ANGLO-PORTUGUESE COMMERCIAL TREATY ACT 1914

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ANGLO-PORTUGUESE COMMERCIAL TREATY ACT 1914 - SECT 2

Short title.

2. This Act may be cited as the Anglo-Portuguese Commercial Treaty Act, 1914.

There shall be between the territories of the two contracting Parties full and
complete freedom of commerce and navigation.

The subjects or citizens of each of the two contracting Parties shall have
liberty freely to come with their ships and cargoes to all places, ports, and
rivers in the territories of the other to which native subjects or citizens
are or may be permitted to come. They shall not be subject in respect of their
commerce or industry in the territories of the other, whether their residence
there is of a permanent or temporary character, to any duties, taxes, imposts,
or licences of any kind whatever other or higher than those which are or may
be imposed upon native subjects or citizens, and they shall enjoy the same
rights, privileges, liberties, immunities, and other favours in matters of
commerce and industry as are or may be enjoyed by native subjects or citizens.

The subjects or citizens of each of the contracting Parties shall be exempted,
in the territory of the other Party, from all personal service in the army,
navy, and national militia; from all war charges, forced loans, military
requisitions and contributions of whatever nature. Their properties shall not
be seized, sequestrated, nor their ships, cargoes, goods, or effects retained
for any public use, unless they have been previously allowed compensation, to
be agreed upon between the interested parties on just and equitable bases. The
charges connected with the possession by any title of landed property are
excepted, as well as the obligation of military billeting and other special
requisitions or exactions for the military forces to which all nationals or
subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation may be liable as owners,
tenants, or occupiers of real property.

The contracting Parties agree that in all matters relating to commerce,
navigation, and industry any privilege, favour, or immunity which either
contracting Party has actually granted or may hereafter grant to the subjects
or citizens or ships of any other foreign State shall be extended immediately
and unconditionally to the subjects or citizens or ships of the other, it
being their intention that the commerce, navigation, and industry of each
country shall be placed in all respects on the footing of the most favoured
nation.

The subjects or citizens of each of the contracting Parties in the territories
of the other shall be at full liberty to acquire and possess every description
of property, movable and immovable, which the laws of the country permit, or
shall permit, the subjects or citizens of the State to acquire and possess.
They may dispose of the same by sale, exchange, gift, marriage, testament, or
in any other manner, or acquire the same by inheritance under the same
conditions which are or shall be established with regard to subjects or
citizens of the State. They shall not be subjected in any of the cases
mentioned to any taxes, imposts, or charges of whatever denomination other or
higher than those which are or shall be applicable to subjects or citizens of
the State.

The subjects or citizens of each of the contracting Parties shall also be
permitted, on compliance with the laws of the country, freely to export the
proceeds of the sale of their property and their goods in general without
being subjected as foreigners to other or higher duties than those to which
subjects or citizens of the country would be liable under similar
circumstances.

Articles the produce and manufacture of one of the contracting Parties
imported into the territories of the other, from whatever place arriving,
shall not be subject to other or higher duties or charges than those which are
or may be levied on the like articles the produce or manufacture of any other
foreign country. In like manner, articles the produce or manufacture of one of
the contracting Parties exported to the territories of the other shall not be
subjected to other or higher duties or charges than those which are or may be
levied on the like articles exported to any other foreign country. The
contracting Parties also reciprocally undertake that no more favourable
treatment shall be extended to the goods of any other foreign country in
respect of importation, import duties, exportation, export duties,
re-exportation, re-export duties, customs facilities, warehousing,
transhipment, drawbacks, and commerce and navigation in general.

His Britannic Majesty's Government engage to recommend to Parliament to
prohibit the importation into and sale for consumption in the United Kingdom
of any wine or other liquor to which the description "Port" or "Madeira" is
applied, other than wine the produce of Portugal and of the island of Madeira
respectively.

No prohibition or restriction shall be maintained or imposed on the
importation of any article the produce or manufacture of either of the
contracting Parties into the territories of the other, from whatever place
arriving, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like
articles being the produce or manufacture of any other foreign country. The
only exceptions to this general rule shall be in the case of the sanitary or
other prohibitions occasioned by the necessity of securing the safety of
persons or of cattle or of plants useful for agriculture, and of the measures
applicable in either of the two countries to articles enjoying a direct or
indirect bounty in the other.

Nor shall any prohibition or restriction be maintained or imposed on the
exportation of any article from the territories of either of the two
contracting Parties to the territories of the other which shall not equally
extend to the exportation of the like articles to any other foreign country.

Merchandise of all kinds the produce or manufacture of one of the contracting
Parties passing in transit through the territories of the other shall be
reciprocally free from all transit duties, whether they pass direct or whether
during transit they are unloaded, warehoused, and reloaded, and no prohibition
or restriction shall be maintained or imposed on the transit of such
merchandise which shall not equally extend to the transit of the like articles
the produce or manufacture of any other foreign country.

Goods of all kinds, the produce or manufacture of one of the contracting
Parties, imported into the territories of the other, shall not be subject to
excise, octroi, or consumption dues, levied on account of the State or of the
municipalities, higher than those payable on similar articles of native
origin.

The stipulations of the present treaty with regard to the mutual accord of the
treatment of the most favoured nation apply unconditionally to the treatment
of commercial travellers and their samples. The Chambers of Commerce, as well
as other trade associations and other recognised commercial associations in
the contracting States as may be authorised in this behalf shall be mutually
accepted as competent authorities for issuing any certificates that may be
required for commercial travellers.

Articles imported by commercial travellers as samples shall, in each country,
be temporarily admitted free of duty on compliance with the customs
regulations and 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. But the foregoing privilege shall not extend to articles
which, owing to their quantity or value, cannot be considered as samples, or
which, owing to their nature, could not be identified, upon re-exportation.

In order to facilitate the clearance of samples of goods brought by commercial
travellers of one of the two States into the territories of the other to be
used as samples or patterns for the purpose of obtaining orders and not for
sale, the marks, stamps, or seals affixed by the Customs authorities of one
country to commercial samples at the time of exportation, and the list of such
samples drawn up in proper form and certified by the competent authority, such
list containing an exact description of the samples, shall form sufficient
evidence, so far as the respective customs authorities are concerned, of their
nature, and shall entitle them to exemption from all customs examination
except in so far as may be necessary to establish that the samples produced
are identical with those enumerated in the list. The customs authorities of
either country are, however, at liberty to affix a supplementary mark to such
samples, should this precaution in particular cases be considered necessary.

Each of the contracting Parties shall permit the importation or exportation on
the vessels of the other of all merchandise which may be legally imported or
exported, and also the carriage of passengers from or to their respective
territories on the vessels of the other; and such vessels and their cargoes
and passengers shall enjoy the same privileges, and shall not be subjected to
any other or higher duties or charges than the vessels, cargoes, and
passengers of the most favoured nation.

Notwithstanding anything in this treaty either of the contracting Parties
reserves the right to confine to national vessels the trade between any ports
within its territories. In the event of this right being exercised by either
country, nothing in this treaty shall be construed as entitling the vessels of
that country to participate in the corresponding trade between ports of the
other country.

British and Portuguese vessels may nevertheless proceed from one port to
another, either for the purpose of landing the whole or part of their
passengers or cargoes brought from abroad, or of taking on board the whole or
part of their passengers or cargoes for a foreign destination.

It is also understood that no vessel shall be considered as engaging in trade
between two ports of one of the contracting States merely because it carries
between those ports passengers holding through tickets or merchandise
consigned on through bill of lading to or from some place outside the
territories of that State.

No duties of tonnage, harbour, pilotage, lighthouse, quarantine, or other
analogous duties of whatever nature, or under whatever denomination, levied in
the name or for the profit of the Government, private individuals,
corporations, or establishments of any kind, shall be imposed in the ports of
the territories of either of the contracting Parties upon the vessels of the
other or on their cargoes in lieu of on the vessels which shall not equally
and under the same conditions be imposed in the like cases on vessels of the
most favoured nation in general. Such equality of treatment shall apply to the
respective vessels, from whatever port or place they may arrive, and whatever
may be their destination.

In all that regards the stationing, loading, and unloading of vessels in
ports, docks, roadsteads, and harbours every privilege granted by either of
the contracting Parties to the vessels of any third country shall be extended
immediately and unconditionally to the vessels of the other contracting Party.

Any vessel of either of the contracting Parties which may be compelled by
stress of weather or by accident, to take shelter in a port of the other,
shall be at liberty to refit therein, to procure all necessary stores, and to
put to sea again, without paying any dues other than such as would be payable
in a similar case by a national vessel. In case, however, the master of a
merchant vessel should be under the necessity of disposing of a part of his
merchandise in order to defray his expenses, he shall be bound to conform to
the regulations and tariffs of the place to which he may have come.

If any vessel of one of the contracting Parties should run aground or be
wrecked upon the coasts of the other, such vessel, and all parts thereof, and
all furniture and appurtenances belonging thereunto, and all goods and
merchandise saved therefrom, including any which may have been cast into the
sea, or the proceeds thereof if sold, as well as all papers found on board
such stranded or wrecked vessel shall be given up to the owners or their
agents when claimed by them. If there are no such owners or agents on the
spot, then the same shall be delivered to the British or Portuguese consular
officer in whose district the wreck or stranding may have taken place, upon
being claimed by him within the period fixed by the laws of the country, and
such consular officer, owners, or agents shall pay only the expenses incurred
in the preservation of the property, together with the salvage or other
expenses which would have been payable in the like case of a wreck of a
national vessel.

The contracting Parties agree, moreover, that merchandise saved shall not be
subjected to the payment of any Customs duty unless cleared for internal
consumption.

In the case either of a vessel being driven in by stress of weather, run
aground, or wrecked, the respective consular officers shall, if the owner or
master or other agent of the owner is not present, or is present and requires
it, be authorised to interpose in order to afford the necessary assistance to
their fellow-countrymen.

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

Limited liability and other companies and associations, commercial,
industrial, and financial, already or hereafter to be organised in accordance
with the laws of either contracting Party and registered in the territories of
such Party, are authorised in the territories of the other to exercise their
rights and appear in the Courts either as plaintiffs or defendants, subject to
the laws of such other Party.

It shall be free to each of the high contracting Parties to appoint
consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, and consular agents to reside in the
towns and ports of the territories of the other. Such consuls-general,
consuls, vice-consuls, and consular agents, however, shall not enter upon
their functions until after they shall have been approved and admitted in the
usual form by the Government to which they are sent.

The consuls and consular agents of each of the contracting Parties, residing
in the territories of the other, shall receive from the local authorities such
assistance as can by law be given to them for the recovery of deserters from
the vessels of their respective countries.

Provided that this stipulation shall not apply to subjects or citizens of the
State in whose territory the desertion takes place.

The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting Parties shall have,
in the territories of the other, the same rights as subjects or citizens of
that State in regard to patents for inventions, trade-marks, and designs, upon
fulfilment of the formalities prescribed by law.

The present treaty shall extend, as regards Portugal, to the mother country
and adjacent islands (Madeira, Porto Santo, and Azores), but shall not extend
to any of the dominions, colonies, possessions, or protectorates of either
contracting Party unless notice of the desire of such contracting Party that
the treaty shall apply to any such dominion, colony, possession, or
protectorate shall have been given to the other contracting Party before the
expiration of one year from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of
the present treaty.

Nevertheless, the goods produced or manufactured in any of His Britannic
Majesty's dominions, colonies, possessions and protectorates shall enjoy in
Portugal complete and unconditional most-favoured-nation treatment so long as
such dominion, colony, possession, or protectorate shall accord to goods the
produce or manufacture of Portugal treatment as favourable as it gives to the
produce or manufacture of any other foreign country; and reciprocally the
goods produced or manufactured in any Portuguese colony or possession shall
enjoy like most-favoured-nation treatment in the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland so long as such colony or possession shall accord to goods
the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom treatment as favourable as it
gives to the produce or manufacture of any other foreign country.

Colonial goods re-exported from the mother country of one of the contracting
Parties shall be treated in the territory of the other as proceeding from that
mother country, and shall therefore be exempt from supertaxes on indirect
trade which may eventually be established.

Any controversy which may arise between the contracting Parties regarding the
interpretation or application of the present treaty, as well as the rates of
the conventional tariffs agreed upon between the contracting Parties and third
States, shall, on the demand of one or other of the contracting Parties, be
adjusted by means of arbitration.

A court of arbitration shall in each case be constituted in the following
manner:

1.Each of the contracting Parties shall name an arbitrator from among the
competent subjects or citizens of the country.

2.The two contracting Parties shall then choose a subject of a third country
to act as umpire.

3.In the event of no agreement being reached as to the umpire, each of the
contracting Parties shall name a candidate of different nationality from those
of the persons proposed under the preceding paragraph. The selection of one of
the two candidates so nominated for the office of umpire shall be decided by
lot, unless the two contracting Parties shall come to an agreement on the
subject. The umpire shall preside at the Court of Arbitration, which shall
decide by a majority of votes. On the first occasion of arbitration the Court
shall sit in the territory of the country decided by lot; in the second case
it shall sit in the territory of the other country; and subsequently
alternately in the territory of the two contracting Parties in a place
selected by the Government of the country where the Court is to meet. The
necessary officers and staff shall be provided for the Court by the Government
of the country in which it meets. Each of the contracting Parties shall be
represented before the Court by one or more agents, who may be assisted by
lawyers.

The proceedings shall be solely in writing, but nevertheless the Court shall
be entitled to require verbal explanations from the agents of the two parties
and to hear experts and witnesses if they shall deem such a course advisable.
The costs of the arbitration shall be divided equally between the two
contracting Parties.

The present treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged
at Lisbon as soon as possible. It shall come into force fifteen days after the
exchange of ratifications, and shall remain binding for a period of ten years.
In case neither of the contracting Parties shall have given notice to the
other twelve months before the date of expiration of this period of their
intention to terminate it, it shall remain in force until the expiration of
one year from the day on which either of the contracting Parties shall have
denounced it.

As regards, however, the dominions, colonies, possessions, and protectorates
which may have adhered to the present treaty in virtue of Article 21, either
of the contracting Parties shall have the right to terminate it separately at
any time on giving twelve months' notice to that effect.

It is understood that the stipulations of the present and of the preceding
article referring to British dominions, colonies, possessions, or
protectorates apply also to the island of Cyprus.

On proceeding to sign the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation concluded this day
between the United Kingdom and Portugal, the undersigned plenipotentiaries
have made the following reservations and declarations which shall form an
integral part of the treaty:

It is understood that the provisions of Article 17 do not affect the right of
either contracting Party to require, by their internal legislation, the prior
consent of the competent local authorities before foreign companies or
associations can institute local branches or agencies for the carrying out of
banking or assurance operations.

It is understood that the provisions of this treaty, which secure in Portugal
most-favoured-nation treatment to British goods and vessels shall not apply to
the special favours which Portugal accords, or may hereafter accord, to the
goods or vessels of Spain or Brazil.

It is understood that this treaty shall not come into force until the sanction
of the British Parliament for Article 6 has been obtained.

The present protocol, which shall be considered as approved and sanctioned by
the contracting Parties, without any other special ratification, by the sole
fact of the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty to which it
appertains, has been drawn up in duplicate at Lisbon, the 12th August, 1914.

The plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty on signing the treaty declares
that the concession by His Majesty's Government in Article 6 is made only in
return for improvement in the Customs treatment of British goods by the
Portuguese Government, and without prejudice to the views of the two
contracting Parties as to the proper interpretation to be placed on Article 4
of the Madrid Convention of the 14th April, 1891.
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Northern Irish Legislation

ANGLO-PORTUGUESE COMMERCIAL TREATY ACT 1914 - SECT 2
