ARTICLE XV

The provisions of the present Convention shall not prejudice in any way the right of a Contracting State to inspect, restrict, or prohibit, in accordance with its domestic laws, the publication, reproduction, circulation, representation, or exhibition of such works as it considers contrary to public policy.

ARTICLE XVI

1. Each Contracting State shall transmit to the other Contracting States and to the Pan American Union, at regular intervals, official lists, in card or book form, of copyrighted works, assignments thereof, and licenses for their use, which have been registered or otherwise officially made of record in its appropriate office by nationals or domiciled aliens. Such lists shall not require complementary authentication or certification.

2. Regulations for the exchange of such information shall be formulated by representatives of the Contracting States in a special meeting called by the Pan American Union.

3. The said regulations shall be communicated to the respective Governments of the Contracting States by the Pan American Union and will become operative between the Contracting States which approve them.

4. Neither the foregoing provisions of this Article nor the regulations adopted pursuant thereto shall be considered as constituting a requisite to protection under the present Convention.

5. Official signed statements issued by the appropriate offices, on the basis of the lists referred to above, shall, in the Contracting States, have legal force as evidence of the facts contained in the said statements, subject to proof to the contrary.

ARTICLE XVII

1. The present Convention shall replace between the Contracting States the Convention on Literary and Artistic Property signed at Buenos Aires on August 11, 1910, the revision of that Convention signed at Habana on February 18, 1928, and all earlier inter-American conventions on copyright, but shall not affect rights acquired under those Conventions.

2. No liability shall attach under the provisions of the present Convention for lawful uses made or acts done in a Contracting State in connection with any literary, scientific, or artistic work prior to the date such work became entitled to protection in that State under the provisions of the present Convention; or in respect to the continuance in that State of any utilization lawfully undertaken prior to such date involving expenditure or contractual obligation in connection with the

exploitation, production, reproduction, circulation, or performance of any such work.

ARTICLE XVIII

The original of the present Convention in the English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French languages shall be deposited with the Pan American Union and opened for signature by the Governments of the American States. The Pan American Union shall transmit certified copies to the Governments for the purpose of ratification.

ARTICLE XIX

The present Convention shall be ratified by the Signatory States in conformity with their respective constitutional procedures. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Pan American Union, which shall notify the Governments of the Signatory States of said deposit. Such notification shall be considered as an exchange of ratifications.

ARTICLE XX

The present Convention shall come into force, with respect to the States which have deposited their respective instruments of ratification, as soon as two of the Signatory States have deposited said instruments. The Convention shall enter into force with respect to each of the remaining Signatory States on the date of the deposit of its instrument of ratification.

ARTICLE XXI

The present Convention shall remain in effect indefinitely, but may be denounced by any of the Contracting States by means of one year's advance notice to the Pan American Union, which shall transmit a copy of the notice to each of the other Signatory Governments. After the expiration of this period of one year, the Convention shall cease in its effect as regards the State which denounces it, but shall remain in effect for the remaining States.

The denunciation of the present Convention shall not affect the rights acquired in conformity with the provisions thereof before the date of the expiration of this Convention with respect to the State which denounces it.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, having deposited their full powers found to be in good and due form, sign the present Convention in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French on the dates which appear opposite their respective signatures.

[Here follow the signatures.]

ANNEX B

Final Act of the Inter-American Conference of Experts on Copyright, Pan American Union, June 1-22, 1946

THE Inter-American Conference of Experts on Copyright met at the Pan American Union in Washington from June 1 to 22, 1946, at the invitation of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, for the purpose of concluding an inter-American agreement on copyright in accordance with Resolution XXXIX of the Eighth International Conference of American States.

In response to the invitation extended to them the Governments of the American Republics appointed the following delegations, which appear in the order of precedence as determined by lot:

PAN AMERICAN UNION

Dr. Pedro de Alba

Mr. Manuel S. Canyes

Representative
Representative

The sessions of the Conference were conducted in accordance with the regulations that had been drawn up and approved by the Governing Board of the Pan American Union.

The opening session was held on June 1st, under the provisional presidency of His Excellency, Señor Dr. Guillermo Sevilla Sacasa, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, and delegate of Nicaragua to the Conference, who delivered an address of welcome on behalf of the Union. The Hon. Ellis O. Briggs, Director of the Office of American Republic Affairs of the Department of State, welcomed the delegates on behalf of the Government of the United States. The response to these addresses was made on behalf of the delegates by Dr. L. Neftalí Ponce, Chairman of the Delegation of Ecuador and Vice-President of the Conference. At this session Dr. Guillermo Sevilla Sacasa was elected permanent President of the Conference.

A Committee on Credentials was appointed composed of the following delegates: His Excellency Dr. Julián R. Cáceres, Delegate of Honduras, Chairman; His Excellency Dr. Rodolfo García Arias, Delegate of Argentina; Dr. Natalio Chediak, Delegate of Cuba.

A Committee to coordinate the conclusions of the Conference in the four official languages was also appointed, composed of the following members: Dr. Antonio Rocha, of Colombia, Chairman; Mr. Charles I. Bevans, of the United States; Dr. Hermano Duval Sérgio Ferreira, of Brazil; and Dr. Dantès Bellegarde, of Haiti.

The Drafting Committee was composed of Dr. Juan Bautista de Lavalle, Peru, Chairman; Dr. Antonio Rocha, Colombia; and Dr. Julián R. Cáceres, Honduras.

It was agreed that the Conference should meet as a Committee of the Whole with the appointment of such subcommittees as the work of the Conference might require. To this end a Subcommittee on the Coordination of Projects was appointed composed of delegates from the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, United States and Uruguay. Honorable Luther H. Evans, Delegate of the United States, was elected Chairman of this Subcommittee and Dr. Germán Fernández del Castillo, Delegate of Mexico, was elected Rapporteur, and acted as alternate Chairman of the Subcommittee.

The Subcommittee on the Coordination of Projects in turn named a Technical Subcommittee to facilitate its work, composed of Delegates from the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecua