Treaty Series No. 631–A
Protocol between the United States and Italy Relative to Radio Service, Signed March 27, 1918
Protocol between the United States and Italy relative to Italo-American Radio Service.
The undersigned, representatives of the Governments of the United States and Italy met the 27th day of March nineteen hundred and eighteen, at 11:30 a.m., at the State Department, Washington, D. C., and agreed upon the following articles:
Article I
The Government of the United States and the Government of Italy, considering that there are no direct submarine cables connecting the two Countries, think it is most urgent to establish immediately a regular radio-service between the United States and Italy.
[Page 848]Article II
The Government of the United States and the Government of Italy acquiesce in designating one American and one Italian wireless station of sufficient power to insure the radio communications between the two Countries. These stations will be determined upon and respectively notified by both parties in the agreement mentioned in Article VIII of this protocol.
Article III
The radio line cannot be considered a duplicate of submarine cable route. Therefore, the Government of the United States and the Government of Italy, considering that there is no other direct system of communication between the two Countries, will insure transmission by priority over all other messages between the two Countries of their official urgent messages.
Article IV
In principle, radiograms regularly handled shall be limited in character to official, political, military, or naval urgent communications. This does not prevent the regular handling of official government press information.
Article V
This new transatlantic radio line is to be used also to insure communications with Italy in case the cable lines by way of France and England should prove to be insufficient.
Article VI
Official radiograms shall be in cipher; however radiograms conveying only official press information will be transmitted unciphered.
Article VII
The United States and Italian authorities who are authorized to employ radio communications are the following:
Authorities residing in Washington: The Department of State; the Department of War; the Department of the Navy; the Italian Embassy; the Italian Military Attaché; the Italian Naval Attaché; and the Director of Naval Communications.
Authorities residing in Rome: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of War; the Ministry of Marine; the Ministry of Posts and Telegrams; the Embassy of the United States; the Military Attaché of the United States; and the Naval Attaché of the United States.
[Page 849]Article VIII
The technical and practical conditions under which the United States and Italy will employ this radio line will be determined in a further agreement between the communication services of the respective Governments. It is, of course, understood that systematic trials have to be made to perfect the various conditions, specially to determine the hours of service, in order to improve this important service.
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