The Convention on the High Seas
4.3 Treaties Concluded in Latin America
Besides bilateral agreements, a number of international organizations, gener-ally regional or subregional, facilitate exchange between African States. Most of these were created as instruments of economic cooperation among States in the area. Within these institutions have been created organizations facilitating transit among member States. Such African organizations have been perceived as less efficient than the European ones, perhaps simply because they are of more recent origin.
of Bolivia’s coastline. In compensation, Chile undertook to build a railway from the port of Arica to La Paz, and granted Bolivia “in perpetuity, the most extensive and unrestricted right of commercial transit across its territory to its Pacific ports” (Articles 6 and 7). The treaty also allowed Bolivia to maintain customs offices in Arica and Antofagasta, and in other ports to be named later.
An agreement signed in 1912 specified rights of free transit across Bolivia, regulated traffic, and granted greater authority to the Bolivian customs authori-ties in Chilean ports.505After the Chaco war, in which attempts were made to restrict the passage of provisions for Bolivia through Chilean ports, Bolivian transit rights were strengthened by the Convention of August 16, 1937, which guaranteed full and free transit for any type of merchandise at any time.506This Convention also stipulated procedures for the receipt, handling, and transporta-tion of goods, introducing slight variatransporta-tions to the measures previously in use.
Under the Integrated Transport System (ITS) introduced in 1975, changes were made to the procedures used at Arica and Antofagasta. The system allows Bolivia to administer exclusively the automatic transfer of goods from vessels for transportation, without the intervention of customs agents or the need to report shipping details.
Similar agreements with other neighboring countries granted Bolivia free transit across their territories, without imposing any compensation. In the nine-teenth century, on July 9, 1868, Bolivia had concluded with Argentina, its south-ern neighbor with an Atlantic coastline, the “Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation,”507which provided for a degree of transit freedom. It stated that the two contracting States clearly recognized freedom of transit for national and foreign trade in maritime or river ports. Goods in transit are subject only to ware-housing duty and minimal tolls. Moreover, the two States recognized a mutual right of free navigation on the Rio de la Plata and several of its tributaries.
In the Convention of November 19, 1937, Argentina agreed that petrol and derived products belonging to Bolivia and transiting through Argentinean terri-tory would not be assessed any national, provincial, or municipal transit or fiscal duty.508
With its eastern neighbor, Brazil, Bolivia as early as March 27, 1867, signed the Treaty of Friendship, Navigation, Trade, and Extradition under which the Republic of Bolivia and the Emperor of Brazil declared communications between
5052 C.H.I.T. 155
5062 C.H.I.T. 172.
507The text of the treaty is reprinted in 4 Colección de Tratados Vigentes de la Republica de Bolivia35.
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the two States to be free. Transit across the frontier by passengers or luggage was exempted from all national or municipal taxes and was subject only to the police and fiscal regulations enacted by each country. In Article 7, Brazil granted Bolivian trade and vessels freedom of navigation on its waterways.
Brazil and Bolivia signed another treaty relating to river navigation in August 1910 to complete bilateral arrangements they had made earlier in the Treaty of November 17, 1903. In that Treaty they had agreed to grant each other all possi-ble facilities and guaranteed the most complete application of the principle of freedom of overland and river transit.
Bolivia signed a number of similar treaties with Peru, among them the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of November 5, 1863; the Treaty of Commerce and Cus-toms of 1905; and the Convention relating to the trade traffic via Mollendo dated January 21, 1917. In all of them the States recognized, on a reciprocal basis, “the freedom of transit trade for all natural, industrial, as well as imported products.”
The position of Paraguay is more privileged than that of Bolivia because it has free access to the sea by the Panama and Paraguay Rivers as well as the railway between Asunción and Buenos Aires. The Treaty concluded between Paraguay and Argentina509on January 23, 1967, including the exchange of notes, states that navigation on the Paraguay, Paraná, and Rio de la Plata rivers is free for Argen-tinean and Paraguayan vessels. Each State agrees to grant to flagged vessels of the other State treatment identical to that granted to its own vessels for all mat-ters concerning navigation. The Treaty further provides for creation of a Joint Commission of Representatives for dispute settlement purposes.
In 1943, Paraguay and Argentina signed the first treaty under which Argentina ceded Paraguay free zones in the ports of Buenos Aires and Rosario.510In 1944 the Paraguayan Government signed a similar treaty with Brazil establishing a free zone in Concepción,511followed by another in the Paranagua in 1956; the latter was updated in 1961 to specify handling procedures for goods in transit.512It per-mitted Paraguay to appoint one or more officials to represent the recipients of goods. The goods are subject to port tariffs and customs service taxes.
Paraguay signed similar agreements with other bordering countries, including one on March 25, 1976, with Uruguay concerning use of grain silos, a transit warehouse, and a free zone at Nueva Palmira. On November 12, 1976, Paraguay’s navigation and ports authority took possession of a free zone in the port of Montevideo for storage and distribution of Paraguayan imports and exports.
509634 U.N.T.S. 9060.
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51166 U.N.T.S. 303.
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On November 29, 1979, an agreement with Argentina gave Paraguay the use of a wharf at Rosario for the receipt of duty-free imports and exports. Paraguay also succeeded in appointing a customs representative for the free zone so as to control the flow of merchandise and administer Argentine customs requirements.
Because of all these successful negotiations with its neighbors, Paraguay has established the National Navigation and Ports Authority (Administración Nacional de Navegación y Puertos or ANNP), which administers the national warehouses and free zones at Río Grande do Sul, Paranagua, Santos, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Montevideo, Nueva Palmira, and Antofagasta.
In Latin America, as in Europe and Africa, regional organizations for eco-nomic cooperation play a vital role. Bolivia and Paraguay were both members of the Latin American Association of Free Trade (LAFTA), with the help of which they ensured their access to the international market. The Treaty creating this organization, signed on February 18, 1960, at Montevideo, speaks of the pro-gressive abolition of customs duties and quantitative restrictions among Member States within twelve years. The union, however, appeared to be most advanta-geous for Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico because they were relatively more indus-trialized than the other members. As a consequence, some members of LAFTA decided to create a more homogeneous and restrictive organization, the “Andean Group,” comprised of Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and landlocked Bolivia.513