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

by the Allied and Associated Powers and Austria

Part XII—Ports, Waterways and Railways

Section I. General Provisions

Article 284

Austria undertakes to grant freedom of transit through her territories on the routes most convenient for international transit, either by rail, navigable waterway or canal, to persons, goods, vessels, carriages, wagons and mails coming from or going to the territories of any of the Allied and Associated Powers, whether contiguous or not.

Such persons, goods, vessels, carriages, wagons and mails shall not be subjected to any transit duty or to any undue delays or restriction, and shall be entitled in Austria to national treatment as regards charges, facilities and all other matters.

Goods in transit shall be exempt from all customs or other similar duties.

All charges imposed on transport in transit shall be reasonable, having regard to the conditions of the traffic. No charge, facility or restriction shall depend directly or indirectly on the ownership or on the nationality of the ship or other means of transport on which any part of the through journey has been, or is to be accomplished.

Article 285

Austria undertakes neither to impose nor to maintain any control over trans-migration traffic through her territories beyond measures necessary to ensure that passengers are bona fide in transit; nor to allow any shipping company or any other private body, corporation or person interested in the traffic to take any part whatever in, or to exercise any direct or indirect influence over any administrative service that may be necessary for this purpose.

Article 286

Austria undertakes to make no discrimination or preference, direct or indirect, in the duties, charges and prohibitions relating to importations into or exportations from her territories, or, subject to the special engagements contained in the present Treaty, in the charges and conditions of transport of goods or persons entering or leaving her territories based on the frontier crossed; or on the kind, ownership or flag of the means of transport (including aircraft) employed; or on the original or immediate place of departure of the vessel, wagon or aircraft or other means of transport employed, or its ultimate or intermediate destination; or on the route of or places of transhipment on the journey; or on whether the goods are imported or exported directly through an Austrian port or indirectly through a foreign port; or on whether the goods are imported or exported by land or by air.

Austria particularly undertakes not to establish against the ports and vessels of any of the Allied and Associated Powers any surtax or any direct or indirect bounty for export or import by Austrian ports or ships, or by those of another Power, for example, by means of combined tariffs. She further undertakes that persons or goods passing through a port or using a vessel of any of the Allied and Associated Powers shall not be subjected to any formality or delay whatever to which such persons or goods would not be subjected if they passed through an Austrian port or a port of any other Power, or used an Austrian vessel or a vessel of any other Power.

Article 287

All necessary administrative and technical measures shall be taken to expedite, as much as possible, the transmission of goods across the Austrian frontiers and to ensure their forwarding and transport from such frontiers, irrespective of whether such goods are coming from or going to the territories of the Allied and Associated Powers or are in transit from or to those territories, under the same material conditions in such matters as rapidity of carriage and care en route as are enjoyed by other goods of the same kind carried on Austrian territory under similar conditions of transport.

In particular, the transport of perishable goods shall be promptly and regularly carried out, and the customs formalities shall be effected in such a way as to allow the goods to be carried straight through by trains which make connection.

Article 288

The seaports of the Allied and Associated Powers are entitled to all favours and to all reduced tariffs granted on Austrian railways or navigable waterways for the benefit of any port of another Power.

Article 289

Austria may not refuse to participate in the tariffs or combinations of tariffs intended to secure for ports of any of the Allied and Associated Powers advantages similar to those granted by Austria to the ports of any other Power.

Section II. Navigation

Chapter 1. Freedom of navigation

Article 290

The nationals of any of the Allied and Associated Powers as well as their vessels and property shall enjoy in all Austrian ports and on the inland navigation routes of Austria the same treatment in all respects as Austrian nationals, vessels and property.

In particular the vessels of any one of the Allied or Associated Powers shall be entitled to transport goods of any description, and passengers, to or from any ports or places in Austrian territory to which Austrian vessels may have access, under conditions which shall not be more onerous than those applied in the case of national vessels; they shall be treated on a footing of equality with national vessels as regards port and harbour facilities and charges of every description, including facilities for stationing, loading and unloading, and duties and charges of tonnage, harbour, pilotage, lighthouse, quarantine, and all analogous duties and charges of whatsoever nature, levied in the name of or for the profit of the Government, public functionaries, private individuals, corporations or establishments of any kind.

In the event of Austria granting a preferential regime to any of the Allied or Associated Powers or to any other foreign Power, this regime shall be extended immediately and unconditionally to all the Allied and Associated Powers.

There shall be no impediment to the movement of persons or vessels other than those arising from prescriptions concerning customs, police, sanitation, emigration and immigration, and those relating to the import and export of prohibited goods. Such regulations must be reasonable and uniform and must not impede traffic unnecessarily.

Chapter 2. Clauses relating to the Danube

1. General clauses relating to river systems declared international

Article 291

The following river is declared international: the Danube from Ulm; together with all navigable parts of this river system which naturally provide more than one State with access to the sea, with or without transhipment from one vessel to another, as well as the portion of the course of the Morava (March) and the Thaya (Theiss) forming the frontier between Czecho-Slovakia and Austria, and lateral canals and channels constructed either to duplicate or to improve naturally navigable sections of the specified river system or to connect two naturally navigable sections of the same river.

The same shall apply to the Rhine-Danube navigable waterway, should such a waterway be constructed, under the conditions laid down in Article 308.

Any part of the abovementioned river system which is not included in the general definition may be declared international by an agreement between the riparian States.

Article 292

On the waterways declared to be international in the preceding Article, the nationals, property and flags of all Powers shall be treated on a footing of perfect equality, no distinction being made, to the detriment of the nationals, property or flag of any Power, between them and the nationals, property or flag of the riparian State itself or of the most-favoured nation.

Article 293

Austrian vessels shall not be entitled to carry passengers or goods by regular services between the ports of any Allied or Associated Power, without special authority from such Power.

Article 294

Where such charges are not precluded by any existing convention, charge varying on different sections of a river may be levied on vessels using the navigable channels or their approaches, provided that they are intended solely to cover equitably the cost of maintaining in a navigable condition, or of improving, the river and its approaches, or to meet expenditure incurred in the interests of navigation. The schedule of such charges shall be calculated on the basis of such expenditure and shall be posted up in the ports. These charges shall be levied in such a manner as to render any detailed examination of cargoes unnecessary, except in cases of suspected fraud or contravention.

Article 295

The transit of vessels, passengers and goods on these waterways shall be effected in accordance with the general conditions prescribed for transit in Section I above

When the two banks of an international river are within the same State, goods in transit may be placed under seal or in the custody of customs agents. When the river forms a frontier, goods and passengers in transit shall be exempt from all customs formalities; the loading and unloading of goods, and the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers, shall only take place in the ports specified by the riparian State.

Article 296

No dues of any kind other than those provided for in this Part shall be levied along the course or at the mouth of these waterways.

This provision shall not prevent the fixing by the riparian States of customs, local octroi or consumption duties, or the creation of reasonable and uniform charges levied in the ports, in accordance with public tariffs, for the use of cranes, elevators, quays, warehouses and other similar constructions.

Article 297

In default of any special organisation for carrying out the works connected with the upkeep and improvement of the international portion of a navigable system, each riparian State shall be bound to take the necessary measures to remove any obstacle or danger to navigation and to ensure the maintenance of good conditions of navigation.

If a State neglects to comply with this obligation, any riparian State, or any State represented on the International Commission, may appeal to the tribunal instituted for this purpose by the League of Nations.

Article 298

The same procedure shall be followed in the case of a riparian State undertaking any works of a nature to impede navigation in the international section. The tribunal mentioned in the preceding Article shall be entitled to enforce the suspension or suppression of such works, making due allowance in its decisions for all rights in connection with irrigation, water-power, fisheries and other national interests, which, with the consent of all the riparian States or of all the States represented on the International Commission, shall be given priority over the requirements of navigation.

Appeal to the Tribunal of the League of Nations does not require the suspension of the works.

Article 299

The regime set out in Articles 292 and 294 to 298 above shall be superseded by one to be laid down in a General Convention drawn up by the Allied and Associated Powers, and approved by the League of Nations, relating to the waterways recognised in such Convention as having an international character. This Convention shall apply in particular to the whole or part of the abovementioned river system of the Danube, and such other parts of that river system as may be covered by a general definition.

Austria undertakes, in accordance with the provisions of Article 331, to adhere to the said General Convention.

Article 300

Austria shall cede to the Allied and Associated Powers concerned, within a maximum period of three months from the date on which notification shall be given her, a proportion of the tugs and vessels remaining registered in the ports of the river system referred to in Article 291 after the deduction of those surrendered by way of restitution or reparation. Austria shall in the same way cede material of all kinds necessary to the Allied and Associated Powers concerned for the utilisation of that river system.

The number of tugs and boats, and the amount of the material so ceded, and their distribution, shall be determined by an arbitrator or arbitrators nominated by the United States of America, due regard being had to the legitimate needs of the parties concerned, and particularly to the shipping traffic during the five years preceding the war.

All craft so ceded shall be provided with their fittings and gear, shall be in a good state of repair and in condition to carry goods, and shall be selected from among those most recently built.

Wherever the cessions made under the present Article involve a change of ownership, the arbitrator or arbitrators shall determine the rights of the former owners as they stood on 15 October 1918, and the amount of the compensation to be paid to them, and shall also direct the manner in which such payment is to be effected in each case. If the arbitrator or arbitrators find that the whole or part of this sum will revert directly or indirectly to States from whom reparation is due, they shall decide the sum to be placed under this head to the credit of the said States.

As regards the Danube, the arbitrator or arbitrators referred to in this Article will also decide all questions as to the permanent allocation and the conditions thereof of the vessels whose ownership or nationality is in dispute between States.

Pending final allocation, the control of these vessels shall be vested in a Commission consisting of representatives of the United States of America, the British Empire, France and Italy, who will be empowered to make provisional arrangements for the working of these vessels in the general interest by any local organisation, or, failing such arrangements, by themselves, without prejudice to the final allocation.

As far as possible these provisional arrangements will be on a commercial basis, the net receipts by the Commission for the hire of these vessels being disposed of as directed by the Reparation Commission.

2. Special clauses relating to the Danube

Article 301

The European Commission of the Danube reassumes the powers it possessed before the war. Nevertheless, as a provisional measure, only representatives of Great Britain, France, Italy and Roumania shall constitute this Commission.

Article 302

From the point where the competence of the European Commission ceases, the Danube system referred to in Article 291 shall be placed under the administration of an International Commission composed as follows:

2 representatives of German riparian States;

1 representative of each other riparian State;

1 representative of each non-riparian State represented in the future on the European Commission of the Danube.

If certain of these representatives cannot be appointed at the time of the coming into force of the present Treaty, the decisions of the Commission shall nevertheless be valid.

Article 303

The International Commission provided for in the preceding Article shall meet as soon as possible after the coming into force of the present Treaty, and shall undertake provisionally the administration of the river in conformity with the provisions of Articles 292 and 294 to 298, until such time as a definitive statute regarding the Danube is concluded by the Powers nominated by the Allied and Associated Powers.

The decisions of this International Commission shall be taken by a majority vote. The salaries of the Commissioners shall be fixed and paid by their respective countries.

As a provisional measure any deficit in the administrative expense of this International Commission shall be borne equally by the States represented on the Commission.

In particular, this Commission shall regulate the licensing of pilots, charges for pilotage, and the administration of the pilot service.

Article 304

Austria agrees to accept the regime which shall be laid down for the Danube by a Conference of the Powers nominated by the Allied and Associated Powers, which shall meet within one year after the coming into force of the present Treaty, and at which Austrian representatives may be present.

Article 305

The mandate given by Article 57 of the Treaty of Berlin of 13 July 1878 to Austria-Hungary, and transferred by her to Hungary, to carry out works at the Iron Gates, is abrogated. The Commission entrusted with the administration of this part of the river shall lay down provisions for the settlement of accounts subject to the financial provisions of the present Treaty. Charges which may be necessary shall in no case be levied by Hungary.

Article 306

Should the Czecho-Slovak State, the Serb-Croat-Slovene State or Roumania, with the authorisation of or under mandate from the International Commission, undertake maintenance, improvement, weir, or other works on a part of the river system which forms a frontier, these States shall enjoy on the opposite bank, and also on the part of the bed which is outside their territory, all necessary facilities for the survey, execution and maintenance of such works.

Article 307

Austria shall be obliged to make to the European Commission of the Danube all restitutions, reparations and indemnities for damages inflicted on the Commission during the war.

Article 308

Should a deep-draught Rhine-Danube navigable waterway be constructed, Austria hereby undertakes to accept the application to the said navigable waterway of the same regime as that prescribed in Articles 292 and 294 to 299 of the present Treaty.

Chapter 3. Hydraulic system

Article 309

In default of any provisions to the contrary, when as the result of the fixing of a new frontier the hydraulic system (canalisation, inundations, irrigation, drainage or similar matters) in a State is dependent on works executed within the territory of another State, or when use is made on the territory of a State, in virtue of pre-war usage, of water or hydraulic power, the source of which is on the territory of another State, an agreement shall be made between the States concerned to safeguard the interests and rights acquired by each of them.

Failing an agreement, the matter shall be regulated by an arbitrator appointed by the Council of the League of Nations.

Article 310

Unless otherwise provided, when use is made for municipal or domestic purposes in one State of electricity or water, the source of which as the result of the fixing of a new frontier is on the territory of another State, an agreement shall be made between the States concerned to safeguard the interests and rights acquired by each of them.

Pending an agreement, central electric stations and waterworks shall be required to continue the supply up to an amount corresponding to the undertakings and contracts in force on 3 November 1918.

Failing an agreement, the matter shall be regulated by an arbitrator appointed by the Council of the League of Nations.

Section III. Railways

Chapter I. Freedom of transit to the Adriatic for Austria

Article 311

Free access to the Adriatic Sea is accorded to Austria, who with this object will enjoy freedom of transit over the territories and in the ports severed from the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Freedom of transit is the freedom defined in Article 284 until such time as a General Convention on the subject shall have been concluded between the Allied and Associated Powers, whereupon the dispositions of the new Convention shall be substituted therefor.

Special conventions between the States or Administrations concerned will lay down the conditions of the exercise of the right accorded above, and will settle in particular the method of using the ports and the free zones existing in them, the establishment of international (joint) services and tariffs including through tickets and waybills, and the maintenance of the Convention of Berne of 14 October 1890 and its supplementary provisions until its replacement by a new Convention.

Freedom of transit will extend to postal, telegraphic and telephonic services.

Chapter II. Clauses relating to international transport

Article 312

Goods coming from the territories of the Allied and Associated Powers, and going to Austria, or in transit through Austria from or to the territories of the Allied and Associated Powers, shall enjoy on the Austrian railways as regards charges to be collected (rebates and drawbacks being taken into account), facilities, and in all other matters, the most favourable treatment applied to goods of the same kind carried on any Austrian lines, either in internal traffic, or for export, import or in transit, under similar conditions of transport, for example as regards length of route. The same rule shall be applied, on the request of one or more of the Allied and Associated Powers, to goods specially designated by such Power or Powers coming from Austria and going to their territories.

International tariffs established in accordance with the rates referred to in the preceding paragraph and involving through way-bills shall be established when one of the Allied and Associated Powers shall require it from Austria.

However, without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 288 and 289, Austria undertakes to maintain on her own lines the regime of tariffs existing before the war as regards traffic to Adriatic and Black Sea ports, from the point of view of competition with North German ports.

Article 313

From the coming into force of the present Treaty the High Contracting Parties shall renew, in so far as concerns them and under the reserves indicated in the second paragraph of the present Article, the Conventions and arrangements signed at Berne on 14 October 1890, 20 September 1893, 16 July 1895, 16 June 1898 and 19 September 1906 regarding the transportation of goods by rail.

If within five years from the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty a new Convention for the transportation of passengers, luggage and goods by rail shall have been concluded to replace the Berne Convention of 14 October 1890 and the subsequent additions referred to above, this new Convention and the supplementary provisions for international transport by rail which may be based on it shall bind Austria, even if she shall have refused to take part in the preparation of the Convention or to subscribe to it. Until a new Convention shall have been concluded, Austria shall conform to the provisions of the Berne Convention and the subsequent additions referred to above, and to the current supplementary provisions.

Article 314

Austria shall be bound to cooperate in the establishment of through ticket services (for passengers and their luggage) which shall be required by any of the Allied and Associated Powers to ensure their communication by rail with each other and with all other countries by transit across the territories of Austria; in particular Austria shall, for this purpose, accept trains and carriages coming from the territories of the Allied and Associated Powers and shall forward them with a speed at least equal to that of her best long-distance trains on the same lines. The rates applicable to such through services shall not in any case be higher than the rates collected on Austrian internal services for the same distance, under the same conditions of speed and comfort.

The tariffs applicable under the same conditions of speed and comfort to the transportation of emigrants going to or coming from ports of the Allied and Associated Powers and using the Austrian railways, shall not be at a higher kilometric rate than the most favourable tariffs (drawbacks and rebates being taken into account) enjoyed on the said railways by emigrants going to or coming from any other ports.

Article 315

Austria shall not apply specially to such through services, or to the transportation of emigrants going to or coming from the ports of the Allied and Associated Powers, any technical, fiscal or administrative measures, such as measures of customs examination, general police, sanitary police, and control, the result, of which would be to impede or delay such services.

Article 316

In case of transport partly by rail and partly by internal navigation, with or without through way-bill, the preceding Articles shall apply to the part of the journey performed by rail.

Chapter III. Rolling stock

Article 317

Austria undertakes that Austrian wagons shall be fitted with apparatus allowing:

(1) of their inclusion in goods trains on the lines of such of the Allied and Associated Powers as are parties to the Berne Convention of 15 May 1886, as modified on 18 May 1907, without hampering the action of the continuous brake which may be adopted in such countries with ten years of the coming into force of the present Treaty, and

(2) the inclusion of wagons of such countries in all goods trains on Austrian lines.

The rolling stock of the Allied and Associated Powers shall enjoy on the Austrian lines the same treatment as Austrian rolling stock as regards movement, upkeep and repairs.

Chapter IV. Transfers of railway lines

Article 318

Subject to any special provisions concerning the transfer of ports, waterways and railways situated in the territories transferred under the present Treaty, and to the financial conditions relating to the concessionnaires and the pensioning of the personnel, the transfer of railways will take place under the following conditions:

(1) The works and installations of all the railroads shall be handed over complete and in good condition.

(2) When a railway system possessing its own rolling stock is handed over in its entirety by Austria to one of the Allied and Associated Powers, such stock shall be handed over complete, in accordance with the last inventory before 3 November 1918, and in a normal state of upkeep.

(3) As regards lines without any special rolling stock, the distribution of the stock existing on the system to which these lines belong shall be made by Commissions of experts designated by the Allied and Associated Powers, on which Austria shall be represented. These Commissions shall have regard to the amount of the material registered on these lines in the last inventory before 3 November 1918, the length of track (sidings included), and the nature and amount of the traffic. These Commissions shall also specify the locomotives, carriages and wagons to be handed over in each case; they shall decide upon the conditions of their acceptance, and shall make the provisional arrangements necessary to ensure their repair in Austrian workshops.

(4) Stocks of stores, fittings and plant shall be handed over under the same conditions as the rolling stock.

The provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4 above shall be applied to the lines of former Russian Poland converted by the Austro-Hungarian authorities to the normal gauge, such lines being regarded as detached from the Austrian and Hungarian State systems.

Chapter V. Provisions relating to certain railway lines

Article 319

When as a result of the fixing of new frontiers a railway connection between two parts of the same country crosses another country, or a branch line from one country has its terminus in another, the conditions of working, if not specifically provided for in the present Treaty, shall be laid down in a convention between the railway administrations concerned. If the administrations cannot come to an agreement as to the terms of such convention, the points of difference shall be decided by commissions of experts composed as provided in the preceding Article.

The establishment of all the new frontier stations between Austria and the contiguous Allied and Associated States, as well as the working of the lines between those stations, shall be settled by agreements similarly concluded.

Article 320

With the object of ensuring regular utilisation of the railroads of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy owned by private companies which, as a result of the stipulations of the present Treaty, will be situated in the territory of several States, the administrative and technical reorganisation of the said lines shall be regulated in each instance by an agreement between the owning company and the States territorially concerned.

Any differences on which agreement is not reached, including questions relating to the interpretation of contracts concerning the expropriation of the lines, shall be submitted to arbitrators designated by the Council of the League of Nations.

This arbitration may, as regards the South Austrian Railway Company, be required either by the Board of Management or by the Committee representing the bondholders.

Article 321

Within a period of five years from the coming into force of the present Treaty, Italy may require the construction or improvement on Austrian territory of the new transalpine lines of the Col de Reschen and the Pas de Predil. Unless Austria decides to pay for the works herself, the cost of construction or improvement shall be paid by Italy. An arbitrator appointed by the Council of the League of Nations shall, after the lapse of such period as may be fixed by the Council, determine the portion of the cost of construction or improvement which must be repaid by Austria to Italy on account of the increase of revenue on the Austrian railway system resulting from these works.

Austria shall hand over to Italy gratuitously the surveys, with their annexes, for the construction of the following railway lines:

The line from Tarvis to Trieste by Raibl, Plezzo, Caporetto, Canale and Gorizia;

The local line from S. Lucia de Tolmino to Caporetto;

The line from Tarvis to Plezzo (new scheme);

The Reschen line connecting Landeck and Mals.

Article 322

In view of the importance to the Czecho-Slovak State of free communication between that State and the Adriatic, Austria recognises the right of the Czecho-Slovak State to run its own trains over the sections included within her territory of the following lines:

(1) from Bratislava (Pressburg) towards Fiume via Sopron, Szembathely and Mura Keresztur, and a branch from Mura Keresztur to Pragerhof;

(2) from Budejovic (Budweiss) towards Trieste via Linz, S. Michael, Klagenfurt and Assling, and the branch from Klagenfurt towards Tarvisio.

On the application of either party, the route to be followed by the Czecho-Slovak trains may be modified either permanently or temporarily by mutual agreement between the Czecho-Slovak Railway Administration and those of the railways over which the running powers are exercised.

Article 323

The trains for which the running powers are used shall not engage in local traffic, except by agreement between Austria and the Czecho-Slovak State.

Such running powers will include, in particular, the right to establish running sheds with small shops for minor repairs to locomotives and rolling stock, and to appoint representatives where necessary to supervise the working of Czecho-Slovak trains.

Article 324

The technical, administrative and financial conditions under which the rights of the Czecho-Slovak State shall be exercised shall be laid down in a Convention between the railway administration of the Czecho-Slovak State and the railway administrations of the Austrian systems concerned. If the administrations cannot come to an agreement on the terms of this Convention, the points of difference shall be decided by an arbitrator nominated by Great Britain, and his decisions shall be binding on all parties.

In the event of disagreement as to the interpretation of the Convention or of difficulties arising unprovided for in the Convention, the same form of arbitration will be adopted until such time as the League of Nations may lay down some other procedure.

Chapter VI. Transitory provision

Article 325

Austria shall carry out the instructions given her, in regard to transport, by an authorised body acting on behalf of the Allied and Associated Powers:

(1) for the carriage of troops under the provisions of the present Treaty, and of material, ammunition and supplies for army use;

(2) as a temporary measure, for the transportation of supplies for certain regions, as well as for the restoration, as rapidly as possible, of the normal conditions of transport, and for the organisation of postal and telegraphic services.

Chapter VII. Telegraphs and telephones

Article 326

Notwithstanding any contrary stipulations in existing treaties, Austria undertakes to grant freedom of transit for telegraphic correspondence and telephonic communications coming from or going to any one of the Allied and Associated Powers, whether neighbours or not, over such lines as may be most suitable for international transit and in accordance with the tariffs in force. This correspondence and these communications shall be subjected to no unnecessary delay or restriction; they shall enjoy in Austria national treatment in regard to every kind of facility and especially in regard to rapidity of transmission. No payment, facility or restriction shall depend directly or indirectly on the nationality of the transmitter or the addressee.

Article 327

In view of the geographical situation of the Czecho-Slovak State Austria agrees to the following modifications in the International Telegraph and Telephone Conventions referred to in Article 235, Part X (Economic Clauses), of the present Treaty:

(1) On the demand of the Czecho-Slovak State Austria shall provide and maintain trunk telegraph lines across Austrian territory.

(2) The annual rent to be paid by the Czecho-Slovak State for each of such lines will be calculated in accordance with the provisions of the abovementioned Conventions, but unless otherwise agreed shall not be less than the sum that would be payable under those Conventions for the number of messages laid down in those Conventions as conferring the right to demand a new trunk line, taking as a basis the reduced tariff provided for in Article 23, paragraph 5, of the International Telegraph Convention as revised at Lisbon.

(3) So long as the Czecho-Slovak State shall pay the above minimum annual rent of a trunk line:

(a) the line shall be reserved exclusively for transit traffic to and from the Czecho-Slovak State;

(b) the faculty given to Austria by Article 8 of the International Telegraph Convention of 22 July 1875 to suspend international telegraph services shall not apply to that line.

(4) Similar provisions will apply to the provision and maintenance of trunk telephone circuits, but the rent payable by the Czecho-Slovak State for a trunk telephone circuit shall, unless otherwise agreed, be double the rent payable for a trunk telegraph line.

(5) The particular lines to be provided together with any necessary administrative, technical and financial conditions not provided for in existing International Conventions or in this Article shall be fixed by a further convention between the States concerned. In default of agreement on such convention they will be fixed by an arbitrator appointed by the Council of the League of Nations.

(6) The stipulations of the present Article may be varied at any time by agreement between Austria and the Czecho-Slovak State. After the expiration of ten years from the coming into force of the present Treaty the conditions under which the Czecho-Slovak State shall enjoy the rights conferred by this Article may, in default of agreement by the parties, be modified at the request of either party by an arbitrator designated by the Council of the League of Nations.

(7) In case of any dispute between the parties as to the interpretation either of this Article or of the Convention referred to in paragraph 5, this dispute shall be submitted for decision to the Permanent Court of International Justice to be established by the League of Nations.

Section IV. Disputes And Revision Of Permanent Clauses

Article 328

Disputes which may arise between interested Powers with regard to the interpretation and application of this Part of the present Treaty shall be settled as provided by the League of Nations.

Article 329

At any time the League of Nations may recommend the revision of such of the above Articles as relate to a permanent administrative regime.

Article 330

The stipulations in Articles 284 to 290, 293, 312, 314 to 316, and 326 shall be subject to revision by the Council of the League of Nations at any time after three years from the coming into force of the present Treaty.

Failing such revision, no Allied or Associated Power can claim after the expiration of the above period of three years the benefit of any of the stipulations in the Articles enumerated above on behalf of any portion of its territories in which reciprocity is not accorded in respect of such stipulations. The period of three years during which reciprocity cannot be demanded may be prolonged by the Council of the League of Nations.

The benefit of the stipulations mentioned above cannot be claimed by States to which territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy has been transferred, or which have arisen out of the dismemberment of that Monarchy, except upon the footing of giving in the territory passing under their sovereignty in virtue of the present Treaty reciprocal treatment to Austria.

Section V. Special Provision

Article 331

Without prejudice to the special obligations imposed on her by the present Treaty for the benefit of the Allied and Associated Powers, Austria undertakes to adhere to any General Conventions regarding the international regime of transit, waterways, ports or railways which may be concluded by the Allied and Associated Powers, with the approval of the League of Nations, within five years from the coming into force of the present Treaty.