ART. 11.-Redirection. Non-delivery.

The redirection of parcels from one country to the other, as well as the return of undelivered parcels, gives rise to further charges, fixed in accordance with Articles 4, 5, and 6, which are collected from the addressees or the senders, as the case may be, without prejudice to the special charges, other than customs dues, which may have been incurred.

ART. 12.-Prohibitions.

1. It is forbidden to send by post:

(a) Parcels containing letters or communications of the nature of a letter, live animals, except bees, which must be enclosed in boxes so constructed as to avoid all danger to postal officers and to allow the contents to be ascertained, or articles of which the admission is not authorised by the Customs or other laws or regulations in force in either country. Nevertheless, it is permitted to enclose in a parcel an open invoice, confined to the particulars which constitute an invoice, and also a simple copy of the address of the parcel, that of the sender being added.

(b) Parcels containing explosive or inflammable articles, and, in general, articles of which the conveyance is dangerous. 2. No parcel may contain an enclosure which bears an address different from that placed on the cover of the parcel. 3. It is equally forbidden to send specie, articles of gold or silver, jewellery, or other precious articles from one country to the other in uninsured parcels.

4. When a parcel contravening any of these prohibitions is handed over by one Administration to the other, the latter proceeds in the manner and with the formalities prescribed by its laws and by its inland regulations.

5. The two Postal Administrations shall furnish each other with a list of prohibited articles; but they will not thereby undertake any responsibility whatever towards the police, the Customs authorities, or the senders of parcels.

ART. 13.-Responsibility.

1. Except in cases beyond control, when a parcel has been lost or damaged or its contents abstracted, the sender, and, in default or at the request of the sender, the addressee, shall be entitled to an indemnity corresponding with the actual amount of the loss, abstraction, or damage, unless the damage has been caused by the fault or negligence of

the sender or arises from the nature of the article, and provided that this indemnity does not exceed, in the case of uninsured parcels, 15 or 25 francs, according as the weight of the parcel does not exceed, or exceeds, 3 kilogrammes, and, in the case of an insured parcel, the sum for which it has been insured. The sender of a parcel which has been lost, or of which the contents have been completely damaged or abstracted in the post, shall also be entitled to the return of the postage. In any case the insurance fee is retained by the Postal Administrations.

2. The Administrations decline all responsibility for insured parcels in case of loss, damage, or abstraction :

(a) When the loss of the contents undoubtedly results from insufficiency of the number of lead or other seals on the parcel, or from the omission of an impression, or a facsimile, of the lead or other seals on the despatch note.

(b) When the weight of a parcel taken on its arrival at the place of destination is the weight certified by the despatching office, and the seals and the wrapper of the parcel are intact.

3. The obligation of paying the indemnity shall rest with the Administration to which the despatching office is subordinate. To that Administration is reserved a remedy against the Administration responsible that is to say, against the Administration on the territory or in the service of which the loss, or abstraction, or damage took place.

4. Until the contrary is shown, the responsibility rests with the Administration which, having received the parcel without making any observation, cannot prove its delivery to the addressee, or, in the case of a transit parcel, its regular transfer to the following Administration.

5. The payment of the indemnity by the despatching Office ought to take place as soon as possible, and at the latest within a year of the date of the application. The Office responsible will be bound to refund to the despatching Office, without delay, the amount of the indemnity paid by the latter.

6. It is understood that the application for an indemnity will only be entertained if made within a year of the posting of the parcel. After this term the applicant will have no right to any indemnity. The Office of origin is authorised to compensate the sender on behalf of an intermediary Office or Office of destination which, although advised in due course, has allowed a year to elapse without proceeding with the matter. Moreover, in case an Office, the responsibility

of which has been duly established, has at first declined to pay the indemnity, it must, in addition to the indemnity, defray the subsidiary expenses resulting from the unwarranted delay in making the payment.

7. If the loss, abstraction, or damage shall have occurred in course of conveyance between the exchanging Offices of the two countries, without its being possible to ascertain on which of the two territories the irregularity took place, each Administration shall pay half of the indemnity.

8. The Administrations will cease to be responsible for parcels of which the right persons have accepted delivery.

ART. 14.-Fraudulent Declaration.

1. No parcel may be insured for an amount above the real value of its contents.

2. The infringement of this rule, with intent to defraud, deprives the sender of any right to compensation, and that without prejudice to any legal proceedings which may be admitted by the law of the country of origin.

ART. 15.-Division between the two Offices of the Cost of Receptacles.

The cost of the receptacles in which parcel mails are exchanged between the two countries shall be shared equally between the two Administrations.

ART. 16.-Internal Legislation.

1. The internal legislation of both the United Kingdom and France shall remain applicable as regards everything not provided for by the stipulations contained in the present Agreement.

2. The Administrations shall communicate to each other from time to time the provisions of their laws or regulations. applicable to the conveyance of parcels by Parcel Post.

ART. 17.-Detailed Regulations.*

The Postal Administrations of the two contracting countries shall indicate the offices or localities which they admit to the international exchange of parcels; they shall regulate the mode of transmission of these parcels, and fix all other measures of detail and order necessary for ensuring the performance of the present Agreement.

* See page 137.

ART. 18.-Organisation of Direct Exchanges between the Colonies and of Exchanges of Parcels bearing Trade Charges.

1. The British and French Postal Administrations, on the one hand, the Postal Administrations of the British colonies, possessions, and protectorates, and the Postal Administrations of the French colonies, possessions, and protectorates, on the other, may, subject to the approval of the respective Governments, and in the conditions fixed by the whole or by some only of the stipulations of the present Agreement, enter into arrangements, if circumstances permit, for the purpose of establishing:

(a) A direct exchange of postal parcels between France and any British colony, possession, or protectorate, or between the United Kingdom and any French colony, possession, or protectorate.

(b) A direct exchange of postal parcels between a British colony, possession, or protectorate, and a French colony, possession, or protectorate.

2. The two Administrations may also hereafter, if their respective Regulations permit, arrange by common consent for the introduction of a system of collection of trade charges on delivery.

ART. 19.-Execution in France of the Clauses of the Agreement by the Railway and Navigation Companies.

The French Government reserves to itself the right to have the clauses of this Agreement executed by means of the railway and navigation enterprises. It may, at the same time, limit the service to parcels originating in or addressed to places served by those undertakings.

The French Postal Administration will come to an understanding with the railway and navigation enterprises in order to ensure the complete execution by the latter of all the clauses of this Agreement, and for the organisation of the service of exchange at the frontier.

It will also act as the intermediary for all their dealings. with the Postal Administration of Great Britain.

ART. 20.-Termination of previous Conventions and Agreements. Duration of Agreement.

1. The present Agreement shall supersede the Convention dated the 18th June, 1886,* the Agreement of the 9th November, 1894,† the Additional Convention dated the 9th * See Vol. 17, page 430. † See Vol. 19, page 237.

July, 1895, and the Agreements dated the 13th Aprilf and 24th November, 1898.

2. It shall come into operation on a date to be mutually settled between the Postal Administrations of the two countries, after its promulgation according to the special laws of each of the two States.

3. It will remain in force until one of the two Contracting Parties has given notice to the other, one year in advance, of its intention to terminate it.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Agreement and have affixed thereto their seals.

Signed at Paris, the 22nd November, 1913.

(L.S.) FRANCIS BERTIE. (L.S.) S. PICHON.

DETAILED REGULATIONS for carrying out the Agreement concerning the Exchange of Parcels concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and France. Signed at Paris, November 22, 1913.§

THE Undersigned, having regard to article 17 || of the Agreement of the 22nd November, 1913, concerning the exchange of postal parcels, have, in the name of their respective Administrations, settled, by common consent, the following measures for ensuring the performance of the said Agree

ment:

1.-Exchanges in closed Receptacles.-Designation of Routes and Offices of Exchange.

1. The exchange of parcels between the two countries shall be effected in closed receptacles by the Offices designated for this purpose after agreement between the Administrations

concerned.

2. The two Administrations will regulate by mutual consent the mode of transmission of parcels between their respective Offices of Exchange.

* See Vol. 20, page 301. Signed also in French.

† See Vol. 21, page 372.

See Vol. 21, page 390.

See page 135.