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arisen, claims arising from the same emergency being regarded as having originated at the same time.

In case the claims contemplated under number 4 of Article 3 arise from expenditures made or personal obligations contracted by the master, they shall be preferred to the other claims mentioned in this provision.

ARTICLE 5.

If claims do not relate to the same voyage, the privilege liens of claims of a subsequent voyage take precedence over those of a previous voyage.

ARTICLE 6.

A privileged lien ceases to exist upon the expiration of a period of two years from the date of the origin of the claim.

In the case of the claims referred to in Article 3 under number 2, this period is one year, beginning on the date when the service ceases to be rendered.

The causes of suspension and interruption of this limitation period shall be determined by the law governing in the court taking cognizance of the case.

The high contracting parties reserve the right to admit in their legislation, as extending the period fixed above, the fact that it has been impossible to seize the vessel in the territorial waters of the nation in which the plaintiff has his domicile or his headquarters.

ARTICLE 7.

A privileged lien on the rent or freight may be enforced while the rent or freight is in the hands of the charterer, loader, consignee, master, agent, or any other third party. It ceases to exist when the freight is received by the owner himself.

ARTICLE 8.

The privileged liens established by the foregoing provisions are not subject to any formality or to any special condition respecting proof.

ARTICLE 9.

The foregoing provisions are applicable to vessels managed or employed by other persons than the owner, except when the owner has been dispossessed by an unlawful act and when, besides, the creditor is not a bona fide one.

ARTICLE 10.

The perquisites referred to in Article 3 are:

1. Compensation paid or due to the owner of a vessel for gross average as far as the latter constitutes either a material injury sustained by the vessel and not repaired, or losses of freight.

2. Compensation paid or due for reparation of damages, whether it be a question of damages sustained by the vessel and not repaired, or of losses of freight.

3. Amounts paid or due to the owner of the vessel for assistance or salvage, after deducting the amounts allowed to the master or the crew. Indemnities due or paid under insurance contracts, or premiums, subsidies, or other national pecuniary assistance, are not considered as perquisites of the vessel.

ARTICLE 11.

The provisions of the present convention shall be applicable in each contracting nation when one of the interested parties is a citizen or subject of another contracting nation, as well as in other cases provided for in the national laws.

However, the rule laid down in the foregoing paragraph shall not affect the right of the contracting nations not to apply the provisions of the present convention in favor of the citizens or subjects of a noncontracting nation.

ARTICLE 12.

The present convention shall not be applicable to government vessels.

ANNEX III.

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING UNIFORMITY IN CERTAIN RULES REGARDING COLLISIONS.

ARTICLE 1.

In the case of collisions occurring between seagoing vessels or between seagoing vessels and boats engaged in inland navigation, the reparation of the injuries caused to the vessel and to the things or persons on board thereof shall be subject to the following provisions, without regard to the waters where the collision occurs:

ARTICLE 2.

If the collision is accidental, or is due to uncontrollable events, or if there is a doubt as to the causes thereof, the damages shall be borne by those who have sustained them.

This provision shall be applicable in cases in which both or either of the vessels are at the anchoring ground at the time of the accident.

ARTICLE 3.

If the collision is due to the fault of one of the vessels, the reparation of the damage shall be incumbent on the one which has committed the fault.

ARTICLE 4.

If both are at fault, the responsibility of each of the vessels shall be in proportion to the gravity of the faults respectively committed; however, if, according to the circumstances, the proportion cannot be established or if the faults appear to be equal, the responsibility shall be shared equally.

Injuries caused to the vessels, to their cargo, or to the personal effects or other property of the crew, passengers, or other persons on board, shall be borne by the vessels at fault in the aforesaid proportion, without any joint responsibility on the part of third parties.

The vessels at fault shall be jointly responsible toward third parties. for injuries caused by death or wounds, except that the vessel which has paid a portion exceeding that which it should finally bear in accordance with the foregoing paragraph of the present article shall be entitled to

recover.

It shall be encumbent upon the national laws to determine, with respect to this action for recovery, the scope and effect of the provisions of contracts or laws which limit the responsibility of the owners of vessels toward the persons on board thereof.

ARTICLE 5.

The responsibility established by the foregoing articles continues to exist in case the collision is caused by the fault of a pilot, even when the employment of the latter is compulsory.

ARTICLE 6.

An action for damages on account of injuries sustained from a collision shall not be subject either to a protest or to any other special formality.

There shall be no legal presumptions of fault as regards the responsibility for the collision.

ARTICLE 7.

Actions for damages shall be barred by limitation at the end of two years from the date of the event.

The period within which actions for recovery as permitted by paragraph 3 of Article 4 may be begun shall be one year. This period shall begin only on the day of the payment.

The causes of suspension and interruption of these limitation periods shall be determined by the law governing in the court taking cognizance of the case.

The High Contracting Parties reserve the right to admit in their laws, as extending the periods fixed above, the fact that the defendant vessel could not be seized in the territorial waters of the nation in which the plaintiff has his domicile or his headquarters.

ARTICLE 8.

After a collision, the master of each of the colliding vessels shall be obliged, as far as he can do so without serious danger to his vessel, his crew, and his passengers, to lend assistance to the other vessel, its crew, and its passengers.

He shall also be obliged, as far as possible, to make known to the other vessel the name and port of registry of his vessel, as well as the places from which it hails and to which it is bound.

The owner of the vessel shall not be responsible by reason of the violation alone of the foregoing provisions.

ARTICLE 9.

The High Contracting Parties whose laws do not provide a penalty for violations of the foregoing article undertake to take or to propose to their respective legislatures the necessary measures to punish such violations.

ARTICLE 10.

Without regard to what subsequent conventions may provide, the present provisions do not affect the nature or extent of the responsibility of ship owners as regulated in each country, nor the obligations. arising from transportation contracts or any other contracts.

ARTICLE 11.

The present convention shall not be applicable to war vessels or to government vessels exclusively devoted to the public service.

ARTICLE 12.

The provisions of the present convention shall be applicable with regard to all the interested parties, when all the vessels concerned belong to the contracting nations and in other cases provided for by the national laws.

It is understood, however:

1. That, with regard to interested parties who are citizens or subjects of a non-contracting nation, the application of said provisions may be made subject by each of the contracting nations to the condition of reciprocity.

2. That, when all the interested parties are citizens or subjects of the same nation as the court trying the case, the law of the nation and not this convention shall apply.

ARTICLE 13.

The present convention applies also to the reparation of damages which one vessel has caused to another vessel or to the things or persons on board thereof by executing or failing to execute a maneuver or by failing to observe the regulations, even when there has been no collision.

ARTICLE 14.

The delegates of the High Contracting Parties shall meet at Brussels three years after this convention goes into force, for the purpose of examining what improvements can be made therein and especially in order to extend its sphere of application if possible.

ARTICLE 15.

Nations which have not signed the present convention shall be permitted to adhere to it at their request. Notice of such adhesion shall be communicated through diplomatic channels to the Belgian Government and by the latter to each of the governments of the other contracting parties. The adhesion shall take effect one month after the transmission of the notice given by the Belgian Government.

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