# United States Treaty Series/Volume 1/International exchange of official documents

This is the official United States government version published in the first volume of the United States Treaty Series (Bevans).
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
* Convention signed at Brussels March 15, 1886
* Senate advice and consent to ratification June 18, 1888
* Ratified by the President of the United States July 19, 1888
* Ratifications exchanged at Brussels January 14, 1889
* Entered into force January 14, 1889
* Proclaimed by the President of the United States January 15, 1889
25 Stat. 1465; Treaty Series 381
[translation]
The President of the United States of America, His Majesty the King of the Belgians, His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, His Majesty the King of Italy, His Majesty the King of Portugal and of the Algarves, His Majesty the King of Servia, The Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation, desiring to establish, on the bases adopted by the Conference which met at Brussels from the 10th to the 14th April 1883, a system of international exchanges of the official documents and of the scientific and literary publications of their respective States, have appointed for their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:
The President of the United States of America, Mr. Lambert Tree, Minister Resident of the United States of America at Brussels,
His Majesty the King of the Belgians, The Prince de Caraman, His Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Chevalier de Moreau, His Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Public Works,
His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, The Count de Villeneuve, His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near His Majesty the King of the Belgians,
Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, Mr. de Tavira, Chargé d'Affaires ad-interim of Spain at Brussels,
His Majesty the King of Italy, the Marquis Maffei, His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near His Majesty the King of the Belgians,
His Majesty the King of Portugal and of the Algarves, the Baron de Sant'Anna, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Very Faithful Majesty,
​His Majesty the King of Servia, Mr. Marinovitch, His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near His Majesty the King of the Belgians,
The Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation, Mr. Rivier, its special Plenipotentiary.
Who, after having communicated between themselves their full powers, which are found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
Article 1
There shall be established in each of the contracting States, a bureau charged with the duty of the exchanges.
Article 2
The publications which the contracting States agree to exchange, are the following:
* 1st. The official documents, parliamentary and administrative, which are published in the country of their origin.
* 2nd. The works executed by order and at the expense of the Government.
Article 3
Each bureau shall cause to be printed a list of the publications that it is able to place at the disposal of the contracting States. This list shall be corrected and completed each year and regularly addressed to all the bureaus of exchange.
Article 4
The bureaus of exchange will arrange between themselves the number of copies which they may be able eventually to demand and furnish.
Article 5
The transmissions shall be made directly from bureau to bureau. Uniform models and formulas will be adopted for the memoranda of the contents of the cases, as well as for all the administrative correspondence, requests, acknowledgments of reception, etc.
Article 6
For exterior transmissions, each State assumes the expense of packing and transportation to the place of destination. Nevertheless when the transmissions shall be made by sea, special arrangements will regulate the share of each State in the expense of transportation.
Article 7
The bureaus of exchange will serve, in an officious capacity, as intermediaries between the learned bodies and literary and scientific societies, etc. ​of the contracting States for the reception and transmission of their publications.
It remains however well understood that, in such case, the duty of the bureaus of exchange will be confined to the free transmission of the works exchanged and that these bureaus will not in any manner take the initiative to bring about the establishment of such relations.
Article 8
These provisions apply only to the documents and works published after the date of the present Convention.
Article 9
The States which have not taken part in the present Convention are admitted to adhere to it on their request. This adhesion will be notified diplomatically to the Belgian Government and by that Government to all the other signatory States.
Article 10
The present Convention will be ratified and the ratifications will be exchanged at Brussels, as soon as practicable. It is concluded for ten years, from the day of the exchange of ratifications, and it will remain in force beyond that time, so long as one of the Governments shall not have declared six months in advance that it renounces it.
In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have thereunto affixed their seals.
Done at Brussels in eight copies the 15th of March, 1886.
* [For the United States:]
** Lambert Tree[seal]
* [For Belgium:]
** Pr de Caraman[seal]
** Chvlier D. Moreau[seal]
* [For Brazil:]
** Cte de Villeneuve[seal]
* [For Spain:]
** José Ma de Tavira[seal]
* [For Italy:]
** Maffei[seal]
* [For Portugal:]
** Bon de Sant' Anna[seal]
* [For Serbia:]
** I. Marinovitch[seal]
* [For the Swiss Confederation:]
** Alphonse Rivier[seal]
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse