By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas a Convention between the United States of America and His Majesty the King of the Hellenes, defining the rights, privileges, and immunities of consular officers in the two countries, was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotentiaries at Athens, on the 19th/2nd, day of November,/December, one thousand nine hundred and two, the original of which Convention, being in the English and Greek languages is, as amended by the Senate of the United States, word for word as follows:
convention concerning the rights and privileges of consuls.
The President of the United States of America and His Majesty the King of the Hellenes, being mutually desirous of defining the rights, privileges and immunities of consular offices in the two Countries, deem it expedient to conclude a consular convention for that purpose, and have accordingly named as their Plenipotentiaries:
- The President of the United States of America, Charles S. Francis, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of the Hellenes.
- His Majesty the King of the Hellenes, Alexander Th. Zaïmis, Commander of the Royal Order of the Saviour, etc., President of His Council, His Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:
Article I.
Each of the high contracting parties agrees to receive from the other, consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents in all [Page 566] its ports, cities and places, except those where it may not be convenient to recognize such officers. This reservation, however, shall not apply to one of the high contracting parties without also applying to every other power.
Article II.
The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents of the two high contracting parties shall enjoy reciprocally, in the states of the other, all the privileges, exemptions and immunities that are enjoyed by officers of the same rank and quality of the most favored nation. The said officers, before being admitted to the exercise of their functions and the enjoyment of the immunities thereto pertaining, shall present their commissions in the forms established in their respective countries. The government of each of the two high contracting powers shall furnish them the necessary exequatur free of charge, and, on the exhibition of this instrument, they shall be permitted to enjoy the rights, privileges and immunities granted by this convention.
Article III.
Consuls-General, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents, citizens of the State by which they are appointed, shall be exempt from preliminary arrest, except in the case of offences which the local legislation qualifies as crimes and punishes as such; they shall be exempt from military billetings, from service in the regular army or navy, in the militia, or in the national guard; they shall likewise be exempt from all direct taxes, national, state or municipal, unless such taxes become due on account of the possession of real estate, or for interest on capital invested in the country where the said officers exercise their functions. This exemption shall not, however, apply to consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls or consular agents engaged in any profession, business or trade; but said officers shall in such case be subject to the payment of the same taxes as would be paid by any other foreigner under the like circumstances.
Article IV.
When a court of one of the two countries shall desire to receive the judicial declaration or deposition of a consul-general, consul, vice-consul or consular agent, who is a citizen of the State which appointed him and who is engaged in no commercial business, it shall request him, in writing, to appear before it; and in case of his inability to do so, it shall request him to give his testimony in writing, or shall visit his residence or office to obtain it orally.
It shall be the duty of such officer to comply with this request with as little delay as possible.
In all criminal cases the appearance in court of said consular officer shall be demanded, with all possible regard to the consular dignity and to the duties of his office.
It shall be the duty of said consular officer to comply with this request, without any delay which can be avoided. Nothing in the foregoing part of this article, however, shall be construed to conflict with the provisions of the sixth article of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, or with like provisions in the constitutions [Page 567] of the several States, whereby the right is secured to persons charged with crime, to obtain witnesses in their favor, and to be confronted with the witnesses against them.
Article V.
Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents may place over the outer door of their offices the arms of their nation, with this inscription: Consulate-General, or Consulate, or Vice-Consulate, or Consular Agency of the United States or of Greece.
They may also raise the flag of their country on their offices. They may in like manner, raise the flag of their country over the boat employed by them in the port for the exercise of their functions.
Article VI.
The consular offices shall at all times be inviolable. The local authorities shall not, under any pretext, invade them. In no case shall they examine or seize the papers there deposited. In no case shall those offices be used as places of asylum. When a consular officer is engaged in other business the papers relating to the consulate shall be kept separate.
Article VII.
In the event of the death, incapacity or absence of consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents, their chancellors or secretaries, whose official character may have previouly been made known to the Department of State at Washington or to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Greece, may temporarily exercise their functions, and while thus acting they shall enjoy all the rights, prerogatives and immunities granted to the incumbents.
Article VIII.
Consuls-general and consuls may, so far as the laws of their country allow, with the approbation of their respective governments, appoint vice-consuls and consular agents in the cities, ports and places within their consular jurisdiction.
These agents may be selected from among citizens of the United States or of Greece, or those of other countries. They shall be furnished with a regular commission, and shall enjoy the privileges stipulated for consular officers in this convention, subject to the exceptions specified in articles 3 and 4.
Article IX.
Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents shall have the right to address the administrative and judicial authorities, whether in the United States of the Union, the States or the municipalities, or in Greece, of the State, throughout the whole extent of their consular jurisdiction, in order to complain of any infraction of the treaties and conventions between the United States and Greece, and for the purpose of protecting the rights and interests of their countrymen. If the complaint should not be satisfactorily redressed, the consular [Page 568] officers aforesaid, in the absence of a diplomatic agent of their country, may apply directly to the government of the country where they exercise their functions.
Article X.
Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents may take at their offices, at their private residence, at the residence of the parties, or on board ship the depositions of the captains and crews of vessels of their own country, of passengers on board of them, and of any other citizen of their nation. They may also receive at their offices, conformably to the laws and regulations of their country, all contracts between the citizens of their country and the citizens or other inhabitants of the country where they reside, and even all contracts between the latter, provided they relate to property situated, or to business to be transacted, in the territory of the nation to which the said consular officer may belong.
Such papers and official documents, whether in the original, in copies or in translation, duly authenticated and legalized by the consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents, and sealed with their official seal, shall be received as legal documents in courts of justice throughout the United States and Greece.
Article XI.
In the case of the death of any citizen of the United States in Greece, or of a Greek subject in the United States, without having any known heirs or testamentary executors by him appointed, the competent local authorities shall give information of the circumstance to the consular officers of the nation to which the deceased belongs, in order that the necessary information may be immediately forwarded to the parties interested.
In all that relates to the administration and settlement of estates, the consular officers of the high contracting parties shall have the same rights and privileges as those accorded in the United States of America and Greece, respectively, to the consular officers of the most favored nation.
Article XII.
Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents shall have exclusive charge of the internal order of the merchant vessels of their nation and shall alone take cognizance of differences which may arise either at sea or in port between the captains, officers and crews, without exception, particularly in reference to the adjustment of wages and the execution of contracts.
In case any discord should happen on board of vessels of either party, in the territory or waters of the other, neither the Federal, State or Municipal Authorities or Courts in the United States, nor any Court or Authority in Greece, shall on any pretext interfere except when the said disorders are of sucha nature as to cause or to be likely to cause a breach of the peace or serious trouble in the port or on shore; or when, in such trouble or breach of the peace, a person or persons shall be implicated, not forming a part of the crew.
In any other case, said Federal, State or Municipal Authorities or Courts in the United States, or Courts or Authorities in Greece, shall [Page 569] not interfere but shall render forcible aid to consular officers, when they may ask it, to search, arrest and imprison all persons composing the crew, whom they may deem it necessary to confine. Those persons shall be arrested at the sole request of the consuls addressed in writing to either the Federal, State or Municipal Courts or Authorities in the United States, or to any Court or Authority in Greece, and supported by an official extract from the register of the ship or the list of the crew, and the prisoners shall be held, during the whole time of their stay in the port, at the disposal of the consular officers. Their release shall be granted at the mere request of such officers made in writing. The expenses of the arrest and detention of those persons, shall be paid by the consular officers.
Article XIII
The said consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents are authorized to require the assistance of the local authorities for the arrest, detention and imprisonment of the deserters from the ships of war and merchant vessels of their country; and for this purpose they shall apply to the competent tribunals, judges and officers and shall, in writing, demand said deserters, proving by the exhibition of the registers of the vessels, the rolls of the crews, or by other official documents, that such individuals formed part of the crews, and on this reclamation being thus substantiated the surrender shall not be refused. Such deserters, when arrested, shall be placed at the disposal of the said consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents, and may be confined in the public prisons at the request and cost of those who claim them, in order to be sent to the vessels to which they belonged, or to others of the same country. But if not sent back within the space of two months, reckoning from the day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty, and shall not again be arrested for the same cause.
It is understood, however, that if the deserter should be found to have committed any crime or offence, his surrender may be delayed until the tribunal before which the case shall be depending shall have pronounced its sentence, and such sentence shall have been carried into effect.
Article XIV
In the absence of an agreement to the contrary, between the owners, freighters and insurers, all damages suffered at sea, by the vessels of the two countries, whether they enter the respective ports voluntarily or are forced by stress of weather or other cause, over which the officers have no control, shall be settled by the consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents of the country in which they respectively reside; in case, however, any citizen of the country in which the said officers reside, or subjects of a third power, should be interested in these damages, and the parties cannot come to an amicable agreement, the competent local authorities shall decide.
Article XV
All operations relative to salvage of United States vessels wrecked upon the coasts of Greece, and of Greek vessels upon the coasts of [Page 570] the United States, shall be directed by the respective consuls-general, consuls, and vice-consuls of the two countries, and until their arrival, by the respective consular agents, where consular agencies exist.
In places and ports where there is no such agency, the local authorities shall give immediate notice of the shipwreck to the consul of the district in which the disaster has taken place, and until the arrival of the said consul, they shall take all necessary measures for the protection of persons and the preservation of property.
The local authorities shall intervene only to preserve order, and to protect the interests of the salvors, if they do not belong to the crew of the wrecked vessel, and to secure the execution of the arrangements made for the entry and exportation of the merchandise saved. It is understood that such merchandise is not to be subjected to any customhouse charges unless it be intended for consumption in the country in which the wreck took place.
Article XVI
Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents shall be at liberty to go, either in person or by proxy, on board vessels of their nation admitted to entry and to examine the officers and crews, to examine the ship’s papers, to receive declarations concerning their voyage, their destination and the incidents of the voyage; also to draw up manifests and lists of freight, to facilitate the entry and clearance of their vessels, and finally to accompany the said officers or crews before the judicial or administrative authorities of the country, to assist them as their interpreters or agents.
The judicial authorities and custom-house officials shall in no case proceed to the examination or search of merchant vessels without having given previous notice to the consular officers of the nation to which the said vessels belong, in order to enable the said consular officers to be present.
They shall also give due notice to the said consular officers, in order to enable them to be present at any depositions or statements to be made in courts of law or before local magistrates, by officers or persons belonging to the crew, thus to prevent errors or false interpretations which might impede the correct administration of justice. The notice to consuls, vice-consuls or consular agents shall name the hour fixed for such proceedings. Upon the non-appearance of the said officers or their representatives, the case may be proceeded with in their absence.
Article XVII
The present convention shall remain in force for the space of ten years, counting from the day of the exchange of the ratifications, which shall be made in conformity with the respective constitutions of the two countries and exchanged at Athens as soon as possible.
In case neither party gives notice, twelve months before the expiration of the said period of ten years, of its intention not to renew this convention, it shall remain in force one year longer, and so on from year to year, until the expiration of a year from the day on which one of the parties shall have given such notice.
This convention abrogates articles 12, 13 and 14 of the treaty of Commerce and Navigation concluded between the United States of [Page 571] America and Greece at London, December 10th/22d, 1837, the remaining articles of such treaty continuing in force.
In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed this convention in duplicate and have hereunto affixed their seals.
Done at Athens the 19th/2d day of November/December 1902
Charles S. Francis. (seal)
Alexander Th. Zaïmis. (seal)
And whereas the said Convention, as amended by the Senate of the United States, has been duly ratified on both parts, and the ratifications of the two governments were exchanged in the City of Athens, on the ninth day of July, one thousand nine hundred and three;
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Convention to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof, as amended, may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.
By the President:
John Hay
Secretary of State.