CONVENTION ON THE REGIME OF NAVIGABLE WATERWAYS OF INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
Source: Unofficial Text
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, the British Empire (with New Zealand and India), Spain, Estonia, Finland, France Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, the Netherlands, Persia, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, the Serb-Croat-Slovene State, Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Uruguay and Venezuela:
Desirous of carrying further the development as regards the international regime of navigation on internal waterways, which began more than a century ago, and which has been solemnly affirmed in numerous treaties,
Considering that General Conventions to which other Powers may accede at a later date constitute the best method of realising the purpose of Article 23 (e) of the Covenant of the League of Nations,
Recognising in particular that a fresh confirmation of the principle of Freedom of Navigation in a Statute elaborated by forty one States belonging to the different portions of the world constitutes a new and significant stage towards the establishment of co-operation among States without in any way prejudicing their rights of sovereignty or authority,
Having accepted the invitation of the League of Nations to take part in a Conference at Barcelona which met on March 10th 1921, and having taken note of the Final Act of such Conference,
Anxious to bring into force forthwith the provisions of the Statute relating to the Regime of Navigable Waterways of International Concern which 'has there been adopted,
Wishing to conclude a Convention for this purpose, the High Contracting Parties have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:
The President of the Supreme Council of Albania: Monsignor Fan S. NOLI, Member of Parliament;
The President of the Republic of Austria: M. Henri REINHARDT, Ministerial Councilor;
His Majesty the King of the Belgians: M. Xavier NEUJEAN, Minister for Railways, Marine, Posts and Telegraphs;
The President of the Republic of Bolivia: M. Trifon MELEAN, Bolivian Consul in Spain;
The President of the Republic of Brazil:
His Majesty the King of Bulgaria: M. Lubin BOCI IKOFF, Civil Engineer, Assistant to the Director-General of Railways and Ports;
The President of the Republic of Chile: Senor Manuel RIVAS VICUNA, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary;
The President of the Republic of China: M. Ouang YONG-PAO, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary;
The President of the Republic of Colombia:
The President of the Republic of Costa Rica:
The President of the Republic of Cuba:
His Majesty the King of Denmark and of Iceland: M. Peter Andreas HOLCK-COLDING, Chef de Bureau in the Ministry of Public Works;
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India: Sir Hubert LLEWELLYN SMITH, G.C.B., Economic Adviser to the Government; and for the Dominion of New Zealand: Sir Hubert LLEWELLYN SMITH, G.C.B.; for India: Sir Louis James KERSHAW, K.C.S.I., C.I.F.. Secretary in the Revenue and Statistics Department in the India Office;
His Majesty the King of Spain: Senor Don Emilio ORTUNO Y BERTE, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, formerly Minister of Public Works;
The President of the Estonian Republic: M. Charles Robert PUSTA, Minister Plenipotentiary;
The President of the Republic of Finland: M. Rolf THESLEFF, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary;
The President of the French Republic: M. Maurice SIBILLE, Deputy, Member of the Comite consultatif des Chemins de fer français.
His Majesty the King of the Hellenes: M. G. CARADJA, Minister Plenipotentiary;
The President of the Republic of Guatemala: Dr. Norberto GALVEZ, Guatemalan Consul-General at Barcelona;
The President of the Republic of Haiti:
The President of the Republic of Honduras:
His Majesty the King of Italy: M. Paolo BIGNAMI, Engineer, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, former Under-Secretary of State;
His Majesty the Emperor of Japan:
The President of the Republic of Latvia:
The President of the Lithuanian Republic: M. V. SIDZIKAUSKAS, Charge d'Affaires at Berne;
Her Royal Highness the Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg: M. Antoine LEFORT, Charge d'Affaires at Berne.
His Majesty the King of Norway: Dr. Fridtjof NANSEN, Professor in Christiania University;
The President of the Republic of Panama: Dr. Evenor HAZERA, Consul-General for Panama in Spain. former Under- Secretary of State;
The President of the Republic of Paraguay:
Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands: His Majesty the Shah of Persia:
The President of Polish Republic: M. Joseph WIELOVIEYSKI;
The President of the Portuguese Republic: M. Alfredo FREIRE D'ANDRADE, formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs;
His Majesty the King of Roumania:
His Majesty the Kings of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes:
His Majesty the King of Sweden: M. Fredrik V. HANSEN, Director-General of Hydraulic Power and State Canals;
The Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation:
The President of Czecho-Slovak Republic: M. Bohuslav MULLER, Engineer, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Public Works, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary;
The President of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay: M. Benjamin FERNANDEZ Y MEDINA, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain;
The President of the United States of Venezuela:
Who, after communicating their full powers found in good and due form, have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1
The High Contracting Parties declare that they accept the Statute on the Regime of Navigable Waterways of International Concern annexed hereto, adopted by the Barcelona Conference on April 19th, 1921.
This Statute will be deemed to constitute an integral part of the present Convention. Consequently, they hereby declare that they accept the obligations and undertakings of the said Statute in conformity with the terms and in accordance with the conditions set out therein.
ARTICLE 2
The present Convention does not in any way affect the rights and obligations arising out of the provisions of the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on June 28th, 1919, or out of the provisions of the other corresponding Treaties, in so far as they concern the Powers which have signed, or which benefit by, such Treaties.
ARTICLE 3
The present Convention, of which the French and English texts are both authentic, shall bear this day's date and shall be open for signature until December, 1st, 1921.
ARTICLE 4
The present Convention is subject to ratification. The instruments of ratification shall be transmitted to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, who will notify the receipt of them to the other Members of the League and to States admitted to sign the Convention. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited in the archives of the Secretariat.
In order to comply with the provisions of Article 18 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the Secretary-General will register the present Convention upon the deposit of the first ratification.
ARTICLE 5
Members of the League of Nations which have not signed the present Convention before December 1st, 1921, may accede to it. The same applies to States not Members of the League to which the Council of the League may decide officially to communicate the present Convention. Accession will be notified to the Secretary-General of the League, who will inform all Powers concerned of the accession and of the date on which it was notified.
ARTICLE 6
The present Convention will not come into force until it has been ratified by five Powers. The date of its coming into force shall be the ninetieth day after the receipt by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations of the fifth ratification. Thereafter the present Convention will take effect in the case of each Party ninety days after the receipt of its ratification or of the notification of its accession.
Upon the coming into force of the present Convention, the Secretary- General will address a certified copy of it to the Powers not Members of the League which are bound under the Treaties of Peace to accede to it.
ARTICLE 7
A special record shall be kept by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, showing which of the Parties have signed, ratified, acceded to or denounced the present Convention. This record shall be open to the Members of the League at all times; it shall be published as often as possible in accordance with the directions of the Council.
ARTICLE 8
Subject to the provisions of Article 2 of the present Convention, the latter may be denounced by any Party thereto after the expiration of five years from the date when it came into force in respect of that Party. Denunciation shall be affected by notification in writing addressed to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations. Copies of such notification shall be transmitted forthwith by him to all the other Parties, informing, them of the date on which it was received. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which it was notified to the Secretary-General and shall operate only in respect of the notifying Power. It shall not, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, prejudice engagements entered into before the denunciation relating to a programme of works.
ARTICLE 9
A request for the revision of the present Convention may be made at any time by one-third of the High Contracting Parties
In faith whereof the above named Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention.
Done at Barcelona the twentieth day of April one thousand nine hundred and twenty one, in a
