ARTICLE 10

Under reservation of the conventions which may subsequently be made, the provisions of this convention do not affect in any way the law in force in each country with regard to the limitation of shipowner's liability, nor do they affect the legal obligations arising from contracts of carriage or from any other contract.

ARTICLE 11

This convention does not apply to ships of war or to government ships appropriated exclusively to a public service.

ARTICLE 12

The provisions of this convention shall be applied as regards all persons interested when all the vessels concerned in any action belong to contracting states and in any other cases for which thenational laws provide.

Provided always that:

1. As regards persons interested who belong to a noncontracting state, the application of the above provisions may be made conditional upon reciprocity.

2. Where all the persons interested belong to the same state as the court trying the case, the provisions of the national law and not of the convention are applicable.

ARTICLE 13

This convention extends to the making good of damages which a vessel has caused to another vessel or to goods or persons on board either vessel, either by the execution or nonexecution of a maneuver or by the nonobservance of the regulations even if no collision has actually taken place.

ARTICLE 14

Any one of the high contracting parties shall have the right, three years after this convention comes into force, to call for a fresh conference, with a view to seeking such ameliorations as may be brought therein, and particularly with a view to extending, if possible, the sphere of its application.

Any power exercising this right must notify its intention to the other powers through the Belgian Government, which will see to the convening of the conference within six months.

ARTICLE 15

States which have not signed this convention are allowed to adhere to it on request. Such adhesion shall be notified through the diplo

matic channel to the Belgian Government, and by that Government to each of the other Governments; it shall become effective one month after the sending of the notification by the Belgian Government.

ARTICLE 16

This convention shall be ratified.

After an interval of at most one year from the day on which the convention is signed the Belgian Government shall place itself in communication with the Governments of the high contracting parties which have declared themselves prepared to ratify it, with a view to deciding whether it is expedient to put it into force.

The ratifications shall, if so decided, be deposited forthwith at Brussels, and the convention shall come into force a month afterwards.

The protocol shall remain open another year in favor of the states represented at the Brussels conference. After this interval they can only adhere to it on conforming to the provisions of article 15.

ARTICLE 17

In the case of one or other of the high contracting parties denouncing the convention, such denunciation shall not take effect until a year after the day on which it has been notified to the Belgian Government, and the convention shall remain in force as between the other contracting parties.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLE

Notwithstanding anything in the provisions of article 16, it is agreed that it shall not be obligatory to give effect to the provisions of article 5, establishing liability in cases where the collision is caused by the fault of a compulsory pilot, until the high contracting parties shall have arrived at an agreement on the subject of the limitation of liability of shipowners.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the plenipotentiaries of the several high contracting parties have signed this convention and have affixed their seals hereto.

DRAWN up at Brussels, in a single copy, the 23d September, 1910.

For the United States of Mexico:
ENRIQUE OLARTE

VICTOR MANUEL CASTILLO

For Nicaragua:

LÉON VALLEZ

For Norway:
HAGERUP

CHR. TH. BOE

For the Netherlands:

P. R. A. MELVILL VAN CARNBEE

MOLENGRAAFF

LODER

C. D. ASSER

For Portugal:

A. D. DE OLIVEIRA SOARES

For Roumania:

T. G. DJUVARA

For Russia:

C. NABOKOFF

For Sweden:

ALBERT EHRENSVARD

EINAR LANGE

For Uruguay:

LUIS GARABELLI

PROTOCOL OF SIGNATURE

At the moment of proceeding to sign the conventions for the rendering uniform of certain rules in the matter of collisions and of maritime assistance and salvage, concluded on this date, the undersigned plenipotentiaries have agreed to the following:

The provisions of said conventions will be applicable to the colonies and possessions of the contracting powers, subject to the following

reservations:

ARTICLE 1

The German Government declares that it reserves the right to decide with regard to the colonies. It reserves the right, with respect to each of them separately, to accede to and denounce the conventions.

ARTICLE 2

The Danish Government declares that it reserves the right to accede to and denounce said conventions with respect to Iceland and the Danish colonies and possessions separately.

ARTICLE 3

The Government of the United States of America declares that it reserves the right to accede to and denounce said conventions with respect to the insular possessions of the United States of America.

ARTICLE 4

The Government of His Britannic Majesty declares that it reserves the right to accede to and denounce said conventions with respect to each of the British colonies, protectorates, and territories separately, as well as with respect to the island of Cyprus.

ARTICLE 5

The Italian Government reserves the right to accede subsequently to the conventions with respect to the Italian dependencies and colonies.

ARTICLE 6

The Government of the Netherlands reserves the right to accede subsequently to the conventions with respect to the Dutch colonies and possessions.

ARTICLE 7

The Portuguese Government declares that it reserves the right to accede subsequently to the conventions with respect to the Portuguese colonies.

These accessions may be notified either by means of a general declaration comprising all the colonies and possessions or by special declarations. With regard to the accessions and denunciations, the procedure prescribed in the two conventions of this date will be followed if necessary. It is understood, however, that the said accessions may also be embodied in the record of the ratifications.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned plenipotentiaries have drawn up the present protocol, which shall have the same force and value as if its provisions were inserted in the text of the conventions to which they relate.

DONE at Brussels, in a single copy, September 23, 1910.