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Agreement regarding the Customs and Tariff Relations between Canada and France [1936] CATSer 11 (10 November 1936)

ARTICLE 3

The nationals of either of the High Contracting Parties in the territory of the other shall be at full liberty to acquire, possess, rent, occupy every descrip­tion of property, movable and immovable, rights and interests, to dispose of the same by sale, exchange, gift, marriage, testament, or in any other manner, to exercise business, industry, trade and profession, to the same extent as may be permitted by the laws of the other Party to the nationals of any other foreign State.

In matter of requisitions and prestations other than those provided for in Article 4, they shall enjoy the most favoured foreign nation treatment.

Moreover, each of the High Contracting Parties agrees not to impose upon persons, societies or companies, nationals of the other High Contracting Party, in respect of property, rights and interests which they legally possess, any measure of disposition, limitation, restriction or expropriation, for reasons of public utility or of general interest, which shall not be applicable under the same conditions to its own nationals or societies. The indemnities, to which these measures will give rise, shall be accorded upon the conditions prescribed either for the benefit of nationals, societies or companies of the country, or of nationals, societies or com­panies of the most favoured foreign nation, at the option of those interested.

ARTICLE 4

The nationals of each of the High Contracting Parties shall be exempted from all compulsory personal military service whatsoever and from all personal military prestations. They shall similarly be exempted from all taxes levied in lieu of such service and prestations. They shall be subject to military requisi­tions on their property, movable and immovable, under the same conditions as nationals of the other Party, or as the nationals of the most favoured foreign nation, at the option of those interested.

They shall similarly be exempted from all judicial, administrative and municipal functions other than those imposed by the laws relating to juries.

ARTICLE 5

The nationals of each of the High Contracting Parties in the territory of the other shall enjoy free access to the courts of justice, either as plaintiffs or as defendants in all jurisdictional processes established by law, without other conditions, restrictions or taxes than those imposed on nationals with the exception of the “cautio judicatum solvi”, and, like them, they shall be at liberty in all causes to have recourse to the services of advocates, attorneys, solicitors or other agents selected from among the persons admitted to the exercise of those pro­fessions of legal order by the laws in force in the territory in question.

ARTICLE 6

Merchants and manufacturers, nationals of one of the High Contracting Parties, as well as merchants and manufacturers domiciled and exercising their commerce or industry in the territories of such High Contracting Party, may, in the territories of the other, either personally or by means of commercial travellers, make purchases and collect orders with or without samples, and such merchants, manufacturers and their commercial travellers, while so making purchases and collecting orders, shall, in the matter of taxation, and also in respect of all other facilities and charges, enjoy the most favoured foreign nation treatment.

Articles imported as samples for the purposes above-mentioned shall, in each country, be temporarily admitted free of duty with a reservation that they shall comply with the Customs regulations and other formalities established to assure their re-exportation or the payment of the prescribed Customs duties if not re-exported within the period allowed by law. However, this exemption shall not extend to articles which, owing to their quality or value, cannot be considered as samples, nor to articles which, owing to their nature, could not be identified upon re-exportation. In all cases the determination of the question whether the samples are qualified for admission duty-free rests exclusively with the competent authorities of the place where the importation is effected.

ARTICLE 7

The societies, companies, corporations, civil and commercial, limited liability or other companies, of industry, finance, insurance, transport and other societies of an economic character and for lucrative purposes, constituted in either of the two countries in conformity with the laws of that country and having therein their head office, shall be reciprocally recognized and shall have the right to appear in courts. The legality of their constitutions and their capacity and those of their branches and agencies shall be determined according to their charters and the law of the country where they have been constituted.

The said societies, companies and corporations of either of the High Con­tracting Parties shall be at liberty, upon the territory of the other Party, in con­formity with the laws and regulations of the latter, to establish themselves, to create agencies and branches. They shall enjoy in all respects and in all matters the treatment of the most favoured foreign nation.

It is understood that the foregoing provisions are applicable to societies, companies, and corporations which were constituted before the signature of the present Convention as well as to those which may be constituted subsequently.

ARTICLE 8

Each of the High Contracting Parties shall be at liberty to appoint consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents to reside in the towns and ports of the territory of the other to which such consuls or agents of any other State are admitted. Such consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents, however, shall not enter upon their functions until after they shall have been accepted and admitted in the usual form by the Government to which they are accredited.

The heads of posts, titular or acting, as well as the agents of the consular service, chancellors, attachés or others, on condition of reciprocity, shall enjoy the personal privileges, immunities and exemptions such as are or may be accorded to similar agents of the same class and grade of the most favoured foreign nation.

The High Contracting Parties agree to conclude a convention with a view to determining and defining the powers and functions of these agents.

ARTICLE 9

Goods shipped from the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties with a destination in the territory of the other Party, on the railways of the latter, in relation to conditions and costs of transportation, and to rates and taxes of every description affecting transportation, shall receive as favourable treatment as that which is generally applicable to similar goods in the interior traffic, under the same conditions, for the same directions and for the same dis­tances, and shall enjoy the most favoured foreign nation treatment.

ARTICLE 10

Goods shipped from the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, in transit through the territory of the other Party, in relation to the condi­tions and costs of transportation, and to rates and taxes affecting transporta­tion, shall receive as favourable treatment as that which is generally applic­able to the transportation of similar goods in traffic with a third State under the same conditions for the same directions and for the same distances.

ARTICLE 11

Each of the High Contracting Parties shall assure to the vessels of the other Party in the maritime ports placed under its sovereignty, authority or protection, and within its territorial waters, the same treatment in every respect as is accorded to its own vessels or to those of the most favoured foreign nation. This equality of treatment, which is extended only to works appertaining to the state or public establishments, applies namely: to freedom of access to the ports, their use, the full enjoyment of the benefits accorded to navigation, the commer­cial operations of vessels, their cargoes and passengers, facilities of all kinds in relation to allocation of berths, loading and unloading, dues and charges of all kinds levied in the name or for the account of the Government, public authori­ties, concessionaries or undertakings of any kind.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph in no way restrict the liberty of the competent authorities of a maritime port to take such measures as they may deem expedient for the proper conduct of the business of the port, provided that these measures comply with the principle of equality of treatment as above defined.

ARTICLE 12

All dues and charges for the use of maritime ports shall be duly published before coming into force.

The same shall apply to the by-laws and regulations of the ports.

In each maritime port the port authorities shall keep open for inspection by all persons concerned a table of the dues and charges in force, as well as a copy of the by-laws and regulations.

ARTICLE 13

The vessels of either of the High Contracting Parties may enter into one or several maritime ports of the other either for the purpose of landing the whole or part of their cargoes, goods and passengers brought from abroad, or for the purpose of taking on board the whole or part of their cargoes, goods and passengers for a foreign destination.

The High Contracting Parties agree that the coasting trade, as well as fishing and hunting within territorial waters shall be exempted from the pro­visions of this Article and remain exclusively under their national laws. The same shall apply to towage, provided that the provisions of Articles 11 and 12 are complied with.

The same shall apply to pilotage; where pilotage is compulsory the charges and services rendered shall be subject to the provisions of Articles 11 and 12.

Each of the High Contracting Parties, however, shall be at liberty to exempt from the obligations of compulsory pilotage such of its nationals as possess the necessary technical qualifications.

Exemption is made from the provisions of the present Convention with regard to:

(1) The advantages which are or may be accorded to the products of national fishing.

(2) The advantages which either of the High Contracting Parties may extend to its nationals as a means of facilitating the development of its merchant marine, either as premiums or subsidies for the building or the acquisition of merchant vessels, or premiums or rewards to the merchant marine.

For all matters concerned in this Article, the High Contracting Parties shall reciprocally accord to each other most favoured foreign nation treatment.

ARTICLE 14

Canadian merchant vessels complying with the regulations relative to public order and safety as well as with local laws and regulations, shall enjoy the most favoured foreign nation treatment in the maritime ports of French Colonies.

ARTICLE 14 (bis)

The provisions of Articles 13 to 19 inclusive, of the present Convention, apply to all national vessels, whether they are owned by one of the High Con­tracting Parties or by private individuals, or companies or public bodies, nationals of one of the High Contracting Parties.

They do not apply, however, in any way, to warships or vessels performing functions of police or control, nor in general to vessels under any title of public authority, nor any other vessels which are exclusively employed for the purposes of the naval, military or air forces of one of the High Contracting Parties.

In like manner, the present Convention does not apply to fishing vessels.

ARTICLE 15

The nationality of vessels shall be reciprocally determined by each of the High Contracting Parties, according to the national law of the vessel con­cerned and on the proof furnished in conformity therewith.

The words “vessels of the High Contracting Parties” as used in this con­vention, in relation to vessels of His Majesty, shall mean vessels registered in Canada.

ARTICLE 16

In the maritime ports of one of the High Contracting Parties, the master of a merchant vessel of the other Party, if through illness or for any other reasons a ship is short of crew, may, in conformity with local laws and regulations, engage the seamen necessary to continue the voyage, it being under­stood that the engagement shall always be made with the free consent of the seamen and in conformity with the laws of the country to which the ship belongs.

ARTICLE 17

Subject to the application of the respective laws of both countries regulating emigration, the shipping of one of the High Contracting Parties engaged in the transport of passengers and emigrants shall enjoy in the other country the same treatment in every respect as national shipping, or as that of the most favoured foreign nation.

Subject to the same reservation, this equality of treatment shall apply particularly to their agencies, their vessels and to the passengers and emigrants which they carry both on outward and inward voyages, whatever their point of origin or of destination.

ARTICLE 18

It shall be free for any vessel of one of the High Contracting Parties which may be compelled by bad weather or by force majeure to take shelter in a maritime port of the other party, to refit therein, to procure all necessary stores and to put to sea again without paying other dues or charges than those which, in the same circumstances, are paid by national vessels.

If, however, the master of a vessel, which has taken shelter in a maritime port in the circumstances contemplated in the preceding paragraph, is obliged to sell part of his cargo in order to defray expenses, he shall be obliged to comply with the local regulations and tariffs.

ARTICLE 19

If a vessel of one of the High Contracting Parties be stranded or ship­wrecked on the coast of the other, both the vessel and her cargo shall enjoy the same favours and exemptions as the laws of the country grant to its own vessels in the same circumstances. The master, the crew and the passengers shall be rendered the same aid and assistance as nationals of the country where the vessel is stranded would be entitled to by law. The vessel and her cargo shall enjoy the same privileges.

The ships or their wrecks, including machinery, rigging, apparatus, furni­ture, accessories of all kinds and documents salved shall be delivered to their owner or to his duly authorized representative, provided a request to that effect is made by him within the limits of time provided for by the local law. The same shall apply to goods salved. In case of sale, the proceeds shall be paid to the said owner, after deduction of the costs.

Where the owner or his representative fails to do so, the consular authority of one of the High Contracting Parties of which the owner is a national may claim the delivery of goods salved or the proceeds of their sale.

The goods and objects of every description salved from such wrecks shall not be subjected to the payment of any Customs duty unless admitted for internal consumption.

ARTICLE 20

If a dispute arises between the High Contracting Parties in regard to the proper interpretation or application of this Convention which cannot be solved by diplomatic means, the matters in dispute shall he submitted to the Permanent Court of International Justice at the Hague, under the conditions and in accordance with the procedure provided by its Statutes.

ARTICLE 21

The present Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Ottawa as soon as possible.

It shall come into force on the date which the High Contracting Parties shall fix by joint agreement.

ARTICLE 22

The present Convention shall remain in force until the expiration of a period of six months after the date on which one of the High Contracting Parties shall have notified the other of his intention to terminate it.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the respective plenipotentiaries duly authorized, have signed the present Convention unto which they have affixed their seals.

DONE in duplicate in English and French at Ottawa on the twelfth day of May in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three.

Richard Bedford Bennett
Charles Hazlitt Cahan

Charles Arsène Henry