INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY 5 Czechoslovakia By a note dated January 12, 1932, the Swiss Chargé d'Affaires ad interim at Washington informed the Secretary of State that the Government of Czechoslovakia gave notice to the Swiss Federal Council of the adherence of Czechoslovakia, effective March 3, 1933, to the convention for the protection of industrial property of March 20, 1883, revised at The Hague November 6, 1925. ARRANGEMENT CONCERNING THE INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION OF TRADE-MARKS ARRANGEMENT CONCERNING THE SUPPRESSION OF FALSE INDICATIONS OF ORIGIN Czechoslovakia The above-mentioned note also informed the Secretary of State of the adherence by the Government of Czechoslovakia, effective March 3, 1933, to the arrangements concerning the international registration of trade-marks and the suppression of false indications of origin of goods, signed at Madrid April 14, 1891. LABOR CERTAIN CONVENTIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR CONFERENCE Mexico In a despatch dated January 26, 1933, the American Ambassador to Mexico informed the Secretary of State that, by virtue of a number of presidential decrees, previously authorized by the Senate, which were promulgated by its President on January 2, 1933, Mexico became party to the following conventions: Convention concerning workmen's compensation for accidents, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its seventh session on June 10, 1925. Convention concerning equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its seventh session on June 5, 1925. Convention concerning seamen's articles of agreement, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its ninth session on June 24, 1926. 'See Bulletin No. 28, January, 1932, p. 20. Convention concerning the creation of minimum-wage fixing machinery, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its eleventh session on June 16, 1928. Convention concerning the marking of the weight on heavy packages transported by vessels, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its twelfth session, on June 21, 1929. Convention concerning the protection against accidents of workers employed in loading or unloading ships, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its twelfth session, on June 21, 1929. Convention concerning forced or compulsory labor, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its fourteenth session on June 28, 1930. Convention concerning the regulation of hours of work in commerce and offices, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its fourteenth session on June 28, 1930. Protocol relative to amendment of Article 393 of the Versailles Treaty, and of the corresponding Articles in other Peace Treaties, at the Fourth Session of the International Labor Conference, Geneva, November 2, 1922. CONVENTION CONCERNING THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN DURING THE NIGHT There is quoted below communiqué No. 717 (Unofficial) dated November 15, 1932, from the Permanent Court of International Justice: On November 15th, 1932, the Permanent Court of International Justice delivered its Advisory Opinion on the following question. which had been submitted to it by the Council of the League of Nations at the request of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office: "Does the Convention concerning employment of women during the night, adopted in 1919 by the International Labour Conference, apply, in the industrial undertakings covered by the said Convention, to women who hold positions of supervision or management and are not ordinarily engaged in manual work?" By six votes against five (Baron Rolin Jaequemyns, Count Rostworowski, MM. Fromageot, Anzilotti and Schücking) the Court answered this question in the affirmative. M. Anzilotti has subjoined to the Opinion of the Court a dissenting opinion; the other Judges who were not in agreement with the Opinion have contented themselves with adding a statement of their dissent. The opinion adopted by the Court is in line with the point of view argued before it by the British Government, as also by the great labour organisations whose views it had desired to hear; on the other hand, the German Government had submitted arguments in an opposite sense. The question submitted to the Court had its origin in a difficulty which the British Government had encountered, for several years past, in the application of Article 3 of the Convention in question; that Article is worded as follows: "Women without distinction of age shall not be employed during the night in any public or private industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof, other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed." The British Government regarded this provision as applying to all women, without exception, employed in industry, but at the same time, they considered that an exception ought to be made in favour of women occupying posts of supervision or management. They therefore proposed that the Convention should be revised in that sense; as it proved impossible to obtain agreement upon this revision-for one reason because the terms of the Convention were interpreted in very different ways by the different States-the British Government took steps to have an Advisory Opinion obtained from the Court. As was particularly emphasised in the statements before the Court, this request for an Opinion is of special importance, because the Opinion of the Court will determine the rules to be applied, generally, in interpreting labour conventions concluded under the auspices of the International Labour Organization. The doctrine of the Court on this subject is contained in the following passage of its Opinion of November 15: "The wording of Article 3, considered by itself, gives rise to no difficulty; it is general in its terms and free from ambiguity or obscurity. It prohibits the employment during the night in industrial establishments of women without distinction of age. Taken by itself, it necessarily applies to the categories of women contemplated by the question submitted to the Court. If, therefore, Article 3 of the Washington Convention is to be interpreted in such a way as not to apply to women holding posts of supervision and management and not ordinarily engaged in manual work it is necessary to find some valid ground for interpreting the provision otherwise than in accordance with the natural sense of the words ". Having laid down this principle and having noted that there is nothing in the provisions of the Convention of Washington, other than Article 3, which would be inconsistent with the terms of the latter article, the Court examines and rejects certain arguments which have been put forward to show that the natural meaning of the Article might be disregarded. The first of these arguments is to the effect that the Washington Convention on the employment of women during the night, being a labour convention in the sense of the "Labour" portions of the Peace Treaties of 1919, ought to be interpreted as applicable solely to manual workers, for the reason that the chief object of the Labour portions of the said Treaties was the improvement of the lot of the manual workers. The next argument is that the circumstances in which the Convention was adopted at Washington furnish adequate grounds for restricting its application to women engaged in manual work, more especially because the Convention of Washington was merely an extension and application of the Berne Convention of 1906, an instrument which was concerned solely with women performing manual work. Lastly, there was the argument that the Convention of Washington does not cover women occupying posts of management, because in 1919 such cases were very few in number, and therefore were not under consideration. The Court was struck with the confident opinions expressed by several persons who have expert knowledge of the subject, in particular at the International Labour Conferences to the effect that the Convention only applied to working-women, properly so-called. In connection with this argument-and in that connection only-the Court examined the preparatory work of the Convention, and it reached the conclusion that the preparatory work does not give sufficient support to the opinion just alluded to. On the contrary, in the Court's view, the preparatory work confirms its opinion that there is no good reason for interpreting the Article otherwise than in accordance with the natural meaning of the words. The Court further finds this conclusion corroborated by a comparison of the terms of the Convention concerning Employment of Women during the Night and the Convention drawn up at Washington in 1919 and usually known as the "Eight-Hour Day Convention". NAVIGATION INTERNATIONAL LOAD LINE CONVENTION 6 In conformity with article 19, chapter IV of the international load line convention, effective January 1, 1933, which article provides that contracting governments shall communicate to each other laws, decrees, regulations, and reports within the scope of the convention, the Department of State forwarded to the American Ambassador to Great Britain for transmission to the British Foreign Office for the information of the other contracting governments, copies of the following: Regulations for the establishment of load lines for merchant vessels of 250 gross tons or over when engaged in a foreign Voyage by sea. General Letter 320, dated December 22, 1932, amending the regulations for the establishment of lead lines for merchant vessels of 250 gross tons or over when engaged in a foreign voyage by sea to conform to the provisions of the international load line convention, 1930. International load line certificate forms numbered 142 (Nav.), 143 (Nav.), and 144 (Nav.), issued under the authority of the United States of America, Department of Commerce, under the provisions of the international load line convention, 1930. Mexico In a despatch dated January 26, 1933, the American Ambassador to Mexico informed the Secretary of State that by a presidential See Bulletin No. 37, October, 1932, p. 13. decree, previously passed by the Senate, promulgated by its President on January 2, 1933, Mexico became a party to the international load line convention, signed July 5, 1930. STATISTICS INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION RELATING TO ECONOMIC STATISTICS RESERVATIONS MADE BY THE NETHERLANDS IN RESPECT OF THE NETHERLAND INDIES 7 Cuba; Denmark; Norway; Sweden; Union of South Africa According to communications dated December 29, 1932, and January 6, 12, and 21, 1933, and February 2, 1933, from the SecretaryGeneral of the League of Nations, the Governments of Cuba, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Union of South Africa have notified the Secretariat that they have no objection to the reservations which the Netherland Government desires to make to render applicable to the Netherland Indies the international convention relating to economic statistics of December 14, 1928. 'See Bulletin No. 40, January, 1933, p. 30. |