EGYPT.

No. 58.

COMMERCIAL CONVENTION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND
EGYPT.

Signed at Cairo, October 29, 1889.*

THE Undersigned, Sir Evelyn Baring, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., K.C.S.I., C.I.E., Minister Plenipotentiary, Agent and ConsulGeneral of Her Britannic Majesty in Egypt, and his Excellency Zoulfikar Pasha, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Government of His Highness the Khedive of Egypt;

Duly authorized by their respective Governments, and so far as Egypt is concerned within the limits of the powers conferred by the Imperial Firmans, have agreed to the following:

ARTICLE I.

Freedom of Commerce and Navigation. - National
Treatment.

There shall be reciprocal freedom of commerce and navigation between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Egypt. British subjects in Egypt, and Egyptians in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall have liberty freely to come, with their ships and cargoes, to all places and ports in the other country to which natives are or may be permitted to come, and shall enjoy respectively the same rights, privileges, liberties, favours, immunities and exemptions in matters of commerce and navigation as are or may be enjoyed by natives, without having to pay any tax or impost greater than those paid by the same.

ARTICLE II.

Imports: Duties and Prohibitions. Most favoured-nation

Treatment.

No other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland of any article, the produce or manufacture of Egypt, from whatever place arriving, and no other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into Egypt of any article, the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from whatever place arriving, than on the like article produced or manufactured in any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article, the produce or manufacture of either of the Contracting Countries, into the other, from whatever place arriving, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like article being the produce or manufacture of any other foreign country.

Sanitary, &c., Prohibitions.

This last provision is not applicable to the sanitary and other prohibitions occasioned by the necessity of protecting the safety of persons or of cattle, or of plants useful to agriculture.

Exceptions.

Tobacco of all kinds, tombac, salt, saltpetre, natron, hasheesh, arms of every description, ammunition, gunpowder, and explosible material, are excluded from the stipulations of the present Convention.

ARTICLE III.

Exports. Most-favoured-nation Treatment.

No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or in Egypt respectively on the exportation of any article to the other Contracting Country than such as are or may be payable on the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the exportation of any article from either of the two Contracting Countries to the other which shall not equally extend to the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country. [536]

X

ARTICLE IV.

Commerce and Navigation. - Most-favoured-nation Treatment.

The Contracting Governments agree that in all matters relating to commerce and navigation, any privilege, favour, or immunity whatever which one Contracting Party has actually granted, or may hereafter grant, to the natives of any other State shall, on the demand of the other Contracting Government, be immediately and unconditionally extended to the natives of the other Contracting Party, which shall, by the simple fact of such demand, assume, as regards Administrative Regulations of Customs, Coast-Guard, and Police, all the obligations incumbent on the State with which it demands assimilation.

ARTICLE V.

Vessels. National Treatment.

British ships shall, in Egypt, and Egyptian vessels shall, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from whatever place arriving, and whatever may be the place of origin or destination of their cargoes, be treated in every respect as national ships.

Harbour, &c., Dues. -Pilotage, &c. - National Treatment.

The preceding stipulation applies to local treatment, dues and charges in the ports, basins, docks, roadsteads, and harbours of the two countries, pilotage, and generally to all matters connected with navigation.

National Vessels.

All vessels which, according to British law, are to be deemed British vessels, and all vessels which, according to Egyptian law, are to be deemed Egyptian vessels, shall, for the purposes of this Convention, be respectively deemed British or Egyptian vessels.

Coasting Trade and Interior Navigation excepted.

The coasting trade and interior navigation, however, are excepted from the preceding stipulations, and remain subject to the respective laws of the two countries.

Imports and Exports in Vessels of either Country.-National

Treatment.

All articles, from whatever place arriving, and whatever may be their place of origin, may be imported or exported in the vessels of the Contracting Parties without being liable to any other restriction or higher duties in the other country than if the articles were exported or imported in native vessels, or in those of any other State.

ARTICLE VI.*

Ad valorem Duties. - National and most-favoured-nation
Treatment.

The undermentioned goods, the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall pay, on importation into Egypt, duty not exceeding 10 per cent. ad valorem, viz.:

1. Metals, raw, partially manufactured and wholly manufactured, including machinery and parts thereof, agricultural machines and implements, railway and tramway carriages and engines, hardware, and all articles of which metals (except gold or silver) are the principal component.

2. Cutlery, ordinary, that is to say, with handles of any material except gold, silver, pearl, or tortoiseshell.

3. Yarns, threads, cordage, and cables, nets, velvets, and all other fabrics, plain, open-work, or fancy, unbleached, bleached, printed or dyed, manufactured from any vegetable fibre, such as cotton, jute, flax, hemp, rhea, palm, aloe, or the like.

4. Yarns and fabrics as enumerated in Class 3 manufactured from wool, worsted, mohair, vicuna, camel-hair, or any animal fibre except silk.

5. Mixed fabrics of the materials enumerated in Classes 3 and 4, and also with an admixture of silk or waste silk not exceeding 20 per cent. in weight of the whole fabric. 6. Coal.

7. Indigo.

8. Rice.

9. Oil-seeds.

The Egyptian Government preserves an absolute right respecting the taxation of all other articles. The Regulations and tarifications of such other articles shall be applicable to British subjects under the same conditions as to natives or to foreigners the most favoured in that respect.

* In suspension in virtue of Article XIV.

[536]

x 2

The duties ad valorem levied in Egypt on goods the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall be calculated on the value at the place of shipment or the purchase of the object imported, with the addition of the cost of transport, including insurance, necessary for the importation into Egypt as far as the port of discharge.

For the levying of these duties the importer shall make a written declaration at the Custom-house, stating the description of the goods imported and their value at the port of discharge,

The Customs may further, in contested cases, insist on the production of all the documents which should accompany consignments of merchandize, such as invoices, policies of insurance, correspondence, &c.

If the Custom-house authorities shall be of opinion that the declared value is insufficient, they shall be at liberty to take the goods on paying to the importer the price declared by him, with an addition of 5 per cent. This payment, together with the restitution of any duty which may have been levied upon such goods, shall he made within the fifteen days following the declaration.

The said authorities shall also have the right of taking the duties in kind. In order to take the duties in kind the Customs shall have the right of selecting the articles according to their declared value until the amount due to them shall be reached.

ÅRTICLE VII.

Establishment of a Tariff.

In order to establish for a fixed period the value at the port of entry of the principal articles taxed ad valorem, the Administration of the Egyptian Customs shall invite the principal merchants interested in the trade of the said articles to proceed in common with them to establish a Tariff for a period not exceeding twelve months.

The Tariff thus fixed shall, until a Chamber of Commerce representing the entire trade of Alexandria shall have been created, be communicated by the Egyptian Customs to the British Consulate of Alexandria, and shall be considered as officially recognized, as regards British produce and subjects, if the Consulate makes no formal opposition during the fort night following this communication.

ARTICLE VIII.
Export Duties.

Export duties may be levied in Egypt at the rate not exceeding 1 per cent. ad valorem.