ARTICLE 16. The present convention shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof deposited at Brussels as soon as possible. At the expiration of a period of one year at most, counting from the date of signature of the convention, the Belgian Government shall enter into communication with the governments of the High Contracting Parties which have declared their readiness to ratify it, for the purpose of having a decision reached as to whether there is occasion for putting it into force. The ratifications shall be deposited at once, if so decided, and the convention shall take effect one month after such deposit. The protocol shall remain open for a year to the signature of the nations represented at the Brussels conference. Upon the expiration of that period they shall only be allowed to adhere to it in accordance with the provisions of Article 15. ARTICLE 17. In case one or another of the High Contracting Parties should denounce the present convention, such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which notice thereof is given to the Belgian Government, and the convention shall remain in force among the other contracting parties. In witness whereof the plenipotentiaries of the respective High Contracting Parties have signed the present Convention and affixed thereto their seals. Done at Brussels, in a single copy, the The foregoing text was adopted at a session of the Brussels Conference held October 6, 1909. Certified by the President of the Conference: (Signed) A. BEERNAERT. N. B. The Delegations of the following countries have declared. their readiness to sign the foregoing text ad referendum, provided it is signed by the other governments represented at the conference: Germany, Argentine Republic, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Denmark, Spain, United States of America, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Sweden. ANNEX IV. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ARTICLE 1. Assistance and salvage of seagoing vessels in danger, of the things on board, and of the freight and passage money, as well as services of like nature rendered between seagoing vessels and vessels of inland navigation, shall be subject to the following provisions, there being no distinctions to be made between these two kinds of services and no account to be taken in what waters they have been rendered. ARTICLE 2. Every act of assistance or salvage which has a useful result shall give a right to a fair remuneration. No remuneration shall be due if the assistance lent has no useful result. In no case shall the sum paid exceed the value of the things saved. ARTICLE 3. Persons who have taken part in the work of assistance notwithstanding they have been expressly and reasonably forbidden to do so by the assisted vessel shall not be entitled to any remuneration. ARTICLE 4. A tug boat shall not be entitled to remuneration for assistance or salvage of the vessel towed by it or of its cargo unless it has rendered exceptional services which can not be considered as a performance of the towing contract. ARTICLE 5. A remuneration shall be due even though the assistance or salvage has taken place between vessels belonging to the same owner. ARTICLE 6. The amount of remuneration shall be fixed by the agreement of the parties, and in default thereof, by the judge. It shall be the same with regard to the proportion in which this remuneration is to be distributed among the rescuers. The distribution among the owner, the master, and the crew of each of the rescuing vessels shall be regulated by the national law of the vessel. ARTICLE 7. Every agreement for assistance and salvage concluded at the time and under the influence of the danger may, at the request of one of the parties be annulled or modified by the judge if he considers that the conditions agreed upon are not fair. When it is proven that the consent of one of the parties has been vitiated by fraud or by reticence, or when the remuneration is excessively out of proportion, one way or the other, to the service rendered, the agreement may be annulled or modified by the judge at the instance of the party concerned. ARTICLE 8. The remuneration shall be fixed by the judge according to the circumstances, taking as a basis: a) in the first place, the success attained, the efforts and the merit of those who have lent assistance, the danger run by the assisted vessel, by its passengers and its crew, by its cargo, by the rescuers and by the rescuing vessel, the time spent, the expenses and damages sustained, and the risks of responsibility and others run by the rescuers, the value of the property exposed by them, taking into account any special mission in which the assisting vessel may be engaged; b) in the second place, the value of the things saved. The same provisions apply to the distribution provided for in Article 6, paragraph 2. The judge may reduce or withhold the remuneration if it appears that the rescuers have rendered the salvage or assistance necessary through their own fault or if they have been guilty of theft, concealment, or other fraudulent acts. ARTICLE 9. No remuneration shall be due from the persons saved, though the provisions of national laws in this respect shall not be affected. Savers of human lives who have participated in the same dangers shall be entitled to a fair share of the remuneration granted to the rescuers of the vessel, the cargo, and their accessories. ARTICLE 10. The right of action to enforce payment of the remuneration shall be barred by limitation at the expiration of two years from the date on which the operations of assistance or salvage are terminated. The causes of suspension and interruption of this period shall be determined by the law of the court trying the case. The High Contracting Parties reserve the right to admit in their legislations, as extending the period fixed above, the fact that the assisted or saved vessel could not be seized in the territorial waters of the nation in which the plaintiff has his domicile or his headquarters. ARTICLE 11. Every master shall be obliged, as far as he can do so without serious danger to his vessel, his crew, or his passengers, to lend assistance to any person, even an enemy, found at sea in danger of perishing. The owner of the vessel shall not be liable for violations of the foregoing provision. ARTICLE 12. The High Contracting Parties whose legislation does not provide a penalty for violations of the foregoing article undertake to adopt or propose to their respective legislatures the necessary measures in order to punish such violations. The High Contracting Parties shall communicate to one another, as soon as possible, any laws or regulations which may have already been or which may be enacted in their nations for the enforcement of the foregoing provision. ARTICLE 13. The present convention shall not affect the provisions of national laws or international treaties regarding the organization of services of assistance and salvage by the public authorities or under their supervision, and especially regarding the salvage of fishing tackle. ARTICLE 14. The present convention shall not be applicable to war vessels and to government vessels exclusively devoted to a public service. ARTICLE 15. The provisions of the present convention shall be applicable with respect to all the interested parties when either the assisting or rescuing vessel or the assisted or rescued vessel belongs to one of the contracting nations, as well as in other cases provided for in the national laws. It is understood, however: 1. That, with respect 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 conditions of reciprocity. 2. That, when all the interested parties are citizens or subjects of the same nation as the court trying the case, the national law and not this convention shall be applicable. 3. That, wihout prejudice to more extensive provisions of national laws, Article 11 shall only be applicable between vessels belonging to citizens or subjects of the contracting nations. ARTICLE 16. The Delegates of the High Contracting Parties shall meet at Brussels, three years after the present convention goes into force, for the purpose of examining what improvements can be made therein and especially of extending its sphere of application if possible. ARTICLE 17. Nations which have not signed this convention shall be permitted to adhere to it on request. Notice of such adhesion shall be given through diplomatic channels to the Belgian Government, and, by the latter, to each of the governments of the other contracting parties. It shall take effect one month after the notice given by the Belgian Government has been sent. ARTICLE 18. The present convention shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof shall be deposited at Brussels as soon as possible. At the expiration of a period of one year at most, counting from the date of signature of this convention, the Belgian Government shall enter into communication with the governments of the High Contracting Parties who have declared their readiness to ratify it, for the purpose of having the question decided whether there is occasion for putting it in force. If so decided, the ratifications shall be deposited immediately and the convention shall take effect one month after such deposit. The protocol shall remain open one year longer to the nations represented at the Brussels conference. At the end of this period they shall only be allowed to adhere thereto in accordance with the provisions of Article 17. |