Evening star., 1927-10-11
CHANGES APPROVED
INCONSULAR RULES
Pan-American ParIey Agrees
to SimpIified and Uniform
Shipping Practices.

CO0Sll
lar practices, the delegates from the
81 Latin American countries today
found themselves in accord on a mum.
ber of changes vitally affecting slip
pers directly concerned in the $5,000,,
000 900 inter-American trade
At the outset of today's proceeding
the conference accepted the proposal
in the agenda declaring that 1.-The re.
quirements and practices of all con.
sular officers of one country with re-
gard to shipping documents should he,
as far as possible, uniform within the
territory of any other given country.
This declaration was deemed neces-
sary because of the total lack of uni
formity at present results not only
IN confusion as to what is actually re-
quired by law and regulations of the
country of destination but also results
in complaints Of discrimination against
particular ports or districts.
Agree to Standardize Time.
The conference then agreed on the
Standardization of the time for the
usual certification of shipping docu-
ments. stipulating that all such docu-
ments should be certified and ready for
delivery to shippers within "a tours
after presentation. A reduction TO a
minimum of the time required for the
certification of shipping documents
was declared an obvious necessity and
convenience to shippers.
Consul General Frederick d. F, Du-
mont. the American delegate, declared
that the United States was not in
terested in the agenda provision for
rapid service to shippers in urgent
cases. American regulations, he eX-
planned, provided for shippers in such
cases and for this reason he with
held his vote on this section. The
delegate from Paraguay also with
held his vote.
The section in question which was
adopted after some discussion pro-
vided that in urgent cases consular
officers should when possible certify
shipping documents in less than the
usual time within office hours upon
the payment of an additional fee not
to exceed S5.
1t was brought out that a large
proportion of the countries have no
provision at present for attending to
emergency cases which often proves
an Inconvenience to shippers.
To avoid confusion and afford the
necessary facilities to the public, the
conference agreed that every effort
should be made by consular officers to
keep the hours of business prevailing
in the commercial centers in which the
Offices are located.
Use of Mails Sanctioned.
Use of the mails by shippers in an
other city in handling shipping docu-
ments also was sanctioned by the con-
ference today.
Very frequently the shipper finds
himself in another city or otherwise at
distance from the consular office of
the country to which he is preparing
a shipment. To save him the neces-
sitY of travelling. to the place where
the consular Office is located, as well
as the expense and loss of time incur
red. the conference decided that the
shipper should be permitted to trans
init documents for certification and
likewise receive them from the consul
lar office on the return mail, provided
the shipper complies with the regula-
tons prescribed by each country for
such services.
With regard to. the action taken
yesterday on the provision affecting
the reduction Of the number OF Ship
ping documents, the conference re-
ferred this matter to drafting com :
mittee with instructions to revise the
work and report recommendation
later. The Peruvian delegate, Ed
uardo Higginson, consul general at
New York, was called away today
on urgent official business. Under
the authority granted him by the Pan
American Union, the Peruvian min
lister appointed Senor ]. Alvarez de
Buenavista, first secretary of the
legation. to succeed him on the com :
mission.
Simplifieation Step Taken.
First steps looking to uniformity
and simplification of consular pro-
cedure throughout the American re-
publics were taken yesterday after
noon, following the opening of the
conference, when it was voted to
recommend that countries not using
consular invoices may continue to
use certificates of origin of mer-
chandise imported for statistical,
sanitary or other purposes, other
countries to combine the certificate
of origin with the consular invoice.
In case of doubt as to the correctness
of the data on the consular invoice
the consul may require the ppesenta-
ton, but not for certiication. of the
consular invoice or other pertinent
documents.
Most of the discussions yesterday
agenda, namely, reduction in the
number of shipping documents re-
quiring consular certificates. 1t was
decided to recommend suppression of
consular certification on bills of lading.
but to allow certification of ships
manifests to continue.
Some sharp differences arose at the
outset, precipitated mainly by Fran
cisco Saustegui, commercial attache
of the Mexican embassy, who insisted
that MeXico's form of invoices, being
simpler than most others. should be
adopted as standard for the other
republics. During the discussion the
Paraguayan delegate, Jose Richling,
consul general at New York. suggest
ed that invoices be eliminated entirely.
Uruguay, Argentina and Costa Rica,
he explained, are getting along very
well without them and their elimina-
ton would end considerable misunder-
standing that now exists.
Two.Thirds Rule Invoked.
At the outset of the conference the
two-thirds rule was invoked for the
adoption of all resolutions and acts of
the proceedings. English and Spanish
were agreed upon as the official Ian.