Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, 1928, Volume I

Unperfected Treaty No. J–10

Convention Regarding the Pan American Union, Signed at Habana, February 20, 1928⁶⁴

Habana, February 20, 1928

Their Excellencies the Presidents of the Republics of Peru, Uruguay, Panama, Ecuador, Mexico, Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, Costa Rica, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Haiti, Dominican Republic, the United States of America and Cuba, through their respective plenipotentiary delegates, have agreed upon the following convention, which shall be signed in the manner provided for in the final article:

The American Republics, whose moral union rests on the juridical equality of the republics of the continent and on the mutual respect of the rights inherent in their complete independence, desirous of promoting efficaciously the increasing conciliation of their economic interests and coordination of their social and intellectual activities, and recognizing that relations between peoples are regulated by law as well as by their legitimate individual and collective interests;

Agree to continue their joint action of cooperation and solidarity by means of periodic meetings of the International Conferences of American States, as well as by means of organs established by virtue of international agreements, and through the Pan American Union which has its seat in Washington and whose organization and functions shall be regulated by the present convention, in the following terms:

Article 1—Organs of the Union of the American States

The Union of the American States strives for the fulfilment of its object through the following organs:

a) The International Conference of American States;

b) The Pan American Union under the direction of a Governing Board with its seat in the city of Washington;

c) Every organ that may be established by virtue of conventions between the American states.

Each state enjoys, as of right, representation at the conferences and on the Governing Board.

Article 2—The International Conferences of American States

The conferences shall meet at periodic intervals. The Governing Board of the Pan American Union shall determine the date on which they shall meet, provided that in no case shall a longer period than five years elapse between conferences, except in case of force majeure.

Article 3—Governing Board

The government of the Pan American Union shall be vested in a Governing Board composed of the representatives that the American governments may appoint. The appointment may devolve upon the diplomatic representatives of the respective countries in Washington.

Besides his own country, a member of the Governing Board may serve as special representative of one or more countries, in which case such representative shall have as many votes as countries represented.

The Board shall elect its Chairman and Vice Chairman annually.

Article 4—Executive Officers

The Governing Board shall appoint the following officers:

A Director General, who shall have charge of the administration of the Pan American Union, with power to promote its most ample development in accordance with the terms of this convention, the regulations and the resolutions of the Board, to which body he shall be responsible.

The Director General shall attend, in an advisory capacity, the meetings of the Governing Board, of the committees appointed by the Board, and of the International Conferences of American States for the purpose of giving such information as may be required. The necessary expenses shall be paid out of the funds of the Pan American Union.

An Assistant Director, who shall act as secretary of the Governing Board.

The Director General shall prepare the internal regulations by which the various divisions of the Pan American Union shall be governed, in accordance with the provisions of the present convention, and shall submit them to the Governing Board for approval.

The Director General shall present to the Governing Board annually, at the regular session of the Board in November, a detailed budget for the ensuing fiscal year.

The Director General shall submit to the consideration of each conference of the American Republics a detailed report on the work carried out by the Pan American Union during the period preceding the meeting of the conference.

The Director General shall appoint, with the approval of the Governing Board, the personnel necessary to the work of the Pan American Union, endeavoring as far as possible to distribute the positions among nationals of the countries members of the Union.

Article 5—Maintenance of the Pan American Union

The Governing Board of the Pan American Union shall determine the quota which is to be paid by each of the governments members of the Union for the maintenance of the Pan American Union. But increases in the budget of the Pan American Union exceeding by more than twenty-five per cent the budget of the preceding year shall be approved by the unanimous vote of the Governing Board, the representatives being given time to consult their respective governments. The quota shall be determined on the basis of the latest official statistics of population in possession of the Pan American Union on the first day of July of each year. The budget shall be communicated to the governments members of the Union before the first day of the ensuing calendar year, with an indication of the quota which each country shall pay, such payments to be made before the first of July of that year.

The Governing Board shall elect from among its members a committee charged with examining, on the dates determined by the Board, the accounts of the expenditures of the Union, in conformity with the provisions established by the regulations and the opinion of three experts to be appointed for the purpose.

Article 6—Functions of the Pan American Union

Both the Governing Board and the Pan American Union shall discharge the duties assigned by this convention subject to the condition that they shall not exercise functions of a political character.

The functions of the Pan American Union are:

1. To compile and distribute information and reports concerning the commercial, industrial, agricultural, social, and educational development as well as the general progress of the American Republics.

2. To compile and classify information referring to the conventions and treaties concluded among the American Republics and between these and other states, as well as to the legislation of the former.

3. To assist in the development of commercial, industrial, agricultural, social, and cultural relations, the study of the problems of labor and the furtherance of a more intimate mutual acquaintance between the American Republics.

4. To act as a Permanent Commission of the International Conferences of American States; to keep their records and archives; to assist in obtaining ratification of the treaties and conventions; to carry out and facilitate the execution of the resolutions adopted by the International Conferences of American States, within the limits of its powers; and to prepare in agreement with the governments the program of the International Conferences of American States, and submit to the conferences a project of regulations.

5. To perform such other functions entrusted to it by the Conference or by the Governing Board, by virtue of the powers conferred upon it by this convention. Whenever a state believes that its vital interests are involved in a question, or that an obligation may thereby be imposed upon it, such state may require that the resolution of the Board be adopted by unanimous vote.

6. The Governing Board may promote the meeting of international conferences of experts to study problems of a technical character of common interest to the countries members of the Union, and to this end may request the governments to appoint experts to represent them at these conferences, which shall meet at the place and time determined by the Board.

To carry out the purposes for which the institution is organized the Governing Board shall provide for the establishment of such administrative divisions or sections within the Pan American Union as it may deem necessary.

Article 7—Deposit and Exchange of Ratifications

The instruments of ratification of the treaties, conventions, protocols, and other diplomatic documents signed at the International Conferences of American States shall be deposited at the Pan American Union by the respective representative on the Governing Board, acting in the name of his government, without need of special credentials for the deposit of the ratification. A record of the deposit of the ratification shall be made in a document signed by the representative on the Board of the ratifying country, by the Director General of the Pan American Union, and by the Secretary of the Governing Board.

The Pan American Union shall communicate to all the states members of the Union, through their representatives on the Board, the deposit of the ratification.

Article 8—Communication of Official Documents to the Pan American Union

The governments of the countries members of the Union shall transmit to the Pan American Union two copies of the official documents and publications which relate to the purposes of the Union, as far as the internal legislation of the respective countries may permit.

Article 9—Cooperation Between Official Pan American Organizations

For the purpose of coordinating the results of the work of other official Pan American organizations, and of establishing relations of close cooperation between them, the program of work and the development of their activities shall, as far as possible, be the subject of agreement between their directive bodies and the Governing Board of the Pan American Union.

The governments members of the Union which may not have an efficient organ for the study and investigation of Pan American affairs, shall establish a committee composed of persons of experience in such matters, or an office attached to the ministry of foreign affairs entrusted with Pan American affairs.

These committees or offices shall have the following duties:

a) To cooperate with their respective governments to obtain ratification of treaties and conventions, and to the carrying out of the agreements adopted by the International Conferences of American States;

b) To furnish the Pan American Union promptly with the information it may need in the preparation of its work;

c) To present to the Union through the proper channels such projects as they may consider useful to the purposes of the Union.

Article 10

The Governing Board of the Pan American Union shall prepare the regulations and fix the status of the members of the staff, determining their salaries and conditions of retirement.

Article 11

All correspondence and matter transmitted through the mails to the Pan American Union, which bears the frank used by the Union, and all correspondence or matter transmitted by the Pan American Union, shall be carried free of charge by the mails of the American Republics.

Article 12

The contracting states may withdraw from the Pan American Union at any time, but shall pay their respective quotas for the period of the current fiscal year.

Article 13

This convention can not be modified except in the same manner in which it was adopted.

Article 14

The present convention shall be ratified by the signatory states, and is open to the signature and ratification of the states represented at the Conference that may not have been able to sign.

The President of the Conference, through the Government of the Republic of Cuba, shall send to the governments represented at the Conference an authenticated copy of the present project of convention in order that, if the governments approve, it may receive their adhesion. For this purpose, the governments that adhere to the convention shall authorize their respective diplomatic or special representatives in the city of Habana to sign the convention. All the states having signed, the convention shall be submitted by each government for ratification.

The present convention shall become effective when all the states represented at the Conference receive notice that all the ratifications have been deposited with the Pan American Union, and that the adhesions and ratifications of the twenty-one American Republics have been received.

In witness whereof, the delegates sign and affix their seals to the present convention.

Perú: Jesús M. Salazar, Víctor M. Maúrtua, Luis Ernesto Denegri, E. Castro Oyanguren.

Uruguay: Varela, Pedro Erasmo Callorda.

Panamá: R. J. Alfaro, Eduardo Chiari.

Ecuador: Gonzalo Zaldumbide, Víctor Zevallos, C. E. Alfaro.

Mexico: Julio García, Fernando Gonzáles Roa, Salvator Urbina, Aquiles Elorduy.

Salvador: J. Gustavo Guerrero, Hector David Castro, Ed. Alvarez.

Guatemala: Carlos Salazar, B. Alvarado, Luis Beltranena, J. Azurdia.

Nicaragua: Carlos Cuadra Pazos, Máximo H. Zepeda, Joaquín Gómez.

Bolivia: José Antezana, A. Costa du R.

Venezuela: Santiago Key Ayala, Francisco G. Yanes, Rafael Angel Arraiz.

Colombia: Enrique Olaya Herrera, R. Gutierrez Lee, J. M. Yepes.

Honduras: F. Dávila, Mariano Vazquez.

Costa Rica: Ricardo Castro Beeche, J. Rafael Oreamuno, A. Tinoco Jimenez.

Chile: Alejandro Lira, Alejandro Alvarez, C. Silva Vildósola, Manuel Bianchi.

Brazil: Raúl Fernandes, Lindolfo Collor.

declaration of the delegation of argentina

The Argentine delegation declares, pursuant to express instructions of its Government, that it approves and will sign the project of convention; but that it now wishes to formulate the reservation that it regrets that the economic principles which it upheld in the committee have not been included in this convention.

Argentina: Laurentino Olascoaga, Felipe A. Espil, Carlos Alberto Alcorta.

Paraguay: Lisandro Días León, Juan Vicente Ramírez.

Haiti: Fernando Dennis.

Dominican Republic: Fraco. J. Peynado, Tulio M. Cestero, Jacinto R. de Castro, Elías Brache, R. Pérez Alfonseca.

United States of America: Charles Evans Hughes, Noble Brandon Judah, Henry P. Fletcher, Oscar W. Underwood, Morgan J. O’Brien, James Brown Scott, Ray Lyman Wilbur, Leo S. Rowe.

Cuba: Antonio S. de Bustamante, Orestes Ferrara, E. Hernández, Cartaya, Arístides de Agüero Bethencourt, M. Márquez Sterling, Néstor Carbonell.

64. Contained in the final act signed Feb. 20, 1928. Ratification advised by the Senate, Feb. 28, 1931 (legislative day of Feb. 17, 1931); ratified by the President, Mar. 6, 1931; ratification of the United States deposited with the Pan American Union, Mar. 18, 1931. Convention not yet in force, since it requires ratification by all the Governments of the Pan American Union before entry into force.