Page images
PDF
EPUB

X.--1. It is forbidden to send by post

(a.) Parcels containing letters, or communications of the nature of a letter, live animals, except bees in properly constructed boxes, or articles the admission of which is not authorized by the customs or other laws or regulations of either country (a parcel may, however, contain an open invoice in its simplest form);

(b.) Parcels containing explosive or inflammable articles, and in general articles the conveyance of which is dangerous.

2. It is equally forbidden to send coin, anything made of gold or silver, or other precious articles from one country to the other in uninsured parcels.

3. If a parcel contravening any of these prohibitions shall be handed over by one Administration to the other, the latter shall proceed in the manner and with the formalities prescribed by its law or inland regulations.

4. The two Administrations shall furnish each other with a list of prohibited articles; but they will not thereby undertake any responsibility whatever towards either the police, the Customs authorities, or the senders of parcels.

XI.-1. In all cases of loss, abstraction, or damage, except such as are beyond control, the sender, or, in default or at the request of the sender, the addressee shall be entitled to an indemnity corresponding with the actual amount of the loss, abstraction, or damage, unless the damage has arisen from the fault or negligence of the sender or from the nature of the article; and provided always that the indemnity does not exceed, in the case of an uninsured parcel, 25 fr., and, in the case of an insured parcel, the sum for which it has been insured. The sender of a parcel which has been lost, or of which the contents have been completely destroyed in the post, shall also be entitled to the return of the postage. In any case the insurance fee is retained by the Postal Administrations.

2. The obligation of paying the indemnity shall rest with the Administration to which the dispatching office is subordinate. To that Administration is reserved a remedy against the Administration responsible, that is to say, against the Administration on the territory or in the service of which the loss or the damage took place.

3. Until the contrary is shown, the responsibility shall rest with the Administration which, having received the parcel without making any observation, cannot prove its delivery to the addressee, or, in the case of a transit parcel, its regular transfer to the following Administration.

4. The payment of the indemnity to the sender or addressee ought to take place as soon as possible, and at the latest within a year of the date of the application. The Administration

responsible will be bound to make good, without delay, the amount of the indemnity paid.

5. It is understood that no application for an indemnity will be entertained unless made within a year of the posting of the parcel; after this term the applicant will have no right to any indemnity.

6. If the loss, abstraction, or damage shall have occurred in course of conveyance between the exchanging offices of the two countries, and it shall not be possible to ascertain on the territory or in the service of which the loss, abstraction, or damage took place, each Administration shall pay half the indemnity.

7. The Administrations will cease to be responsible for parcels of which the owners have accepted delivery.

XII.-1. No parcel may be insured for an amount above the real value of its contents.

2. In case the sender of an insured parcel, with intent to defraud, shall declare the contents to be above their real value, he shall lose all claim to compensation; and the enforcement of this rule shall not prejudice any legal proceedings admitted by the law of the country of origin.

XIII. The cost of the receptacles in which parcel mails are exchanged between the two countries shall be shared equally between the two Administrations.

XIV.-1. The internal legislation of both the United Kingdom and Norway shall remain applicable as regards everything not provided for by the stipulations contained in the present Agreement.

2. The Administrations shall communicate to each other from time to time the provisions of their laws or regulations applicable to the conveyance of parcels by parcel post.

XV. The two Postal Administrations shall indicate the offices or localities which they admit to the international exchange of parcels; they shall regulate the mode of transmission of these parcels, and fix all other measures of detail and order necessary for insuring the performance of the present Agreement.

*

XVI. This Agreement shall supersede the Convention dated the 12th and 20th March, 1886, and the supplementary Agreement of the 29th November, 1893, and the 6th January, 1894.† It shall come into operation on the 1st day of October, 1900, and shail be terminable on a notice of one year by either Party.

Done in duplicate, at Christiania the 8th day of September, 1900; and at London the 18th day of September, 1900.

* Vol. LXXVII, page 1161.

(L.S.) LONDONDERRY. (L.S.) LÖVLAND.

(L.S.) THB. HEYERDAHL.

+ Vol. LXXXVI, page 5.

DETAILED REGULATIONS for carrying out the Agreement between the British and Norwegian Post Offices concerning the Exchange of Parcels by Parcel Post.--Signed at Christiania, September 8, and at London, September 18, 1900.*

ART. I.-1. The exchange of parcels in closed mails between the two countries shall be carried on by the direct sea route, viâ the Tyne.

2. The offices of exchange for parcel mails shall be in the United Kingdom the Post Office of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and in Norway the Post Office of Christiania and the Bergen Sea Post Office.

II.-1. The two Postal Administrations shall acquaint each other which of the regular sea services maintained by them may be employed for the conveyance of parcels.

2. The two Administrations, after a preliminary understanding has been arrived at with the countries concerned, shall communicate to each other ::

(a.) A list of the countries with regard to which they may respectively serve as medium for the conveyance of parcels;

(b.) The routes available for the transmission of the said parcels, from the point of entry on their territories or into their services;

(c.) The total amount of the charges to be paid to them under this head, for each destination, by the office which consigns the parcels to them.

3. By means of this information the Administrations will determine the routes to be employed for the transmission of their parcels and the postage to be collected from the senders.

III.-1. Parcels posted in the United Kingdom for Norway must not exceed 2 feet English in length, breadth, or depth, and parcels posted in Norway for the United Kingdom must not exceed 60 centim. in length, breadth, or depth.

2. Parcels measuring not more than 1 metre (3 ft. 3 in.) in length shall, however, be admitted to the service, provided that their breadth and depth do not measure more than 20 centim. (8 inches).

IV.-1. No parcel must be accepted for conveyance by parcel post unless it bear the exact direction of the addressee. The address of parcels containing coin, articles of gold or silver, jewellery, or other precious objects, must be written on the actual covering of the parcel.

2. Every parcel must be packed in a manner adequate for the length of the journey and for the protection of the contents. The

* Signed also in the Norwegian language.

packing must be such as to make it impossible to tamper with the contents without leaving an obvious trace of violation.

3. Every parcel must be sealed by means of sealing-wax, lead, or otherwise, with some special impress or mark of the sender.

4. Every insured parcel must bear on the cover, and also on the dispatch note, a statement of the sum for which it is insured, without erasure or addition, even if certified. When this statement is expressed in English or Norwegian money, the sender, or the Post Office of the country of origin, must indicate by new figures, placed beside or below the others, the equivalent of the amount in francs and centimes.

V.-1. Each parcel must be accompanied by a dispatch note and by Customs declarations in conformity with, or analogous to, specimens (A) and (B) hereto appended. The Administrations shall inform each other of the number of Customs declarations to be furnished for each country of destination.

2. One dispatch note and, if the Customs laws permit, one Customs declaration may be used for two or three (but not more) parcels sent from the same sender to the same addressee. One dispatch note must not, however, be used with both insured and uninsured parcels.

3. The amount of postage paid, when not indicated by postage stamps affixed to the dispatch note, should be notified upon the dispatch note.

4. The exact weight of an insured parcel in kilogrammes and gramines must be entered by the office of origin, both on the cover of the parcel and on the dispatch note in the place provided for the purpose.

5. The Administrations decline all responsibility for the correctness of the Customs declarations.

VI.-1. Each parcel, as well as the dispatch note relating to it, must bear a label in conformity with, or analogous, to, specimen (C) hereto annexed, indicating the registered number and the name of the office of origin.

2. The dispatch note shall, moreover, be impressed by the office of origin, on the address side, with a stamp indicating the place and date of posting.

3. Each insured parcel must bear a red label with the word "Insured" or "Valeur déclarée" upon it.

4. The labels on parcels containing coin, articles of gold or silver, jewellery, or other precious objects, must be so placed that they cannot serve to conceal injuries to the cover. They must not be folded over two sides of the cover so as to hide the edge.

VII. The parcels shall be entered by the dispatching office of exchange on a parcel-bill, in conformity with specimen (D) appended

to the present Regulations, with all the details required by this form. The dispatch notes and the Customs declarations must be securely attached to the parcel-bill.

VIII.-1. On the receipt of a parcel-bill the receiving office of exchange shall proceed to verify the parcels, and the various documents entered on the bill, and, if needful, shall report missing articles or any irregularities by means of a verification certificate in conformity with the annexed specimen (E).

2. Any differences which may arise in the credits and accounting must be notified to the dispatching office by verification certificate. The accepted verification certificates must be attached to the parcel bills to which they relate. Corrections not supported by vouchers are not admitted by the auditors.

IX.-1. Missent parcels shall be forwarded to their destination by the most direct route at the disposal of the office retransmitting them. When this retransmission shall involve the return of the parcel to the office of origin, the amounts credited in the parcelbill of that office shall be cancelled, and the retransmitting office of exchange shall send back the parcels to the office from which it received them, simply recording them on the parcel-bill. Attention shall be called to the error by means of a verification certificate.

2. In other cases, and if the amount credited to the retransmitting office shall be insufficient to cover the expenses of retransmission which it has to defray, it shall recover the difference by raising the amount entered to its credit in the parcel-bill of the dispatching office of exchange. The reason for this rectification shall be notified to the said office by means of a verification certificate.

3. Parcels redirected to a country which participates in the parcel post between the United Kingdom and Norway will be subjected by the delivering office to a charge, to be paid by the addressees, representing the sums due to this latter office, to the redirecting office, and to each intermediate office, if there be any.

4. Each office which forwards a redirected parcel shall claim on the parcel bill the amount due for the conveyance of the parcel.

5. But, if the amount chargeable for the further conveyance of a redirected parcel shall be paid at the time of its redirection, the parcel shall be dealt with as if it had been addressed direct from the retransmitting country to the country of destination, and delivered without any postal charge to the addressee.

6. The senders of parcels which cannot be delivered shall be consulted as to the disposal of the parcels.

7. If, within two months after the dispatch of a letter of inquiry, the office of destination shall not have received instructions from the sender, the parcel shall be returned to the office of origin. The interval shall be extended to six months in the case of countries beyond sea.

« PreviousContinue »