Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye/Part IX

by the Allied and Associated Powers and Austria

Part IX—Financial Clauses

Article 197

Subject to such exceptions as the Reparation Commission may make, the first charge upon all the assets and revenues of Austria shall be the cost of reparation and all other costs arising under the present Treaty or any treaties or agreements supplementary thereto, or under arrangements concluded between Austria and the Allied and Associated Powers during the Armistice signed on 3 November 1918.

Up to 1 May 1921, the Austrian Government shall not export or dispose of, and shall forbid the export or disposal of, gold without the previous approval of the Allied and Associated Powers acting through the Reparation Commission.

Article 198

There shall be paid by the Government of Austria the total cost of all armies of the Allied and Associated Governments occupying territory within the boundaries of Austria as defined by the present Treaty from the date of the signature of the Armistice of 3 November 1918, including the keep of men and beasts, lodging and billeting, pay and allowances, salaries and wages, bedding, heating, lighting, clothing, equipment, harness and saddlery, armament and rolling-stock, air services, treatment of sick and wounded, veterinary and remount services, transport services of all sorts (such as by rail, sea or river, motor-lorries), communications and correspondence, and, in general, the cost of all administrative or technical services the working of which is necessary for the training of troops and for keeping their numbers up to strength and preserving their military efficiency.

The cost of such liabilities under the above heads, so far as they relate to purchases or requisitions by the Allied and Associated Governments in the occupied territory, shall be paid by the Austrian Government to the Allied and Associated Governments in crowns or any legal currency of Austria which may be substituted for crowns at the current or agreed rate of exchange.

All other of the above costs shall be paid in the currency of the country to which the payment is due.

Article 199

Austria confirms the surrender of all material handed over or to be handed over to the Allied and Associated Powers in accordance with the Armistice of 3 November 1918, and subsequent Armistice Agreements, and recognises the title of the Allied and Associated Powers to such material.

There shall be credited to Austria, against the sums due from her to the Allied and Associated Powers for reparation, the value, as assessed by the Reparation Commission, of such of the above material for which, as having non-military value, credit should, in the judgment of the Reparation Commission, be allowed to Austria.

Property belonging to the Allied and Associated Governments or their nationals restored or surrendered under the Armistice Agreements in specie shall not be credited to Austria.

Article 200

The priority of the charges established by Article 197 shall, subject to the qualifications made in the last paragraph of this Article, be as follows:

(a) the cost of the armies of occupation, as defined under Article 198, during the Armistice;

(b) the cost of any armies of occupation, as defined under Article 198, after the coming into force of the present Treaty;

(c) the cost of reparation arising out of the present Treaty or any treaties or conventions supplementary thereto;

(d) the cost of all other obligations incumbent on Austria under the Armistice Conventions or under this Treaty or any treaties or conventions supplementary thereto.

The payment for such supplies of food and raw material for Austria and such other payments as may be judged by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers to be essential to enable Austria to meet her obligations in respect of reparation shall have priority to the extent and upon the conditions which have been or may be determined by the Governments of the said Powers.

Article 201

The right of each of the Allied and Associated Powers to dispose of enemy assets and property within its jurisdiction at the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty is not affected by the foregoing provisions.

Article 202

Nothing in the foregoing provisions shall prejudice in any manner charges or mortgages lawfully effected in favour of the Allied and Associated Powers or their nationals respectively before the date at which a state of war existed between Austria-Hungary and the Allied or Associated Power concerned by the former Austrian Government or by nationals of the former Austrian Empire on assets in their ownership at that date, except in so far as variations of such charges or mortgages are specifically provided for under the terms of the present Treaty or any treaties or agreements supplementary thereto.

Article 203

1. Each of the States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is transferred, and each of the States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy, including Austria, shall assume responsibility for a portion of the debt of the former Austrian Government which is specifically secured on railways, salt mines or other property, and which was in existence on 28 July 1914. The portion to be so assumed by each State shall be such portion as in the opinion of the Reparation Commission represents the secured debt in respect of the railways, salt mines and other properties transferred to that State under the terms of the present Treaty or any treaties or agreements supplementary thereto.

The amount of the liability in respect of secured debt so assumed by each State, other than Austria, shall be valued by the Reparation Commission, on such basis as the Commission may consider equitable, and the value so ascertained shall be deducted from the amount payable by the State in question to Austria in respect of property of the former or existing Austrian Government which the State acquires with the territory. Each State shall be solely responsible in respect of that portion of the secured debt for which it assumes responsibility under the terms of this Article, and holders of the debt for which responsibility is assumed by States other than Austria shall have no recourse against the Government of any other State.

Any property which was specifically pledged to secure any debt referred to in this Article shall remain specifically pledged to secure the new debt. But in case the property so pledged is situated as the result of the present Treaty in more than one State, that portion of the property which is situated in a particular State shall constitute the security only for that part of the debt which is apportioned to that State, and not for any other part of the debt.

For the purposes of the present Article there shall be regarded as secured debt payments due by the former Austrian Government in connection with the purchase of railways or similar property; the distribution of the liability for such payments will be determined by the Reparation Commission in the same manner as in the case of secured debt.

Debts for which the responsibility is transferred under the terms of this Article shall be expressed in terms of the currency of the State assuming the responsibility, if the original debt was expressed in terms of Austro-Hungarian paper currency. For the purposes of this conversion the currency of the assuming State shall be valued in terms of Austro-Hungarian paper kronen at the rate at which those kronen were exchanged into the currency of the assuming State by that State when it first substituted its own currency for Austro-Hungarian kronen. The basis of this conversion of the currency unit in which the bonds are expressed shall be subject to the approval of the Reparation Commission, which shall, if it thinks fit, require the State effecting the conversion to modify the terms thereof. Such modification shall only be required if, in the opinion of the Commission, the foreign exchange value of the currency unit or units substituted for the currency unit in which the old bonds are expressed is substantially less at the date of the conversion than the foreign exchange value of the original currency unit.

If the original Austrian debt was expressed in terms of a foreign currency or foreign currencies, the new debt shall be expressed in terms of the same currency or currencies.

If the original Austrian debt was expressed in terms of Austro-Hungarian gold coin, the new debt shall be expressed in terms of equivalent amounts of pounds sterling and gold dollars of the United States of America, the equivalents being calculated on the basis of the weight and the fineness of gold of the three coins as enacted by law on 1 January 1914.

Any foreign exchange options, whether at fixed rates or otherwise, embodied explicitly or implicitly in the old bonds shall be embodied in the new bonds also.

2. Each of the States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is transferred, and each of the States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy, including Austria, shall assume responsibility for a portion of the unsecured bonded debt of the former Austrian Government which was in existence on 28 July 1914, calculated on the basis of the ratio between the average for the three financial years 1911, 1912, 1913, of such revenues of the distributed territory and the average for the same years of such revenues of the whole of the former Austrian territories as in the judgment of the Reparation Commission are best calculated to represent the financial capacity of the respective territories. In making the above calculation the revenues of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall not be included.

The responsibilities in respect of bonded debt to be assumed under the terms of this Article shall be discharged in the manner laid down in the Annex hereto.

The Austrian Government shall be solely responsible for all the liabilities of the former Austrian Government incurred prior to 28 July 1914, other than those evidenced by the bonds, bills, securities and currency notes which are specifically provided for under the terms of the present Treaty.

Neither the provisions of this Article nor the provisions of the Annex hereto shall apply to securities of the former Austrian Government deposited with the Austro-Hungarian Bank as security for the currency notes issued by that bank.

Annex [to Part IX, Article 203]

The amount of the former unsecured Austrian Government bonded debt, the responsibility for which is to be distributed under the provisions of Article 203, shall be the amount of that debt as it stood on 28 July 1914, after deducting that portion which represents the liability of the former Hungarian Government for that debt as provided by the additional Convention relating to the contribution of the countries of the Sacred Hungarian Crown to the charges of the general debt of Austria-Hungary approved by the Austro-Hungarian Law of 30 December 1907, B.L.I. No. 278.

Each State assuming responsibility for the old unsecured Austrian Government debt shall, within three months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, if it has not already done so, stamp with the stamp of its own Government all the bonds of that debt existing in its own territory. The distinguishing numbers of the bonds so stamped shall be recorded and shall be furnished, together with the other records of the stamping, to the Reparation Commission.

Holders of bonds within the territory of a State which is required to stamp old Austrian bonds under the terms of this Annex shall, from the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty, be creditors in respect of these bonds of that State only, and they shall have no recourse against the Government of any other State.

Each State which, under the terms of Article 203, is required to assume responsibility for a portion of the old unsecured Austrian Government debt, and which has ascertained by means of stamping the old Austrian bonds that the bonds of any particular issue of such old Austrian Bonds held within its territory were smaller in amount than the amount of that issue for which, in accordance with the assessment of the Reparation Commission, it is held responsible, shall deliver to the Reparation Commission new bonds equal in amount to the difference between the amount of the issue for which it is responsible and the amount of the same issue recorded as held within its own territory. Such new bonds shall be of such denominations as the Reparation Commission may require. They shall carry the same rights as regards interest and amortisation as the old bonds for which they are substituted, and in all other respects the conditions of the new bonds shall be fixed subject to the approval of the Reparation Commission.

If the original bond was expressed in terms of Austro-Hungarian paper currency, the new bond by which it is replaced shall be expressed in terms of the currency of the State issuing the new bond, and for the purpose of this currency conversion, the currency of the new State shall be valued in terms of Austro-Hungarian paper kronen at the rate at which those kronen were exchanged for the currency of the new State by that State when it first substituted its own currency for Austro-Hungarian paper kronen. The basis of this conversion of the currency unit in which the bonds are expressed shall be subject to the approval of the Reparation Commission, which shall, if it thinks fit, require the State effecting the conversion to modify the terms thereof. Such modification shall only be required if, in the opinion of the Commission, the foreign exchange value of the currency unit or units substituted for the currency unit in which the old bonds are expressed is substantially less at the date of the conversion than the foreign exchange value of the original currency unit.

If the original bond was expressed in terms of a foreign currency or foreign currencies, the new bond shall be expressed in terms of the same currency or currencies. If the original bond was expressed in terms of Austro-Hungarian gold coin, the new bond shall he expressed in terms of equivalent amounts of pounds sterling and gold dollars of the United States of America, the equivalents being calculated on the basis of the weight and fineness of gold of the three coins as enacted by law on 1 January 1914.

Any foreign exchange options, whether at fixed rates or otherwise, embodied explicitly or implicitly in the old bonds shall be embodied in the new bonds also.

Each State which under the terms of Article 203 is required to assume responsibility for a portion of the old unsecured Austrian Government Debt, which has ascertained by means of stamping the old Austrian bonds that the bonds of any particular issue, of such old Austrian bonds held within its territory were larger in amount than the amount of that issue for which it is held responsible in accordance with the assessment of the Reparation Commission, shall receive from the Reparation Commission its due proportionate share of each of the new issues of bonds issued in accordance with the provisions of this Annex.

Holders of unsecured bonds of the old Austrian Government Debt held outside the boundaries of the States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is transferred, or of States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy, including Austria, shall deliver through the agency of their respective Governments to the Reparation Commission the bonds which they hold, and in exchange therefor the Reparation Commission shall deliver to them certificates entitling them to their due proportionate share of each of the new issues of bonds corresponding to and issued in exchange for their surrendered bonds under the provisions of this Annex.

The share of each State or private holder entitled to a share in any new issue of bonds issued in accordance with the provisions of this Annex shall bear such proportion to the total amount of bonds of that new issue as the holding of the State or private owner in question of the old issue of bonds bears to the total amount of the old issue presented to the Reparation Commission for exchange into new bonds in accordance with the provisions of this Annex. Each such participating State or private holder will also be entitled to its or his due proportionate share of the new bonds issued under the terms of the Treaty with Hungary in exchange for that portion of the former Austrian Government debt for which Hungary accepted liability under the additional Convention of 1907.

The Reparation Commission shall, if it think fit, arrange with the holders of the new bonds provided for by this Annex a consolidation loan of each debtor State, the bonds of which loan shall be substituted for the various different issues of new bonds on such terms as may be agreed upon by the Commission and the bondholders.

The State assuming liability for any bond of the former Austrian Government shall assume any liability attaching to the bond in respect of unpaid coupons or sinking fund instalments accrued since the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty.

Article 204

1. In case the new boundaries of any States, as laid down by the present Treaty, shall divide any local area which was a single unit for borrowing purposes and which had a legally constituted public debt, such debt shall be divided between the new divisions of the area in a proportion to be determined by the Reparation Commission in accordance with the principles laid down for the reapportionment of Government debts under Article 203, and the responsibility so assumed shall be discharged in such manner as the Reparation Commission shall determine.

2. The public debt of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be regarded as the debt of a local area and not as part of the public debt of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Article 205

Within two months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, each one of the States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is transferred and each one of the States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy, including Austria, shall, if it has not already done so, stamp with the stamp of its own Government the securities of various kinds which are separately provided for, representing the bonded war debt of the former Austrian Government as legally constituted prior to 27 October 1918, and existing in their respective territories.

The securities thus stamped shall be withdrawn and replaced by certificates, their distinguishing numbers shall be recorded, and any securities withdrawn, together with the documents recording the transaction, shall be sent to the Reparation Commission.

The stamping and replacement of a security by a certificate under the provisions of this Article shall not imply that the State so stamping and replacing a security thereby assumes or recognises any obligation in respect of it, unless the State in question desires that the stamping and replacement should have this implication.

The aforementioned States, with the exception of Austria, shall be free from any obligation in respect of the war debt of the former Austrian Government, wherever that debt may be held, but neither the Governments of those States nor their nationals shall have recourse under any circumstances whatever against any other States, including Austria, in respected the war debt bonds of which they or their nationals are the beneficial owners.

The war debt of the former Austrian Government which was prior to the signature of the present Treaty in the beneficial ownership of nationals or Governments of States other than those to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is assigned shall be a charge upon the Government of Austria only, and no one of the other States aforementioned shall be held responsible for any part thereof.

The provisions of this Article shall not apply to the securities of the former Austrian Government deposited by that Government with the Austro-Hungarian Bank as security for the currency notes of the said bank.

The existing Austrian Government shall be solely responsible for all the liabilities of the former Austrian Government incurred during the war, other than those evidenced by the bonds, bills, securities and currency notes which are specifically provided for under the terms of the present Treaty.

Article 206

1. Within two months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, each one of the States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is transferred, and each one of the States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy, including Austria and the present Hungary, shall, if it has not already done so, stamp with the stamp of its own Government the currency notes of the Austro-Hungarian Bank existing in its territory.

2. Within twelve months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, each one of the States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is transferred, and each one of the States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy, including Austria and the present Hungary, shall replace, as it may think fit, the stamped notes referred to above by its own or a new currency.

3. The Governments of such States as have already converted the currency notes of the Austro-Hungarian Bank by stamping or by the issue of their own or a new currency, and in carrying out this operation have withdrawn, without stamping them, a portion or all of the currency notes circulating in their territory, shall either stamp the notes so withdrawn or hold them at the disposal of the Reparation Commission.

4. Within fourteen months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, those Governments which have replaced notes of the bank by their own or new currency, in accordance with the provisions of this Article, shall transfer to the Reparation Commission all the notes, stamped or unstamped, of the bank which have been withdrawn in the course of this replacement.

5. All notes transferred to the Reparation Commission under the provisions of this Article shall be dealt with by that Commission in accordance with the provisions of the Annex hereto.

6. The Austro-Hungarian Bank shall be liquidated as from the day succeeding the day of the signature of this Treaty.

7. The liquidation shall be conducted by receivers specially appointed for that purpose by the Reparation Commission. In conducting the liquidation of the bank, the receivers shall follow the rules laid down in the Statutes or other valid instruments regulating the constitution of the bank, subject, however, to the special provisions of this Article. In the case of any doubt arising as to the interpretation of the rules concerning the liquidation of the bank, whether laid down in these Articles and Annexes or in the Statutes of the bank, the decision of the Reparation Commission or any arbitrator appointed by it for that purpose shall be final.

8. The currency notes issued by the bank subsequent to 27 October 1918 shall have a claim on the securities issued by the Austrian and Hungarian Governments, both former and existing, and deposited with the bank by those Governments as security for these notes, but they shall not have a claim on any other assets of the bank.

9. The currency notes issued by the bank on or prior to 27 October 1918, in so far as they are entitled to rank at all in conformity with this Article, shall all rank equally as claims against all the assets of the bank, other than the Austrian and Hungarian Government securities deposited as security for the various note issues.

10. The securities deposited by the Austrian and Hungarian Governments, both former and existing, with the bank as security for the currency notes issued on or prior to 27 October 1918, shall be cancelled in so far as they represent the notes converted in the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy as it existed on 28 July 1914 by States to which territory of that Monarchy is transferred or by States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy, including Austria and the present Hungary.

11. The remainder of the securities deposited by the Austrian and Hungarian Governments, both former and existing, with the bank as security for the currency notes issued on or prior to 27 October 1918 shall be retained in force as security for, and in so far as they represent, the notes issued on or prior to 27 October 1918, which on 15 June 1919 were outside the limits of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy as it existed on 28 July 1914, that is to say, firstly, all notes of this description which are presented to the Reparation Commission in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article, and secondly all notes of this description which may be held elsewhere and are presented to the receivers of the bank in accordance with the Annex hereto.

12. No claims on account of any other currency notes issued on or prior to 27 October 1918 shall rank either against the general assets of the bank or against the securities deposited by the Austrian and Hungarian Governments, both former and existing, as security for the notes, and any balance of such securities remaining after the amount of securities mentioned in paragraphs 10 and 11 has been calculated and deducted shall be cancelled.

13. All securities deposited by the Austrian and Hungarian Governments, both former and existing, with the bank as security for currency note issues and which are maintained in force shall be the obligations respectively of the Governments of Austria and the present Hungary only and not of any other States.

14. The holders of currency notes of the Austro-Hungarian Bank shall have no recourse against the Governments of Austria or the present Hungary or any other Government in respect of any loss which they may suffer as the result of the liquidation of the bank.

Annex [to Part IX, Article 206]

1. The respective Governments, when transmitting to the Reparation Commission all the currency notes of the Austro-Hungarian Bank withdrawn by them from circulation in accordance with the terms of Article 206, shall also deliver to the Commission all the records showing the nature and amounts of the conversions which they have effected.

2. The Reparation Commission, after examining the records, shall deliver to the said Governments separate certificates stating the total amount of currency notes which the Governments have converted:

(a) within the limits of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy as it existed on 28 July 1914;

(b) elsewhere.

These certificates will entitle the bearer to lodge a claim with the receivers of the bank for currency notes thus converted which are entitled to share in the assets of the bank.

3. After the liquidation of the bank is completed, the Reparation Commission shall destroy the notes thus withdrawn.

4. No notes issued on or prior to 27 October 1918, wherever they may be held, will rank as claims against the bank unless they are presented through the Government of the country in which they are held.

Article 207

Each one of the States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is transferred, and each one of the States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy, including Austria, shall deal as it thinks fit with the petty or token coinage of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy existing in its territory.

No such State shall have any recourse, under any circumstances, on behalf either of itself or of its nationals, against any other State with regard to such petty or token coinage.

Article 208

States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is transferred and States arising from the dismemberment of that Monarchy shall acquire all property and possessions situated within their territories belonging to the former or existing Austrian Government.

For the purposes of this Article, the property and possessions of the former or existing Austrian Government shall be deemed to include the property of the former Austrian Empire and the interests of that Empire in the joint property of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, as well as all the property of the Crown, and the private property of members of the former Royal Family of Austria-Hungary.

These States shall, however, have no claim to any property of the former or existing Government of Austria situated outside their own respective territories.

The value of such property and possessions acquired by States other than Austria shall be fixed by the Reparation Commission and placed by that Commission to the credit of Austria and to the debit of the State acquiring such property on account of the sums due for reparation. The Reparation Commission shall deduct from the value of the public property thus acquired an amount proportionate to the contribution in money, land or material made directly by any province or commune or other autonomous local authority towards the cost of such property.

Without prejudice to Article 203 relating to secured Debt, in the case of each State acquiring property under the provisions of this Article, the amount placed to the credit of Austria and to the debit of the said State in accordance with the preceding paragraph shall be reduced by the value of the amount of the liability in respect of the unsecured Debt of the former Austrian Government assumed by that State under the provisions of Article 203 which, in the opinion of the Reparation Commission, represents expenditure upon the property so acquired. The value shall be fixed by the Reparation Commission on such basis as the Commission may consider equitable.

Property of the former and existing Austrian Governments shall be deemed to include a share of the real property in Bosnia-Herzegovina of all descriptions for which, under Article 5 of the Convention of 26 February 1909, the Government of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy paid [sterling]T2,500,000 to the Ottoman Government. Such share shall be proportionate to the share which the former Austrian Empire contributed to the above payment, and the value of this share, as assessed by the Reparation Commission, shall be credited to Austria on account of reparation.

As exception to the above, there shall be transferred without payment:

(1) the property and possessions of provinces, communes and other local autonomous institutions of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, including those in Bosnia-Herzegovina which did not belong to the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy;

(2) Schools and hospitals the property of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy;

(3) forests which belonged to the former Kingdom of Poland.

Further, any building or other property situated in the respective territories transferred to the States referred to in the first paragraph whose principal value lies in its historic interest and associations, and which formerly belonged to the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Ragusa, the Venetian Republic or the Episcopal Principalities of Trient and Bressanone, may, subject to the approval of the Reparation Commission, be transferred to the Government entitled thereto without payment.

Article 209

Austria renounces, so far as she is concerned, all rights accorded to her or her nationals by treaties, conventions or agreements, of whatsoever kind, to representation upon or participation in the control or administration of commissions, State banks, agencies or other financial or economic organisations of an international character exercising powers of control or administration and operating in any of the Allied or Associated States, or in Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey, or in the dependencies of these States, or in the former Russian Empire.

Article 210

1. The Austrian Government agrees to deliver within one month from the coming into force of the present Treaty to such authority as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers may designate the sum in gold deposited in the Austro-Hungarian Bank in the name of the Council of the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt as security for the first issue of Turkish Government currency notes.

2. Without prejudice to Article 244, Part X (Economic Clauses), of the present Treaty, Austria renounces, so far as she is concerned, any benefit disclosed by the Treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk, and by the Treaties supplementary thereto.

Austria undertakes to transfer either to Roumania or to the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, as the case may be, all monetary instruments, specie, securities and negotiable instruments or goods which she has received under the aforesaid treaties.

3. The sums of money and all securities, instruments and goods, of whatsoever nature, to be delivered, paid or transferred under the provisions of this Article, shall be disposed of by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers in a manner hereafter to be determined by those Powers.

4. Austria recognises any transfer of gold provided for by Article 259(5) of the Treaty of Peace concluded at Versailles on 28 June 1919 between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany, and any transfer of claims provided for by Article 261 of that Treaty.

Article 211

Without prejudice to the renunciation of any rights by Austria on behalf of herself or of her nationals in the other provisions of the present Treaty, the Reparation Commission may, within one year from the coming into force of the present Treaty, demand that Austria become possessed of any rights and interests of her nationals in any public utility undertaking or in any concession operating in Russia, Turkey, Germany, Hungary or Bulgaria, or in the possessions or dependencies of these States, or in any territory formerly belonging to Austria or her allies to be transferred by Austria or her allies to any State, or to be administered by a mandatory under any Treaty entered into with the Allied and Associated Powers, and may require that the Austrian Government transfer, within six months of the date of demand, to the Reparation Commission all such rights and interests and any similar rights and interests owned by the former or existing Austrian Government.

Austria shall be responsible for indemnifying her nationals so dispossessed, and the Reparation Commission shall credit Austria, on account of sums due for reparation, with such sums in respect of the value of the transferred rights and interests as may be assessed by the Reparation Commission, and Austria shall, within six months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, communicate to the Reparation Commission all such rights and interests, whether already granted, contingent or not yet exercised, and shall renounce on behalf of herself and her nationals in favour of the Allied and Associated Powers all such rights and interests which have not been so communicated.

Article 212

Austria undertakes to refrain from preventing or impeding such acquisition by the German, Hungarian, Bulgarian or Turkish Governments of any rights and interests of German, Hungarian, Bulgarian or Turkish nationals in public utility undertakings or concessions operating in Austria as may be required by the Reparation Commission under the terms of the Treaties of Peace or supplementary treaties or conventions concluded between the Allied and Associated Powers and the German, Hungarian, Bulgarian or Turkish Governments respectively.

Article 213

Austria undertakes to transfer to the Allied and Associated Powers all claims in favour of the former or existing Austrian Governments to payment or reparation by the Governments of Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey, and in particular all claims which may arise now or hereafter in the fulfilment of undertakings made after 28 July 1914 until the coming into force of the present Treaty.

The value of such claims shall be assessed by the Reparation Commission, and shall be transferred to the Reparation Commission for the credit of Austria on account of the sums due for reparation,

Article 214

Any monetary obligation arising out of the present Treaty and expressed in terms of gold kronen shall, unless some other arrangement is specifically provided for in any particular case under the terms of this Treaty or of treaties or conventions supplementary thereto, be payable at the option of the creditors in pounds sterling payable in London, gold dollars of the United States of America payable in New York, gold francs payable in Paris, or gold lire payable in Rome.

For the purposes of this Article, the gold coins mentioned above shall be defined as being of the weight and fineness of gold as enacted by law on 1 January 1914.

Article 215

Any financial adjustments, such as those relating to any banking and insurance companies, savings banks, postal savings banks, land banks, mortgage companies or other similar institutions, operating within the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, necessitated by the partition of that Monarchy and the resettlement of public debts and currency provided for by these Articles, shall be regulated by agreement between the various Governments concerned in such a manner as shall best secure equitable treatment to all the parties interested. In case the Governments concerned are unable to come to an agreement on any question arising out of this financial adjustment, or in case any Government is of opinion that its nationals have not received equitable treatment, the Reparation Commission shall, on the application of any one of the Governments concerned, appoint an arbitrator or arbitrators, whose decision shall be final.

Article 216

The Government of Austria shall be under no liability in respect of civil or military pensions granted to nationals of the former Austrian Empire who have been recognised as nationals of other States or who become so under the provisions of the present Treaty.