Mixed Arbitral
Tribunal shall order the restoration of the rights which have been
prejudiced by the measures of execution referred to in paragraph (b),
wherever, having regard to the particular circumstances of the case,
such restoration is equitable and possible.
If such restoration is inequitable or impossible the
Mixed Arbitral Tribunal may grant compensation to the prejudiced party
to be paid by the German Government.
(d) Where a contract between enemies has been
dissolved by reason either of failure on the part of either party to
carry out its provisions or of the exercise of a right stipulated in the
contract itself the party prejudiced may apply to the Mixed Arbitral
Tribunal for relief. The Tribunal will have the powers provided for in
paragraph (c.)
(e) The provisions of the preceding paragraphs of this
Article shall apply to the nationals of Allied and Associated Powers who
have been prejudiced by reason of measures referred to above taken by
Germany in invaded or occupied territory, if they have not been
otherwise compensated.
(f) Germany shall compensate any third party who may
be prejudiced by any restitution or restoration ordered by the Mixed
Arbitral Tribunal under the provisions of the preceding paragraphs of
this Article.
(g) As regards negotiable instruments, the period of
three months provided under paragraph (a) shall commence as from the
date on which any exceptional regulations applied in the territories of
the interested Power with regard to negotiable instruments shall have
definitely ceased to have force.
ARTICLE 301.
As between enemies no negotiable instrument made
before the war shall be deemed to have become invalid by reason only of
failure within the required time to present the instrument for
acceptance or payment or to give notice of non-acceptance or nonpayment
to drawers or indorsers or to protest the instrument, nor by reason of
failure to complete any formality during the war.
Where the period within which a negotiable instrument
should have been presented for acceptance or for payment, or within
which notice of non-acceptance or non-payment should have been given to
the drawer or indorser, or within which the instrument should have been
protested, has elapsed during the war, and the party who should have
presented or protested the instrument or have given notice of
non-acceptance or non-payment has failed to do so during the war, a
period of not less than three months from the coming into force of the
present Treaty shall be allowed within which presentation, notice of
non-acceptance or nonpayment or protest may be made.
ARTICLE 302.
Judgments given by the Courts of an Allied or
Associated Power in all cases which, under the present Treaty, they are
competent to decide, shall be recognised in Germany as final, and shall
be enforced without it being necessary to have them declared executory.
If a judgment in respect to any dispute which may have
arisen has been given during the war by a German Court against a
national of an Allied or Associated State in a case in which he was not
able to make his defence, the Allied and Associated national who has
suffered prejudice thereby shall be entitled to recover compensation, to
be fixed by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for in Section VI.
At the instance of the national of the Allied or
Associated Power the compensation above-mentioned may, upon order to
that effect of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal, be effected where it is
possible by replacing the parties in the situation which they occupied
before the judgment was given by the German Court.
The above compensation may likewise be obtained before
the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal by the nationals of Allied or Associated
Powers who have suffered prejudice by judicial measures taken in invaded
or occupied territories, if they have not been otherwise compensated.
ARTICLE 303.
For the purpose of Sections III, IV, V and VII, the
expression "during the war" means for each Allied or Associated Power
the period between the commencement of the state of war between that
Power and Germany and the coming into force of the present Treaty.
ANNEX.
I. General Provisions.
1.
Within the meaning of Articles 299, 300 and 301, the
parties to a contract shall be regarded as enemies when trading between
them shall have been prohibited by or otherwise became unlawful under
laws, orders or regulations to which one of those parties was subject.
They shall be deemed to have become enemies from the date when such
trading was prohibited or otherwise became unlawful.
2.
The following classes of contracts are excepted from
dissolution by Article 299 and, without prejudice to the rights
contained in Article 297 (b) of Section IV, remain in force subject to
the application of domestic laws, orders or regulations made during the
war by the Allied and Associated Powers and subject to the terms of the
contracts:
(a) Contracts having for their object the transfer of
estates or of real or personal property where the property therein had
passed or the object had been delivered before the parties became
enemies;
(b) Leases and agreements for leases of land and
houses
(c) Contracts of mortgage, pledge or lien;
(d) Concessions concerning mines, quarries or
deposits;
(e) Contracts between individuals or companies and
States provinces, municipalities, or other similar juridical persons
charged with administrative functions, and concessions granted by
States, provinces, municipalities, or other similar juridical persons
charged with administrative functions.
3.
If the provisions of a contract are in part dissolved
under Article 299, the remaining provisions of that contract shall,
subject to the same application of domestic laws as is provided for in
paragraph 2, continue in force if they are severable, but where they are
not severable the contract shall be deemed to have been dissolved in its
entirety.
II. Provisions relating to certain classes of
Contracts.
Stock Exchange and Commercial Exchange Contracts.
4.
(a) Rules made during the war by any recognised
Exchange or Commercial Association providing for the closure of
contracts entered into before the war by an enemy are confirmed by the
High Contracting Parties, as also any action taken thereunder, provided:
(1) That the contract was expressed to be made subject
to the rules of the Exchange or Association in question;
(2) That the rules applied to all persons concerned;
(3) That the conditions attaching to the closure were
fair and reasonable.
(b) The preceding paragraph shall not apply to rules
made during the occupation by Exchanges or Commercial Associations in
the districts occupied by the enemy.
(c) The closure of contracts relating to cotton
"futures", which were closed as on July 31, 1914, under the decision of
the Liverpool Cotton Association, is also confirmed.
Security.
5.
The sale of a security held for an unpaid debt owing
by an enemy shall be deemed to have been valid irrespective of notice to
the owner if the creditor acted in good faith and with reasonable care
and prudence, and no claim by the debtor on the ground of such sale
shall be admitted.
This stipulation shall not apply to any sale of
securities effected by an enemy during the occupation in regions invaded
or occupied by the enemy.
Negotiable Instruments.
6.
As regards Powers which adopt Section III and the
Annex thereto the pecuniary obligations existing between enemies and
resulting from the issue of negotiable instruments shall be adjusted in
conformity with the said Annex by the instrumentality of the Clearing
Offices, which shall assume the rights of the holder as regards the
various remedies open to him.
7.
If a person has either before or during the war become
liable upon a negotiable instrument in accordance with an undertaking
given to him by a person who has subsequently become an enemy, the
latter shall remain liable to indemnify the former in respect of his
liability notwithstanding the outbreak of war.
III. Contracts of Insurance.
8.
Contracts of insurance entered into by any person with
another person who subsequently became an enemy will be dealt with in
accordance with the following paragraphs.
Fire Insurance.
9.
Contracts for the insurance of property against fire
entered into by a person interested in such property with another person
who subsequently became an enemy shall not be deemed to have been
dissolved by the outbreak of war, or by the fact of the person becoming
an enemy, or on account of the failure during the war and for a period
of three months thereafter to perform his obligations under the
contract, but they shall be dissolved at the date when the annual
premium becomes payable for the first time after the expiration of a
period of three months after the coming into force of the present
Treaty.
A settlement shall be effected of unpaid premiums
which became due during the war, or of claims for losses which occurred
during the war.
10.
Where by administrative or legislative action an
insurance against fire effected before the war has been transferred
during the war from the original to another insurer, the transfer will
be recognised and the liability of the original insurer will be deemed
to have ceased as from the date of the transfer. The original insurer
will, however, be entitled to receive on demand full information as to
the terms of the transfer, and if it should appear that these terms were
not equitable they shall be amended so far as may be necessary to render
them equitable.
Furthermore, the insured shall, subject to the
concurrence of the original insurer, be entitled to retransfer the
contract to the original insurer as from the date of the demand.
Life Insurance.
Contracts of life insurance entered into between an
insurer and a person who subsequently became an enemy shall not be
deemed to have been dissolved by the outbreak of war, or by the fact of
the person becoming an enemy.
Any sum which during the war became due upon a
contract deemed not to have been dissolved under the preceding provision
shall be recoverable after the war with the addition of interest at five
per cent. per annum from the date of its becoming due up to the day of
payment.
Where the contract has lapsed during the war owing to
nonpayment of premiums, or has become void from breach of the conditions
of the contract, the assured or his representatives or the person
entitled shall have the right at any time within twelve months of the
coming into force of the present Treaty to claim from the insurer the
surrender value of the policy at the date of its lapse or avoidance.
Where the contract has lapsed during the war owing to
nonpayment of premiums the payment of which has been prevented by the
enforcement of measures of war, the assured or his representative or the
persons entitled shall have the right to restore the contract on payment
of the premiums with interest at five per cent. per annum within three
months from the coming into force of the present Treaty.
12.
Any Allied or Associated Power may within three months
of the coming into force of the present Treaty cancel all the contracts
of insurance running between a German insurance company and its
nationals under conditions which shall protect its nationals from any
prejudice.
To this end the German insurance company will hand
over to the Allied or Associated Government concerned the proportion of
its assets attributable to the policies so cancelled and will be
relieved from all liability in respect of such policies. The assets to
be handed over shall be determined by an actuary appointed by the Mixed
Arbitral Tribunal.
13.
Where contracts of life insurance have been entered
into by a local branch of an insurance company established in a country
which subsequently became an enemy country, the contract shall, in the
absence of any stipulation to the contrary in the contract itself, be
governed by the local law, but the insurer shall be entitled to demand
from the insured or his representatives the refund of sums paid on
claims made or enforced under measures taken during the war, if the
making or enforcement of such claims was not in accordance with the
terms of the contract itself or was not consistent with the laws or
treaties existing at the time when it was entered into.
14.
In any case where by the law applicable to the
contract the insurer remains bound by the contract notwithstanding the
nonpayment of premiums until notice is given to the insured of the
termination of the contract, he shall be entitled where the giving of
such notice was prevented by the war to recover the unpaid premiums with
interest at five per cent. per annum from the insured.
15.
Insurance contracts shall be considered as contracts
of life assurance for the purpose of paragraphs 11 to 14 when they
depend on the probabilities of human life combined with the rate of
interest for the calculation of the reciprocal engagements between the
two parties.
Marine Insurance.
16.
Contracts of marine insurance including time policies
and voyage policies entered into between an insurer and a person who
subsequently became an enemy, shall be deemed to have been dissolved on
his becoming an enemy, except in cases where the risk undertaken in the
contract had attached before he became an enemy.
Where the risk had not attached, money paid by way of
premium or otherwise shall be recoverable from the insurer.
Where the risk had attached effect shall be given to
the contract notwithstanding the party becoming an enemy, and sums due
under the contract either by way of premiums or in respect of losses
shall be recoverable after the coming into force of the present Treaty.
In the event of any agreement being come to for the
payment of interest on sums due before the war to or by the nationals of
States which have been at war and recovered after the war, such interest
shall in the case of losses recoverable under contracts of marine
insurance run from the expiration of a period of one year from the date
of the loss.
17.
No contract of marine insurance with an insured person
who subsequently became an enemy shall be deemed to cover losses due to
belligerent action by the Power of which the insurer was a national or
by the allies or associates of such Power.
18.
Where it is shown that a person who had before the war
entered into a contract of marine insurance with an insurer who
subsequently became an enemy entered after the outbreak of war into a
new contract covering the same risk with an insurer who was not an
enemy, the new contract shall be deemed to be substituted for the
original contract as from the date when it was entered into, and the
premiums payable shall be adjusted on the basis of the original insurer
having remained liable on the contract only up till the time when the
new contract was entered into.
Other Insurances.
19.
Contracts of insurance entered into before the war
between an insurer and a person who subsequently became an enemy, other
than contracts dealt with in paragraphs g to 18, shall be treated in all
respects on the same footing as contracts of fire insurance between the
same persons would be dealt with under the said paragraphs.
Re-insurance.
20.
All treaties of re-insurance with a person who became
an enemy shall be regarded as having been abrogated by the person
becoming an enemy, but without prejudice in the case of life or marine
risks which had attached before the war to the right to recover payment
after the war for sums due in respect of such risks.
Nevertheless if, owing to invasion, it has been
impossible for the re-insured to find another re-insurer, the treaty
shall remain in force until three months after the coming into force of
the present Treaty.
Where a re-insurance treaty becomes void under this
paragraph, there shall be an adjustment of accounts between the parties
in respect both of premiums paid and payable and of liabilities for
losses in respect of life or marine risks which had attached before the
war. In the case of risks other than those mentioned in paragraphs 11 to
18 the adjustment of accounts shall be made as at the date of the
parties becoming enemies without regard to claims for losses which may
have occurred since that date.
21.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph will extend
equally to re-insurances existing at the date of the parties becoming
enemies of particular risks undertaken by the insurer in a contract of
insurance against any risks other than life or marine risks.
22.
Re-insurance of life risks effected by particular
contracts and not under any general treaty remain in force.
The provisions of paragraph 12 apply to treaties of
re-insurance of life insurance contracts in which enemy companies are
the reinsurers.
23.
In case of a re-insurance effected before the war of a
contract of marine insurance, the cession of a risk which had been ceded
to the re-insurer shall, if it had attached before the outbreak of war,
remain valid and effect be given to the contract notwithstanding the
outbreak of war; sums due under the contract of re-insurance in respect
either of premiums or of losses shall be recoverable after the war.
24.
The provisions of paragraphs 17 and 18 and the last
part of paragraph 16 shall apply to contracts for the re-insurance of
marine risks.
SECTION VI.
MIXED ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL.
ARTICLE 304.
(a) Within three months from the date of the coming
into force of the present Treaty, a Mixed Arbitral Tribunal shall be
established between each of the Allied and Associated Powers on the one
hand and Germany on the other hand. Each such Tribunal shall consist of
three members. Each of the Governments concerned shall appoint one of
these members. The President shall be chosen by agreement between the
two Governments concerned.
In case of failure to reach agreement, the President
of the Tribunal and two other persons, either of whom may in case of
need take his place, shall be chosen by the Council of the League of
Nations, or, until this is set up, by M. Gustave Ador if he is willing.
These persons shall be nationals of Powers that have remained neutral
during the war.
If any Government does not proceed within a period of
one month in case there is a vacancy to appoint a member of the
Tribunal, such member shall be chosen by the other Government from the
two persons mentioned above other than the President.
The decision of the majority of the members of the
Tribunal shall be the decision of the Tribunal.
(b) The Mixed Arbitral Tribunals established pursuant
to paragraph (a), shall decide all questions within their competence
under Sections III, IV, V and VII.
In addition, all questions, whatsoever their nature,
relating to contracts concluded before the coming into force of the
present Treaty between nationals of the Allied and Associated Powers and
German nationals shall be decided by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal, always
excepting questions which, under the laws of the Allied, Associated or
Neutral Powers, are within the jurisdiction of the National Courts of
those Powers. Such questions shall be decided by the National Courts in
question, to the exclusion of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal. The party who
is a national of an Allied or Associated Power may nevertheless bring
the case before the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal if this is not prohibited by
the laws of his country.
(c) If the number of cases justifies it, additional
members shall be appointed and each Mixed Arbitral Tribunal shall sit in
divisions. Each of these divisions will be constituted as above.
(d) Each Mixed Arbitral Tribunal will settle its own
procedure except in so far as it is provided in the following Annex, and
is empowered to award the sums to be paid by the loser in respect of the
costs and expenses of the proceedings.
(e) Each Government will pay the remuneration of the
member of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal appointed by it and of any agent
whom it may appoint to represent it before the Tribunal. The
remuneration of the President will be determined by special agreement
between the Governments concerned; and this remuneration and the joint
expenses of each Tribunal will be paid by the two Governments in equal
moieties.
(f) The High Contracting Parties agree that their
courts and authorities shall render to the Mixed Arbitral Tribunals
direct all the assistance in their power, particularly as regards
transmitting notices and collecting evidence.
(g) The High Contracting Parties agree to regard the
decisions of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal as final and conclusive, and to
render them binding upon their nationals.
ANNEX.
1.
Should one of the members of the Tribunal either die,
retire, or be unable for any reason whatever to discharge his function,
the same procedure will be followed for filling the vacancy as was
followed for appointing him.
2.
The Tribunal may adopt such rules of procedure as
shall be in accordance with justice and equity and decide the order and
time at which each party must conclude its arguments, and may arrange
all formalities required for dealing with the evidence.
3.
The agent and counsel of the parties on each side are
authorised to present orally and in writing to the Tribunal arguments in
Support or in defence of each case.
4.
The Tribunal shall keep record of the questions and
cases submitted and the proceedings thereon, with the dates of such
proceedings.
5.
Each of the Powers concerned may appoint a secretary.
These secretaries shall act together as joint secretaries of the
Tribunal and shall be subject to its direction. The Tribunal may appoint
and employ any other necessary officer or officers to assist in the
performance of its duties.
6.
The Tribunal shall decide all questions and matters
submitted upon such evidence and information as may be furnished by the
parties concerned.
7.
Germany agrees to give the Tribunal all facilities and
information required by it for carrying out its investigations.
8.
The language in which the proceedings shall be
conducted shall, unless otherwise agreed, be English, French, Italian or
Japanese, as may be determined by the Allied or Associated Power
concerned.
9.
The place and time for the meetings of each Tribunal
shall be determined by the President of the Tribunal.
ARTICLE 305.
Whenever a competent court has given or gives a
decision in a case covered by Sections III, IV, V or VII, and such
decision is inconsistent with the provisions of such Sections, the party
who is prejudiced by the decision shall be entitled to obtain redress
which shall be fixed by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal. At the request of
the national of an Allied or Associated Power, the redress may, whenever
possible, be effected by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal directing the
replacement of the parties in the position occupied by them before the
judgment was given by the German court.
SECTION VII.
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY.
ARTICLE 306.
Subject to the stipulations of the present Treaty,
rights of industrial, literary and artistic property, as such property
is defined by the International Conventions of Paris and of Berne,
mentioned in Article 286, shall be re-established or restored, as from
the coming into force of the present Treaty, in the territories of the
High Contracting Parties, in favour of the persons entitled to the
benefit of them at the moment when the state of war commenced or their
legal representatives. Equally, rights which, except for the war, would
have been acquired during the war in consequence of an application made
for the protection of industrial property, or the publication of a
literary or artistic work, shall be recognised and established in favour
of those persons who would have been entitled thereto, from the coming
into force of the present Treaty.
Nevertheless, all acts done by virtue of the special
measures taken during the war under legislative, executive or
administrative authority of any Allied or Associated Power in regard to
the rights of German nationals in industrial, literary or artistic
property shall remain in force and shall continue to maintain their full
effect.
No claim shall be made or action brought by Germany or
German nationals in respect of the use during the war by the Government
of any Allied or Associated Power, or by any persons acting on behalf or
with the assent of such Government, of any rights in industrial,
literary or artistic property, nor in respect of the sale, offering for
sale, or use of any products, articles or apparatus whatsoever to which
such rights applied.
Unless the legislation of any one of the Allied or
Associated Powers in force at the moment of the signature of the present
Treaty otherwise directs, sums due or paid in virtue of any act or
operation resulting from the execution of the special measures mentioned
in paragraph l of this Article shall be dealt with in the same way as
other sums due to German nationals are directed to be dealt with by the
present Treaty; and sums produced by any special measures taken by the
German Government in respect of rights in industrial, literary or
artistic property belonging to the nationals of the Allied or Associated
Powers shall be considered and treated in the same way as other debts
due from German nationals.
Each of the Allied and Associated Powers reserves to
itself the right to impose such limitations, conditions or restrictions
on rights of industrial, literary or artistic property (with the
exception of trade-marks) acquired before or during the war, or which
may be subsequently acquired in accordance with its legislation, by
German nationals, whether by granting licences, or by the working, or by
preserving control over their exploitation, or in any other way, as may
be considered necessary for national defence, or in the public interest,
or for assuring the fair treatment by Germany of the rights of
industrial, literary and artistic property held in German territory by
its nationals, or for securing the due fulfilment of all the obligations
undertaken by Germany in the present Treaty. As regards rights of
industrial, literary and artistic property acquired after the coming
into force of the present Treaty, the right so reserved by the Allied
and Associated Powers shall only be exercised in cases where these
limitations, conditions or restrictions may be considered necessary for
national defence or in the public interest.
In the event of the application of the provisions of
the preceding paragraph by any Allied or Associated Power, there shall
be paid reasonable indemnities or royalties, which shall be dealt with
in the same way as other sums due to German nationals are directed to be
dealt with by the present Treaty.
Each of the Allied or Associated Powers reserves the
right to treat as void and of no effect any transfer in whole or in part
of or other dealing with rights of or in respect of industrial, literary
or artistic property effected after August 1, 1914, or in the future,
which would have the result of defeating the objects of the provisions
of this Article.
The provisions of this Article shall not apply to
rights in industrial, literary or artistic property which have been
dealt with in the liquidation of businesses or companies under war
legislation by the Allied or Associated Powers, or which may be so dealt
with by virtue of Article 297, paragraph (b).
ARTICLE 307.
A minimum of one year after the coming into force of
the present Treaty shall be accorded to the nationals of the High
Contracting Parties, without extension fees or other penalty, in order
to enable such persons to accomplish any act, fulfil any formality, pay
any fees, and generally satisfy any obligation prescribed by the laws or
regulations of the respective States relating to the obtaining,
preserving, or opposing rights to, or in respect of, industrial property
either acquired before August 1, 1914, or which, except for the war,
might have been acquired since that date as a result of an application
made before the war or during its continuance, but nothing in this
Article shall give any right to reopen interference proceedings in the
United States of America where a final hearing has taken place.
All rights in, or in respect of, such property which
may have lapsed by reason of any failure to accomplish any act, fulfil
any formality, or make any payment, shall revive, but subject in the
case of patents and designs to the imposition of such conditions as each
Allied or Associated Power may deem reasonably necessary for the
protection of persons who have manufactured or made use of the subject
matter of such property while the rights had lapsed. Further, where
rights to patents or designs belonging to German nationals are revived
under this Article, they shall be subject in respect of the grant of
licences to the same provisions as would have been applicable to them
during the war, as well as to all the provisions of the present Treaty.
The period from August 1, 1914, until the coming into
force of the present Treaty shall be excluded in considering the time
within which a patent should be worked or a trade mark or design used,
and it is further agreed that no patent, registered trade mark or design
in force on August 1, 1914, shall be subject to revocation or
cancellation by reason only of the failure to work such patent or use
such trade mark or design for two years after the coming into force of
the present Treaty.
ARTICLE 308.
The rights of priority, provided by Article 4 of the
International Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of
Paris, of March 20, 1883, revised at Washington in 1911 or by any other
Convention or Statute, for the filing or registration of applications
for patents or models of utility, and for the registration of trade
marks, designs and models which had not expired on August 1, 1914, and
those which have arisen during the war, or would have arisen but for the
war, shall be extended by each of the High Contracting Parties in favour
of all nationals of the other High Contracting Parties for a period of
six months after the coming into force of the present Treaty.
Nevertheless, such extension shall in no way affect
the right of any of the High Contracting Parties or of any person who
before the coming into force of the present Treaty was bona fide in
possession of any rights of industrial property conflicting with rights
applied for by another who claims rights of priority in respect of them,
to exercise such rights by itself or himself personally, or by such
agents or licensees as derived their rights from it or him before the
coming into force of the present Treaty; and such persons shall not be
amenable to any action or other process of law in respect of
infringement.
ARTICLE 309.
No action shall be brought and no claim made by
persons residing or carrying on business within the territories of
Germany on the one part and of the Allied or Associated Powers on the
other, or persons who are nationals of such Powers respectively, or by
any one deriving title during the war from such persons, by reason of
any action which has taken place within the territory of the other party
between the date of the declaration of war and that of the coming into
force of the present Treaty, which might constitute an infringement of
the rights of industrial property or rights of literary and artistic
property, either existing at any time during the war or revived under
the provisions of Articles 307 and 308.
Equally, no action for infringement of industrial,
literary or artistic property rights by such persons shall at any time
be permissible in respect of the sale or offering for sale for a period
of one year after the signature of the present Treaty in the territories
of the Allied or Associated Powers on the one hand or Germany on the
other, of products or articles manufactured, or of literary or artistic
works published, during the period between the declaration of war and
the signature of the present Treaty, or against those who have acquired
and continue to use them. It is understood, nevertheless, that this
provision shall not apply when the possessor of the rights was domiciled
or had an industrial or commercial establishment in the districts
occupied by Germany during the war.
This Article shall not apply as between the United
States of America on the one hand and Germany on the other.
ARTICLE 310.
Licenses in respect of industrial, literary or
artistic property concluded before the war between nationals of the
Allied or Associated Powers or persons residing in their territory or
carrying on business therein, on the one part, and German nationals, on
the other part, shall be considered as cancelled as from the date of the
declaration of war between Germany and the Allied or Associated Power.
But, in any case, the former beneficiary of a contract of this kind
shall have the right, within a period of six months after the coming
into force of the present Treaty, to demand from the proprietor of the
rights the grant of a new license, the conditions of which, in default
of agreement between the parties, shall be fixed by the duly qualified
tribunal in the country under whose legislation the rights had been
acquired, except in the case of licenses held in respect of rights
acquired under German law. In such cases the conditions shall be fixed
by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal referred to in Section VI of this Part.
The tribunal may, if necessary, fix also the amount which it may deem
just should be paid by reason of the use of the rights during the war.
No license in respect of industrial, literary or
artistic property, granted under the special war legislation of any
Allied or Associated Power, shall be affected by the continued existence
of any license entered into before the war, but shall remain valid and
of full effect, and a license so granted to the former beneficiary of a
license entered into before the war shall be considered as substituted
for such license.
Where sums have been paid during the war by virtue of
a license or agreement concluded before the war in respect of rights of
industrial property or for the reproduction or the representation of
literary, dramatic or artistic works, these sums shall be dealt with in
the same manner as other debts or credits of German nationals, as
provided by the present Treaty.
This Article shall not apply as between the United
States of America on the one hand and Germany on the other.
ARTICLE 311
The inhabitants of territories separated from Germany
by virtue of the present Treaty shall, notwithstanding this separation
and the change of nationality consequent thereon, continue to enjoy in
Germany all the rights in industrial, literary and artistic property to
which they were entitled under German legislation at the time of the
separation.
Rights of industrial, literary, and artistic property
which are in force in the territories separated from Germany under the
present Treaty at the moment of the separation of these territories from
Germany, or which will be re-established or restored in accordance with
the provisions of Article 306 of the present Treaty, shall be recognised
by the State to which the said territory is transferred and shall remain
in force in that territory for the same period of time given them under
the German law.
SECTION VIII.
SOCIAL AND STATE INSURANCE IN CEDED
TERRITORY.
ARTICLE 312.
Without prejudice to the provisions contained in other
Articles of the present Treaty, the German Government undertakes to
transfer to any Power to which German territory in Europe is ceded, and
to any Power administering former German territory as a mandatory under
Article 22 of Part I (League of Nations), such portion of the reserves
accumulated by the Government of the German Empire or of German States,
or by public or private organisations under their control, as is
attributable to the carrying on of Social or State Insurance in such
territory.
The Powers to which these funds are transferred must
apply them to the performance of the obligations arising from such
insurances
The conditions of the transfer will be determined by
special conventions to be concluded between the German Government and
the Governments concerned.
In case these special conventions are not concluded in
accordance with the above paragraph within three months after the coming
into force of the present Treaty, the conditions of transfer shall in
each case be referred to a Commission of five members one of whom shall
be appointed by the German Government, one by the other interested
Government and three by the Governing Body of the International Labour
Office from the nationals of other States. This Commission shall by
majority vote, within three months after appointment adopt
recommendations for submission to the Council of the League of Nations,
and the decisions of the Council shall forthwith be accepted as final by
Germany
PART XI.
AERIAL NAVIGATION.
ARTICLE 313.
The aircraft of the Allied and Associated Powers shall
have full liberty of passage and landing over and in the territory and
territorial waters of Germany, and shall enjoy the same privileges as
German aircraft, particularly in case of distress by land or sea.
ARTICLE 314
The aircraft of the Allied and Associated Powers
shall, while in transit to any foreign country whatever, enjoy the right
of flying over the territory and territorial waters of Germany without
landing, subject always to any regulations which may be made by Germany,
and which shall be applicable equally to the aircraft of Germany and to
those of the Allied and Associated countries.
ARTICLE 315
All aerodromes in Germany open to national public
traffic shall be open for the aircraft of the Allied and Associated
Powers, and in any such aerodrome such aircraft shall be treated on a
footing of equality with German aircraft as regards charges of every
description, including charges for landing and accommodation.
ARTICLE 316.
Subject to the present provisions, the rights of
passage, transit and landing, provided for in Articles 313, 314 and 315,
are subject to the observance of such regulations as Germany may
consider it necessary to enact, but such regulations shall be applied
without distinction to German aircraft and to those of the Allied and
Associated countries.
ARTICLE 317.
Certificate of nationality, airworthiness, or
competency, and licences, issued or recognised as valid by any of the
Allied or Associated Powers, shall be recognised in Germany as valid and
as equivalent to the certificates and licences issued by Germany.
ARTICLE 318.
As regards internal commercial air traffic, the
aircraft of the, Allied and Associated Powers shall enjoy in Germany
most favoured nation treatment.
ARTICLE 319.
Germany undertakes to enforce the necessary measures
to ensure that all German aircraft flying over her territory shall
comply with the Rules as to lights and signals, Rules of the Air and
Rules for Air Traffic on and in the neighbourhood of aerodromes, which
have been laid down in the Convention relative to Aerial Navigation
concluded between the Allied and Associated Powers.
ARTICLE 320.
The obligations imposed by the preceding provisions
shall remain in force until January 1, 1923, unless before that date
Germany shall have been admitted into the League of Nations or shall
have been authorised, by consent of the Allied and Associated Powers, to
adhere to the Convention relative to Aerial Navigation concluded between
those Powers.
PART XII.
PORTS, WATERWAYS AND RAILWAYS.
SECTION I.
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
ARTICLE 321.
Germany undertakes to grant freedom of transit through
her territories on the routes most convenient for international transit,
either by rail, navigable waterway, or canal, to persons, goods,
vessels, carriages, wagons and mails coming from or going to the
territories of any of the Allied and Associated Powers (whether
contiguous or not); for this purpose the crossing of territorial waters
shall be allowed. Such persons, goods, vessels, carriages, wagons, and
mails shall not be subjected to any transit duty or to any undue delays
or restrictions, and shall be entitled in Germany to national treatment
as regards charges, facilities, and all other matters.
Goods in transit shall be exempt from all Customs or
other similar duties.
All charges imposed on transport in transit shall be
reasonable, having regard to the conditions of the traffic. No charge,
facility or restriction shall depend directly or indirectly on the
ownership or on the nationality of the ship or other means of transport
on which any part of the through journey has been, or is to be,
accomplished.
ARTICLE 322.
Germany undertakes neither to impose nor to maintain
any control over transmigration traffic through her territories beyond
measures necessary to ensure that passengers are bona fide in transit;
nor to allow any shipping company or any other private body, corporation
or person interested in the traffic to take any part whatever in, or to
exercise any direct or indirect influence over, any administrative
service that may be necessary for this purpose.
ARTICLE 323.
Germany undertakes to make no discrimination or
preference direct or indirect, in the duties, charges and prohibitions
relating to importations into or exportations from her territories, or,
subject to the special engagements contained in the present Treaty, in
the charges and conditions of transport of goods or persons entering or
leaving her territories, based on the frontier crossed; or on the kind,
ownership or flag of the means of transport (including aircraft)
employed, or on the original or immediate place of departure of the
vessel, wagon or aircraft or other means of transport employed, or its
ultimate or intermediate destination; or on the route of or places of
trans-shipment on the journey; or on whether any port through which the
goods are imported or exported is a German port or a port belonging to
any foreign country or on whether the goods are imported or exported by
sea, by land or by air.
Germany particularly undertakes not to establish
against the ports and vessels of any of the Allied and Associated Powers
any surtax or any direct or indirect bounty for export, or import by
German ports or vessels, or by those of another Power, for example by
means of combined tariffs. She further undertakes that persons or goods
passing through a port or using a vessel of any of the Allied and
Associated Powers shall not be subjected to any formality or delay
whatever to which such persons or goods would not be subjected if they
passed through a German port or a port of any other Power, or used a
German vessel or a vessel of any other Power.
ARTICLE 324.
All necessary administrative and technical measures
shall be taken to shorten, as much as possible, the transmission of
goods across the German frontiers and to ensure their forwarding and
transport from such frontiers, irrespective of whether such goods are
coming from or going to the territories of the Allied and Associated
Powers or are in transit from or to those territories, under the same
material conditions in such matters as rapidity of carriage and care en
route as are enjoyed by other goods of the same kind carried on German
territory under similar conditions of transport.
In particular, the transport of perishable goods shall
be promptly and regularly carried out, and the customs formalities shall
be effected in such a way as to allow the goods to be carried straight
through by trains which make connection.
ARTICLE 325
The seaports of the Allied and Associated Powers are
entitled to all favours and to all reduced tariffs granted on German
railways or navigable waterways for the benefit of German ports or of
any port of another Power.
ARTICLE 326.
Germany may not refuse to participate in the tariffs
or combinations of tariffs intended to secure for ports of any of the
Allied and Associated Powers advantages similar to those granted by
Germany to her own ports or the ports of any other Power.
SECTION II.
NAVIGATION.
CHAPTER I.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION.
ARTICLE 327.
The nationals of any of the Allied and Associated
Powers as well as their vessels and property shall enjoy in all German
ports and on the inland navigation routes of Germany the same treatment
in all respects as German nationals, vessels and property.
In particular the vessels of any one of the Allied or
Associated Powers shall be entitled to transport goods of any
description, and passengers, to or from any ports or places in German
territory to which German vessels may have access, under conditions
which shall not be more onerous than those applied in the case of
national vessels; they shall be treated on a footing of equality with
national vessels as regards port and harbour facilities and charges of
every description, including facilities for stationing loading, and
unloading, and duties and charges of tonnage, harbour, pilotage,
light-house, quarantine, and all analogous duties and charges of
whatsoever nature, levied in the name of or for the profit of the
Government, public functionaries, private individuals, corporations or
establishments of any kind.
In the event of Germany granting a preferential regime
to any of the Allied or Associated Powers or to any other foreign Power,
this regime shall be extended immediately and unconditionally to all the
Allied and Associated Powers.
There shall be no impediment to the movement of
persons or vessels other than those arising from prescriptions
concerning customs, police, sanitation, emigration, and immigration, and
those relating to the import and export of prohibited goods. Such
regulations must be reasonable and uniform and must not impede traffic
unnecessarily.
CHAPTER II.
FREE ZONES 1N PORTS.
ARTICLE 328.
The free zones existing in German ports on August 1,
1914, shall be maintained. These free zones, and any other free zones
which may be established in German territory by the present Treaty,
shall be subject to the regime provided for in the following
Goods entering or leaving a free zone shall not be
subjected to any import or export duty, other than those provided for in
Article 330.
Vessels and goods entering a free zone may be
subjected to the charges established to cover expenses of
administration, upkeep and improvement of the port, as well as to the
charges for the use of various installations, provided that these
charges shall be reasonable having regard to the expenditure incurred,
and shall be levied in the conditions of equality provided for in
Article 327.
Goods shall not be subjected to any other charge
except a statistical duty which shall not exceed 1 mille ad valorem, and
which shall be devoted exclusively to defraying the expenses of
compiling statements of the traffic in the port.
ARTICLE 329.
The facilities granted for the erection of warehouses,
for packing and for unpacking goods, shall be in accordance with trade
requirements for the time being. All goods allowed to be consumed in the
free zone shall be exempt from duty, whether of excise or of any other
description, apart from the statistical duty provided for in Article 328
above.
There shall be no discrimination in regard to any of
the provisions of the present Article between persons belonging to
different nationalities or between goods of different origin or
destination.
ARTICLE 330.
Import duties may be levied on goods leaving the free
zone for consumption in the country on the territory of which the port
is situated. Conversely, export duties may be levied on goods coming
from such country and brought into the free zone. These import and
export duties shall be levied on the same basis and at the same rates as
similar duties levied at the other Customs frontiers of the country
concerned. On the other hand, Germany shall not levy, under any
denomination, any import, export or transit duty on goods carried by
land or water across her territory to or from the free zone from or to
any other State.
Germany shall draw up the necessary regulations to
secure and guarantee such freedom of transit over such railways and
waterways in her territory as normally give access to the free zone.
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