TREATY OF COMMERCE BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE REPUBLIC OF BOLIVIA 1 Signed at La Paz, August 1, 1911; ratifications exchanged, July 5, 1912 His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, and His Excellency the President of the Republic of Bolivia, being desirous to extend and facilitate the relations already existing between the two countries, have determined to conclude a treaty with this object, and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say: His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India: Cecil William Gustaf Gosling, Esquire, His Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary, Minister Plenipotentiary, and Consul General to the Republic of Bolivia; His Excellency the President of the Republic of Bolivia: Doctor Claudio Pinilla, Member of the Permanent Tribunal of Arbitration at The Hague, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE 1 There shall be between the dominions and possessions of the two high contracting parties reciprocal freedom of commerce. The subjects or citizens of each of the two parties shall have liberty freely to come to all places in the dominions and possessions of the other to which native subjects or citizens generally are or may be permitted to come, and shall enjoy respectively the same rights, privileges, liberties, favors, immunities and exemptions in matters of commerce as are or may be enjoyed by native subjects or citizens generally, without having to pay any tax or impost greater than those paid by the same, and they shall be subject to the laws and regulations in force. ARTICLE 2 No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed on the importation into the dominions and possessions of His Britannic Majesty of any 1 Great Britain, Treaty Series, 1912, No. 17. article the produce or manufacture of the Republic of Bolivia, from whatever place arriving, and no other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed on the importation into Bolivia of any article the produce or manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's dominions and possessions, from whatever place arriving, than on the like articles produced or manufactured in any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition or restriction be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of either of the high contracting parties into the dominions and possessions 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. This last provision is not applicable to the sanitary and other prohibitions occasioned by the necessity of securing the safety of persons or of cattle or of plants useful to agriculture. ARTICLE 3 No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed in the dominions and possessions of either of the high contracting parties on the exportation of any article to the dominions and possessions of the other, than such as are or may be payable on the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the exportation of any article from the dominions and possessions of either of the two high contracting parties to the dominions and possessions of the other, which shall not equally extend to the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country. ARTICLE 4 The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting parties shall enjoy, in the dominions and possessions of the other, perfect equality of treatment with the native subjects or citizens or subjects or citizens of the most favored nation in all that relates to exemption from transit duties, warehousing, bounties, facilities, and drawbacks. ARTICLE 5 The high contracting parties agree that, in all matters relating to commerce and industry, any privilege, favor, or immunity whatever. which either high contracting party has actually granted or may here after grant to any other foreign state shall be extended immediately and unconditionally to the subjects or citizens of the other contracting party; it being their intention that the commerce and industry of each country shall be placed, in all respects, by the other on the footing of the most favored nation. ARTICLE 6 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 dominions and possessions 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. They shall enjoy all the faculties, privileges, exemptions, and immunities of every kind which are or shall be granted to consuls of the most favored nation. ARTICLE 7 The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting parties who shall conform to the laws of the country 1. Shall have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the dominions and possessions of the other high contracting party. 2. They shall be permitted to hire or possess the houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises which may be necessary for them. 3. They may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ. 4. They shall not be subject in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of passports, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, or to imposts or obligations of any kind whatever other or greater than those which are or may be imposed upon native subjects or citizens, or subjects or citizens of the most favored nation. ARTICLE 8 British subjects in Bolivia and Bolivian citizens in the United Kingdom will be exempted from all service, both in the army and navy and in the national guard or militia, as well as from the obligation to accept judicial, administrative or political duties and positions. Exception to the preceding rule is made in the case of municipal functions, which they may discharge without loss of nationality (retaining therefore, in their entirety, the qualities and condition of foreigners), and of those which according to law may be imposed in regard to juries. ARTICLE 9 The subjects and citizens of the high contracting parties will also be exempt from all extraordinary war contributions, from forced loans, and from all military requisitions or services whatsoever. In all other cases their property whether personal or real, cannot be subjected to any other charges or impost than those which are or may be required of natives or of the subjects or citizens of the most favored nation. ARTICLE 10 The high contracting parties agree that during the period of existence. of this treaty they mutually abstain from diplomatic intervention in cases of claims or complaints on the part of private individuals affecting civil or criminal matters in respect of which legal remedies are provided. They reserve however the right to exercise such intervention in any case in which there may be evidence of delay in legal or judicial proceedings, denial of justice, failure to give effect to a sentence obtained in his favor by one of their nationals or violation of the principles of international law. ARTICLE 11 The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting parties in the dominions and possessions of the other shall be at full liberty to exercise civil rights, and therefore to acquire, possess, and dispose of every description of property, movable and immovable. They may acquire and transmit the same to others whether by purchase, sale, donation, exchange, marriage, testament, succession ab intestato, and in any other manner, under the same conditions as national subjects or citizens. Their heirs may succeed to and take possession of it, either in person or by procurators, in the same legal forms and in the same manner as subjects or citizens of the country. In none of these respects shall they pay upon the value of such property any other or higher impost, duty, or charge than is or shall be payable by subjects or citizens of the country. In every case the subjects or citizens of the high contracting parties shall be permitted to export their property, or the proceeds thereof if sold, freely and without being subjected on such exportation to pay any duty different from that to which subjects or citizens of the country are or shall be liable under similar circumstances. ARTICLE 12 The dwellings, manufactories, warehouses, and shops of the subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting parties in the dominions and possessions of the other, and all premises appertaining thereto destined for purposes of residence or commerce shall be respected. It shall not be allowable to make a search of, or a domiciliary visit to, such dwellings and premises, or to examine or inspect books, papers, or accounts, except under the conditions and with the forms prescribed by the laws for subjects or citizens of the country, or of the most favored nation. The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting parties in the dominions and possessions of the other shall have free access to the courts of justice for the prosecution and defence of their rights, without other conditions, restrictions, or taxes beyond those imposed on native subjects or citizens; they shall enjoy the same treatment as native subjects or citizens in all that concerns deposits, sureties, and fees in legal cases and shall, in the same manner as native subjects or citizens, be at liberty to employ, in all causes, their advocates, attorneys, or agents from among the persons admitted to the exercise of those professions according to the laws of the country. ARTICLE 13 The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting parties shall have in the dominions and possessions of the other the same rights as native subjects or citizens in regard to patents for invention, trademarks, and designs, upon fulfillment of the formalities prescribed by law. ARTICLE 14 The stipulations contained in this treaty shall not apply to cases in which the Government of the Republic of Bolivia may accord special favors, exemptions, and privileges to the citizens or products of conterminous states in the matters of commerce. Such favors cannot be claimed on behalf of Great Britain on the ground |