double nationality, signed January 31, 1933. The convention was ratified by the President on February 11, 1935, and will enter into force 3 months from the date of the exchange of ratifications. OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS INTERNATIONAL OPIUM CONVENTION 7 Costa Rica According to a circular letter from the League of Nations dated January 21, 1935, the instrument of adherence by Costa Rica to the international opium convention and protocol signed at Geneva February 19, 1925, was deposited with the Secretariat on January 8, 1935. CONVENTION FOR LIMITING THE MANUFACTURE AND REGULATING THE DISTRIBUTION OF NARCOTIC DRUGS $ Costa Rica-Greece According to communications from the League of Nations dated January 14 and 15, 1935, the instruments of ratification by Costa Rica and by Greece of the convention for limiting the manufacture and regulating the distribution of narcotic drugs, signed at Geneva July 13, 1931, have been deposited with the Secretariat of the League. The date of the deposit of the ratification by Costa Rica was not mentioned in the communication from the League. The ratification by Greece was deposited with the Secretariat on December 27, 1934. By circular letters dated January 29 and February 11, 1935, the Secretary General of the League of Nations informed the Secretary of State of the replies which the Austrian, Italian, and Norwegian Governments had made in regard to the reservation which the Japanese Government wishes to make in regard to its ratification of the convention for limiting the manufacture and regulating the distribution of narcotic drugs, signed at Geneva July 13, 1931. The Austrian Government accepts the reservation without comment. The reply of the Italian Government, as quoted, in translation, by the Secretary General of the League, is as follows: "The Royal Government has no objection to the said reservation, as formulated in the above-mentioned letter. Its interpretation of 'See Bulletin No. 63, December 1934, p. 15. See Bulletin No. 64, January 1935, p. 10. See Bulletin No. 61, October 1934, p. 9. this reservation, however, is that it cannot have the effect of limiting the freedom of action or of modifying the composition of the Council of the League of Nations when the latter proceeds to the appointment of the members of the organs instituted by the Opium Conventions." The reply of the Norwegian Government, as quoted, in translation, by the Secretary General, is as follows: "The Norwegian Government has no objection to the reservation expressed by the Japanese Government with regard to the Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs, signed at Geneva on July 13th, 1931. The Norwegian Government associates itself with the views expressed in the statements made by the Government of His Majesty in the United Kingdom and by the French, Swedish and Dutch Governments in their replies to the above-mentioned Circular Letter." Japan The League of Nations circulated to the interested parties by a circular letter dated January 30, 1935, a letter addressed to the Secretary General of the League by the Japanese Consul General at Geneva regarding the reservation which the Japanese Government wishes to make in regard to its ratification of the convention for limiting the manufacture and regulating the distribution of narcotic drugs, signed at Geneva July 13, 1931. The letter is quoted below: GENEVA, January 23rd, 1933 [1935]. 66 66 “SIR, Referring to my letter (A.4119/7) dated December 11th, 1933, concerning the question of a reservation which the Japanese Government desire to attach to their ratification of the Convention for limiting the Manufacture and regulating the Distribution of Narcotic drugs, signed at Geneva on July 13th, 1931 and to your circular letter (C. L. 101.1934.XI) on the same subject, I have the honour to inform you, under instructions from my Government, that as the period during which the various Governments were invited to file any objections to the reservation proposed by Japan has expired, the Japanese Government feel that they may act as regards ratifying the Convention on the assumption that those Governments which have not replied by the contemplated date of December 31st, 1934, have no objection to the said reservation, and at the same time I wish to request you to be good enough to notify the High Contracting Parties to the said Convention to the above effect. "I have [etc.] "(S.) M. YOKOYAMA 1 ECONOMIC AGRICULTURE MEETING OF EXPERTS AT ROME TO CONSIDER THE TECHNICAL ARTICLES OF A DRAFT CONVENTION CONCERNING THE KEEPING OF HERD Books The President appointed Dr. Henry C. Taylor, American Member of the Permanent Committee of the International Institute of Agriculture, Rome, Italy, as the expert to attend on behalf of this Government the meeting of experts which convened at Rome on February 18, 1935, to prepare the technical articles of a draft convention concerning the keeping of herd books. The nontechnical articles of the draft convention are being prepared by the Secretary General of the International Institute of Agriculture. As soon as the work of the meeting of experts is concluded, the draft convention will be sent to the interested governments with a request that they submit to the International Institute of Agriculture any changes they may wish to propose. Final action on the draft convention will be taken at a diplomatic conference, the actual date of which has not yet been determined. AVIATION CONVENTION FOR THE UNIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES RELATING TO INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION BY AIR 1 Czechoslovakia 1 By a despatch dated January 29, 1935, the American Ambassador to Poland reported that the deposit on November 17, 1934, of the instrument of ratification by Czechoslovakia of the convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international transportation by air, signed at Warsaw October 12, 1929, was announced by the Polish Government in Dziennik Ustaw (Journal of Laws) no. 1, January 12, 1935. British Dependencies By a note dated January 25, 1935, the Polish Ambassador at Washington informed the Secretary of State that the British Government had notified the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs on December 3, 1934, that the convention for the unification of certain rules 1 See Bulletin No. 63, December 1934, p. 18. 9 relating to international transportation by air, signed at Warsaw October 12, 1929, had been adhered to by the British Government on behalf of the following territories and dependencies: Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras, Ceylon, Cyprus, Falkland Islands and Dependencies, Fiji, Gambia (Colony and Protectorate), Gibraltar, Gold Coast (Colony, Ashanti, Northern Territories, Togoland under British mandate), Hong Kong, Jamaica (including Turks and Caicos Islands and Cayman Island), Kenya (Colony and Protectorate), Leeward Islands (Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Christopher and Nevis, Virgin Islands), Malta, Mauritius, Nigeria (Colony, Protectorate, Cameroons under British mandate), Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland Protectorate, Palestine (excluding Trans-Jordan), St. Helena and Ascension, Seychelles, Sierra Leone (Colony and Protectorate), British Somaliland Protectorate, Straits Settlements, Tanganyika Territory, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda Protectorate, Islands of the Western Pacific (British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony), Windward Islands (Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent), and Zanzibar. Southern Rhodesia By a note dated February 4, 1935, the Polish Ambassador at Washington informed the Secretary of State that on January 3, 1935, the British Government notified the Polish Government that the convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international transportation by air, signed October 12, 1929, had been adhered to by Southern Rhodesia. CONVENTION RELATING TO THE REGULATION OF AERIAL NAVIGATION * Spain The American Embassy at Paris reported by a despatch dated January 30, 1935, that information had been received from the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the effect that Spain had adhered, effective January 1, 1935, to the convention for the regulation of aerial navigation signed at Paris October 13, 1919, and modified by the protocols of October 27, 1922, June 30, 1923, June 15, 1929, and December 11, 1929. COMMERCE RECIPROCAL TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL The United States and Brazil, on February 2, 1935, signed a trade agreement providing for reciprocal tariff concessions and designed 'See Bulletin No. 62, November 1934, p. 9. to maintain and expand the trade between the two countries. The agreement does not come into force immediately. It requires the approval of the Brazilian Congress and will not come into force until 30 days after the instruments of ratification by the President of Brazil and of approval by the President of the United States have been exchanged. The agreement with Brazil is the second concluded by the President under the authority conferred by Congress in the Trade Agreements Act, approved June 12, 1934. The first agreement under this act was concluded with Cuba on August 24, 1934.3 The agreement with Brazil is based upon the principle of unconditional most-favored-nation treatment and on the consequent assumption that the concessions which each country grants to the products of the other will be extended to like products of other countries. The agreement consists of general provisions and two schedules. Schedule I lists the products on which duty concessions are granted by Brazil, and schedule II lists the concessions granted by the United States. A brief description of the general provisions of the agreement follows: Article I provides for unconditional most-favored-nation treatment with respect to customs duties, charges and formalities, thus preventing any discrimination with respect to these matters on the part of either country in favor of importations from third countries. This article is the same in general purpose and effect as the commercial agreement which has been in effect since 1923, and hence involves no change in this respect in Brazilian-American commercial relations. The inclusion of this clause in trade agreements assures each country that the benefits of the concessions provided for in the appended schedules will not be impaired by the granting of greater concessions of an exclusive nature to some third country. However, the agreement contains certain generally recognized exceptions to the most-favored-nation clause, and provides, among other things, that preferences may be granted by the United States to Cuba, such as those provided for in the trade agreement concluded August 24, 1934, with that country. Article II. The first paragraph of this article provides, with respect to articles in the schedules on which each country has granted concessions, that no quantitative restrictions (subject to certain standard exceptions, such as restrictions imposed for sanitary reasons) shall be imposed. This provision insures that duty concessions will not be nullified or impaired by means of quantitative restrictions. The second paragraph of the article would permit such restrictions as might be necessary in connection with measures for the control of production, market supply, or prices of domestic articles, such as are provided for in the National Industrial Recovery Act and the 'See Bulletin No. 59, August 1934, p. 8, and Executive Agreement Series, No. 67. |