Treaty Series No. 714

Convention between the United States of America and Other American Republics, Signed at Habana, November 14, 1924 54

The Presidents of Argentine, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Salvador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela, being desirous of entering into a sanitary [Page 267] convention for the purpose of better promoting and protecting the public health of their respective nations, and particularly to the end that effective cooperative international measures may be applied for the prevention of the international spread of the communicable infections of human beings and to facilitate international commerce and communication, have appointed as their plenipotentiaries, to-wit:

  • The Republic of Argentine:
    • Dr. Gregorio Araoz Alfaro.
    • Dr. Joaquín Llambías.
  • The United States of Brazil:
    • Dr. Nascimento Gurgel.
    • Dr. Raúl Almeida Magalhaes.
  • The Republic of Chile:
    • Dr. Carlos Graf.
  • The Republic of Colombia:
    • Dr. R. Gutierrez Lee.
  • The Republic of Costa Rica:
    • Dr. José Varela Zequeira.
  • The Republic of Cuba:
    • Dr. Mario G. Lebredo.
    • Dr. José A. López del Valle.
    • Dr. Hugo Roberts.
    • Dr. Diego Tamayo.
    • Dr. Francisco M. Fernández.
    • Dr. Domingo F. Ramos.
  • The Republic of El Salvador:
    • Dr. Leopoldo Paz.
  • The United States of America:
    • Dr. Hugh S. Cumming.
    • Dr. Richard Creel.
    • Mr. P. D. Cronin.
    • Dr. Francis D. Patterson.
  • The Republic of Guatemala:
    • Dr. José de Cubas y Serrate.
  • The Republic of Haiti:
    • Dr. Charles Mathon.
  • The Republic of Honduras:
    • Dr. Arístides Agramonte.
  • The Republic of Mexico:
    • Dr. Alfonso Pruneda.
  • The Republic of Panama:
    • Dr. Jaime de la Guardia.
  • The Republic of Paraguay:
    • Dr. Andrés Gubetich.
  • The Republic of Peru:
    • Dr. Carlos E. Paz Soldán.
  • The Dominican Republic:
    • Dr. R. Pérez Cabral.
  • The Republic of Uruguay:
    • Dr. Justo F. González.
  • The United States of Venezuela:
    • Dr. Enrique Tejera.
    • Dr. Antonio Smith.

Who, having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed to adopt, ad referendum, the following

pan american sanitary code

Chapter I.—Objects of the Code and Definitions of Terms Used Therein

Article 1. The objects of this code are:

(a)
The prevention of the international spread of communicable infections of human beings.
(b)
The promotion of cooperative measures for the prevention of the introduction and spread of disease into and from the territories of the signatory Goverments [sic].
(c)
The standardization of the collection of morbidity and mortality statistics by the signatory Governments.
(d)
The stimulation of the mutual interchange of information which may be of value in improving the public health, and combating the diseases of man.
(e)
The standardization of the measures employed at places of entry, for the prevention of the introduction and spread of the communicable diseases of man, so that greater protection against them shall be achieved and unnecessary hindrance to international commerce and communication eliminated.

Art. 2. Definitions. As herein used, the following words and phrases shall be taken in the sense hereinbelow indicated, except as a different meaning for the word or phrase in question may be given in a particular article, or is plainly to be collected from the context or connection where the term is used.

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Aircraft.—Any vehicle which is capable of transporting persons or things through the air, including aeroplanes, seaplanes, gliders, helocopters, air ships ballons and captive ballons [sic].

Area.—A well determined portion of territory.

Disinfection.—The act of rendering free from the causal agencies of disease.

Fumigation.—A standard process by which the organisms of disease or their potential carriers are exposed to a gas in lethal concentrations.

Index, Aedes Aegypti.—The percentage ratio determined after examination between the number of houses in a given area and the number in which larvae or mosquitoes of the Aedes aegypti are found, in a fixed period of time.

Inspection.—The act of examining persons, buildings, areas, or things which may be capable of harboring, transmitting or transporting the infectious agents of disease, or of propagating or favoring the propagation of such agents. Also the act of studying and observing measures put in force for the suppression or prevention of disease.

Incubation, Period of.—For plague, cholera and yellow fever, each 6 days, for smallpox, 14 days, and for typhus fever 12 days.

Isolation.—The separation of human beings or animals from other human beings or animals in such manner as to prevent the interchange of disease.

Plague.—Bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic or rodent plague.

Port.—Any place or area where a vessel or aircraft may seek harbor, discharge or receive passengers, crew, cargo or supplies.

Rodents.—Rats, domestic and wild, and other rodents.

Chapter II

section 1. notification and subsequent communications to other countries

Art. 3. Each of the signatory Governments agrees to transmit to each of the other signatory Governments and to the Pan-American Sanitary Bureau, at intervals of not more than two weeks, a statement containing information as to the state of its public health, particularly that of its ports.

The followings [sic] diseases are obligatorily reportable: Plague, cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, typhus, epidemic cerebropinal [sic] meningitis, acute epidemic poliomyelitis, epidemic lethargic encephalitis, influenza or epidemic la grippe, typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, and such other diseases as the Pan American Sanitary Bureau may, by resolution, add to the above list.

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Art. 4. Each signatory Government agrees to notify ‘adjacent countries and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau immediately by the most rapid available means of communication, of the appearance in its territory of an authentic or officially suspected case or cases of plague, cholera, yellow fever, small pox, typhus or any other dangerous contagion liable to be spread through the intermediary agency of international commerce.

Art. 5. This notification is to be accompanied, or very promptly followed, by the following additional information:

1.
The area where the disease has appeared.
2.
The date of its appearance, its origin, and its form.
3.
The probable source or country from which introduced and manner of introduction.
4.
The number of confirmed cases, and number of deaths.
5.
The number of suspected cases and deaths.
6.
In addition, for plague, the existence among rodents of plague, or of an unusual mortality among rodents; for yellow fever, the Aedes aegypti index of the locality.
7.
The measures which have been applied for the prevention of the spread of the disease, and its eradication.

Art. 6. The notification and information prescribed in Articles 4 and 5 are to be addressed to diplomatic or consular representatives in the capital of the infected country, and to the Pan American Sanitary Bureau at Washington, which shall immediately transmit the information to all countries concerned.

Art. 7. The notification and the information prescribed in Articles 3, 4, 5, and 6 are to be followed by further communications in order to keep other Governments informed as to the progress of the disease or diseases. These communications will be made at least once weekly, and will be as complete as possible, indicating in detail the measures employed to prevent the extension of the disease. The telegraph, the cable, and the radio will be employed for this purpose, except in those instances in which the data may be transmitted rapidly by mail. Reports by telegraph, cable or radio will be confirmed by letter. Neighboring countries will endeavor to make special arrangements for the solution of local problems that do not involve widespread international interest.

Art. 8. The signatory Governments agree that in the event of the appearance of any of the following diseases, namely: cholera, yellow fever, plague, typhus fever or other pestilential diseases in severe epidemic form, in their territory, they will immediately put in force appropriate sanitary measures for the prevention of the international carriage of any of the said diseases therefrom by passengers, crew, cargo and vessels, and mosquitoes, rats and vermin that may be [Page 271] carried thereon, and will promptly notify each of the other signatory Governments and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau as to the nature and extent of the sanitary measures which they have applied for the accomplishment of the requirements of this article.

section 2. publication of prescribed measures

Art. 9. Information of the first non-imported case of plague, cholera, or yellow fever justifies the application of sanitary measures against an area where said disease may have appeared.

Art. 10. The Government of each country obligates itself to publish immediately the preventive measures which will be considered necessary to be taken by vessels or other means of transport, passengers and crew at any port of departure or place located in the infected area. The said publication is to be communicated at once to the accredited diplomatic or consular representatives of the infected country, and to the Pan American Sanitary Bureau. The signatory Government [sic] also obligate themselves to make known in the same manner the revocation of these measures, or of modifications thereof that may be made.

Art. 11. In order that an area may be considered to be no longer infected, it must be officialy [sic] established:

1.
That there has neither been a death nor a new case as regards plague or cholera for ten days; and as regards yellow fever for twenty days, either since the isolation, or since the death or recovery of the last patient.
2.
That all means for the eradication of the disease have been applied and, in the case of plague, that effective measures against rats have been continuously carried out, and that the disease has not been discovered among them within six months; in the case of yellow fever, that Aedes aegypti index of the infected area has been maintained at an average of not more than 2 per cent for the 30-day period immediately preceding, and that no portion of the infected area has had an index in excess of 5 per cent for the same period of time.

section 3. morbidity and mortality statistics

Art. 12. The international classification of the causes of death is adopted as the Pan American Classification of the Causes of Death, and shall be used by the signatory nations in the interchange of mortality and morbidity reports.

Art. 13. The Pan American Sanitary Bureau is hereby authorized and directed to re-publish from time to time the Pan American Classification of the Causes of Death.

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Art. 14. Each of the signatory Governments agrees to put in operation at the earliest practicable date a system for the collection and tabulation of vital statistics which shall include:

1.
A central statistical office presided over by a competent official.
2.
The establishment of regional statistical offices.
3.
The enactment of laws, decrees or regulations requiring the prompt reporting of births, deaths and communicable diseases, by health officers, physicians, midwives and hospitals, and providing penalities [sic] for failure to make such reports.

Art. 15. The Pan American Sanitary Bureau shall prepare and publish standard forms for the reporting of deaths and cases of communicable disease, and all other vital statistics.

Chapter III.—Sanitary Documents

section 1. bills of health

Art. 16. The master of any vessel or aircraft which proceeds to a port of any of the signatory Governments, is required to obtain at the port of departure and ports of call, a bill of health, in duplicate, issued in accordance with the information set forth in the appendix and adopted as the standard bill of health.

Art. 17. The bill of health will be accompanied by a list of the passengers, and stowaways if any, which shall indicate the port where they embarked and the port to which they are destined, and a list of the crew.

Art. 18. Consuls and other officials signing or countersigning bills of health should keep themselves accurately informed with respect to the sanitary conditions of their ports, and the manner in which this code is obeyed by vessels and their passengers and crews while therein. They should have accurate knowledge of local mortality and morbidity, and of sanitary conditions which may affect vessels in port. To this end, they shall be furnished with information they request pertaining to sanitary records, harbors and vessels.

Art. 19. The signatory Governments may assign medical or sanitary officers as public health attaches to embassies or legations, and as representatives to international conferences.

Art. 20. If at the port of departure there be no consul or consular agent of the country of destination, the bill of health may be issued by the consul or consular agent of a friendly Government authorized to issue, such bill of health.

Art. 21. The bill of health should be issued not to exceed forty eight hours before the departure of the ship to which it is issued. The sanitary visa should not be given more than twenty-four hours before departure.

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Art. 22. Any erasure or alteration of a bill of health shall invalidate the document, unless such alteration or erasure shall be made by competent authority, and notation thereof appropriately made.

Art. 23. A clean bill of health is one which shows the complete absence in the port of departure of cholera, yellow fever, plague, typhus fever, or of other pestilential disease in severe epidemic form, liable to be transported by international commerce. Provided, that the presence only of bona fide imported cases of such disease, when properly isolated, shall not compel the issuance of a foul bill of health, but notation of the presence of such cases will be made under the heading of “Remarks” on the Bill of health.

Art. 24. A foul bill of health is one which shows the presence of non-imported cases of any of the diseases referred to in Art. 23.

Art. 25. Specific bill of health are [sic] not required of vessels which, by reason of accident, storm or other emergency condition, including wireless change of itinerary, are obliged to put into ports other than their original destinations but such vessels shall be required to exhibit such bills of health as they possess.

Art. 26. It shall be the duty of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau to publish appropriate information which may be distributed by port health officers, for the purpose of instructing owners, agents and master [sic] of vessels as to the methods which should be put in force by them for the prevention of the international spread of disease.

section 2. other sanitary documents

Art. 27. Every vessel carrying a medical officer will maintain a sanitary log which will be kept by him, and he will record therein daily: the sanitary condition of the vessel, and its passengers and crew; a record showing the names of passengers and crew which have been vaccinated by him; name, age, nationality, home address, occupation and nature of illness or injury of all passengers and crew treated during the voyage; the source and sanitary quality of the drinking water of the vessel, the place where taken on board, and the method in use on board for its purification; sanitary conditions, observed in ports visited during the voyage; the measures taken to prevent the ingress and egress of rodents to and from the vessel; the measures which have been taken to protect the passengers and crew against mosquitoes, other insects, and vermin. The sanitary log will be signed by the master and medical officer of the vessel, and will be exhibited upon the request of any sanitary or consular officer. In the absence of a medical officer, the master shall record the above information in the log of the vessel, in so far as possible.

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Art. 28. Equal or similar forms for Quarantine Declarations, Certificate of Fumigation, and Certificate of Vaccination, set forth in the appendix, are hereby adopted as standard forms.

Chapter IV.—Classification of Ports

Art. 29. An infected port is one in which any of the following diseases exist, namely, plague, cholera, yellow fever, or other pestilential disease in severe epidemic form.

Art. 30 A suspected port, is a port in which, or in the areas contiguous thereto, a non imported case or cases of any of the disesases [sic] referred to in Art. 23, have occurred within sixty days, or which has not taken adequate measures to protect itself against such diseases, but which is not known to be an infected port.

Art. 31. A clean port, Class A, is one in which the following conditions are fulfilled:

1. The absence of non-imported cases of any of the diseases referred to in Art. 23, in the port itself and in the areas contiguous thereto.

2. (a) The presence of a qualified and adequate health staff. (b) Adequate means of fumigation.

(c) Adequate personnel and material for the capture or destruction of rodents.

(d) An adequate bacteriological and pathological laboratory;

(e) A safe water supply.

(f) Adequate means for the collection of mortality and morbidity data;

(g) Adequate facilities for the isolation of suspects and the treatment of infectious diseases.

(h) Signatory Governments shall register in the Pan-American Sanitary Bureau those places that comply with these conditions.

Art. 32. A clean port, Class B, is one in which the conditions described in Art. 31, 1 and 2 (a) above, are fulfilled, but in which one or more of the other requirements of Art. 31, 2 are not fulfilled.

Art. 33. An unclassified port is one with regard to which the information concerning the existence or non-existence of any of the diseases referred to in Art. 23, and the measures which are being applied for the control of such diseases, is not sufficient to classify such port.

An unclassified port shall be provisionally considered as a suspected or infected port, as the information available in each case may determine, until definitely classified.

Art. 34. The Pan American Sanitary Bureau shall prepare and publish, at intervals, a tabulation of the most commonly used ports of the Western Hemisphere, giving information as to sanitary conditions.

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Chapter V.—Classification of Vessels

Art. 35. A clean vessel is one coming from a clean port, Class A or B, which has had no case of plague, cholera, yellow fever, small pox or typhus aboard during the voyage, and which has complied with the requirements of this code.

Art. 36. An infected or suspected vessels [sic] is:

1.
One which has had on board during the voyage a case or cases of any of the diseases mentioned in Art. 35.
2.
One which is from an infected or suspected port.
3.
One which is from a port where plague or yellow fever exists.
4.
Any vessel on which there has been mortality among rats.
5.
A vessel which has violated any of the provisions of this code.

Provided that the sanitary authorities should give due consideration in applying sanitary measures to a vessel that has not docked.

Art. 37. Any master or owner of any vessel, or any person violating any provisions of this Code or violating any rule or regulation made in accordance with this Code, relating to the inspection of vessels, the entry or departure from any quarantine station, grounds or anchorages, or trespass thereon, or to the prevention of the introduction of contagious or infectious disease into any of the signatory countries, or any master, owner, or agent of a vessel making a false statement relative to the sanitary condition of a vessel, or its contents, or as to the health of any passenger, or person thereon, or who interferes with a quarantine or health officer in the proper discharge of his duty, or fails or refuses to present bills of health, or other sanitary document, or pertinent information to a quarantine or health officer, shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of such laws, rules or regulations, as may be or may have been enacted, or promulgated, in accordance with the provisions of this Code, by the Government of the country within whose jurisdiction the offense is committed.

Chapter VI.—The Treatment of Vessels

Art. 38. Clean vessels will be granted pratique by the port health authority upon acceptable evidence that they properly fulfill the requirements of Art. 35.

Art. 39. Suspected vessels will be subjected to necessary sanitary measures to determine their actual condition.

Art. 40. Vessels infected with any of the diseases referred to in Art. 23 shall be subjected to such sanitary measures as will prevent the continuance thereon, and the spread therefrom, of any of said diseases to other vessels or ports. The disinfection of cargo, stores and personal effects shall be limited to the destruction of the vectors of disease which may be contained therein, provided that things [Page 276] which have been freshly soiled with human excretions capable of transmitting disease, shall always be disinfected. Vessels on which there is undue prevalence of rats, mosquitoes, lice, or any other potential vector of communicable disease, may be disinfected irrespective of the classification of the vessel.

Art. 41. Vessels infected with plague shall be subjected to the following treatment.

1.
The vessel shall be held for observation and necessary treatment.
2.
The sick, if any, shall be removed and placed under appropriate treatment in isolation.
3.
The vessel shall be simultaneously fumigated throughout for the destruction of rats. In order to render fumigation more effective, cargo may be wholly or partially discharged prior to such fumigation, but care will be taken to discharge no cargo which might harbor rats,* except for fumigation.
4.
All rats recovered after fumigation should be examined bacteriologically.
5.
Healthy contacts, excepts [sic] those actually exposed to cases of pneumonic plague, will not be detained in quarantine.
6.
The vessel will not be granted pratique until it is reasonably certain that it is free from rats and vermin.

Art. 42. Vessels infected with cholera shall be subjected to the following treatment.

1.
The vessels shall be held for observation and necessary treatment.
2.
The sick, if any, shall be removed and placed under appropriate treament [sic] in isolation.
3.
All persons on board shall be subjected to bacteriological examination, and shall not be admitted to entry until demonstrated free from cholera vibrios.
4.
Appropriate disinfection shall be performed.

Art. 43. Vessels infected with yellow fever shall be subjected to the following treatment.

1.
The vessel shall be held for observation and necessary treatment.
2.
The sick, if any, shall be removed and placed under appropriate treatment in isolation from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
3.
All persons on board non immune to yellow fever shall be placed under observation to complete six days from the last possible exposure to Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
4.
The vessel shall be freed from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Art. 44. Vessels infected with small pox shall be subjected to the following treatment.

1.
The vessels shall be held for observation and necessary treatment.
2.
The sick, if any, shall be removed and placed under appropriate treatment in isolation.
3.
All persons on board shall be vaccinated. As an option the passenger may elect to undergo isolaton [sic] to complete fourteen days from the last possible exposure to the disease.
4.
All living quarters of the vessels shall be rendered mechanically clean, and used clothing and bedding of the patient desinfected [sic].

Art. 45. Vessels infected with typhus shall be subjected to the following treatment.

1.
The vessel shall be held for observation and necessary treatment.
2.
The sick, if any, shall be removed and placed under appropriate treatment in isolation from lice.
3.
All persons on board and their personal effects shall be deloused.
4.
All persons on board who have been exposed to the infection shall be placed under observation to complete twelve days from the last possible exposure to the infection.
5.
The vessel shall be deloused.

Art. 46. The time of detention of vessels for inspection or treatment shall be the least consistent with public safety and scientific knowledge. It is the duty of port health officers to facilitate the speedy movement of vessels to the utmost compatible with the foregoing.

Art. 47. The power and authority of quarantine will not be utilized for financial gain, and no charges for quarantine services will exceed actual cost plus a reasonable surcharge for administrative expenses and fluctuations in the market prices of materials used.

Chapter VII.—Fumigation Standards

Art. 48. Sulphur dioxide, hydrocyanic acid and cyanogen chloride gas mixture shall be considered as standard fumigants when used in accordance with the table set forth in the appendix, as regards hours of exposure and of quantities of fumigants per 1,000 cubic feet.

Art. 49. Fumigation of ships to be most effective should be performed periodically and preferable [sic] at six months intervals, and should include the entire vessel and its lifeboats. The vessels should be free of cargo.

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Art. 50. Before the liberation of hydrogen cyanide or cyanogen chloride, all personnel of the vessel will be removed, and care will be observed that all compartments are rendered as nearly gas tight as possible.

Chapter VIII.—Medical Officers of Vessels

Art. 51. In order to better protect the health of travelers by sea, to aid in the prevention of the international spread of disease and to facilitate the movement of international commerce and communication, the signatory Governments are authorized in their discretion to license physicians employed on vessels.

Art. 52. It is recommended that license not issue unless the applicant therefor is a graduate in medicine from a duly chartered and recognized school of medicine, is the holder of an unrepealed license to practice medicine, and has successfully passed an examination as to his moral and mental fitness to be the surgeon or medical officer of a vessel. Said examination shall be set by the directing head of the national health service, and shall require of the applicant a competent knowledge of medicine and surgery. Said directing head of the national health service may issue a license to an applicant who successfully passes the examination, and may revoke said license upon conviction of malpractice, unprofessional conduct, offenses involving moral turpitude or infraction of any of the sanitary laws or regulations of any of the signatory Governments based upon the provisions of this code.

Art. 53. When duly licensed as aforesaid, said surgeons or medical officers of vessels may be utilized in aid of inspection as defined in this code.

Chapter IX.—The Pan American Sanitary Bureau

Functions and Duties

Art. 54. The organization, functions and duties of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau shall include those heretofore determined for the International Sanitary Bureau by the various International Sanitary and other Conferences of American Republics, and such additional administrative functions and duties as may be hereafter determined by Pan American Sanitary Conferences.

Art. 55. The Pan American Sanitary Bureau shall be the central coordinating sanitary agency of the various member Republics of the Pan American Union, and the general collection and distribution center of sanitary information to and from said Republic. For this purpose it shall, from time to time, designate representatives to visit and confer with the sanitary authorities of the various signatory Governments on public health matters, and such representatives [Page 279] shall be given all available sanitary information in the countries visited by them in the course of their official visits and conferences.

Art. 56. In addition, the Pan American Sanitary Bureau shall perform the following specific functions:

To supply to the sanitary authorities of the signatory Governments through its publications, or in other appropriate manner, all available information relative to the actual status of the communicable diseases of man, new invasions of such diseases, the sanitary measures undertaken, and the progress effected in the control or eradication of such diseases; new methods for combating disease; morbidity and mortality statistics; public health organization and administration; progress in any of the branches of preventive medicine, and other pertinent information relative to sanitation and public health in any of its phases, including a bibliography of books and periodicals on public hygiene.

In order to more efficiently discharge its functions, it may undertake cooperative epidemiological and other studies; may employ at headquarters and elsewhere, experts for this purpose; may stimulate and facilitate scientific researches and the practical application of the results therefrom; and may accept gifts, benefactions and bequest [sic], which shall be accounted for in the manner now provided for the maintenance funds of the Bureau.

Art. 57. The Pan American Sanitary Bureau shall advise and consult with the sanitary authorities of the various signatory Governments relative to public health problems, and the manner of interpreting and applying the provisions of this Code.

Art. 58. Officials of the National Health Services may be designated as representatives, ex-officio, of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, in addition to their regular duties, and when so designated they may be empowered to acts [sic] as sanitary representatives of one or more of the signatory Governments when properly designated and accredited to so serve.

Art. 59. Upon request of the sanitary authorities of any of the signatory Governments, the Pan American Sanitary Bureau is authorized to take the necessary preparatory steps to bring about an exchange of professors, medical and health officers, experts or advisers in public health of any of the sanitary sciences, for the purpose of mutual aid and advancement in the protection of the public health of the signatory Governments.

Art. 60. For the purpose of discharging the functions and duties imposed upon the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, a fund of not less than $50,000 shall be collected by the Pan American Union, apportioned among the signatory Governments on the same basis as are the expenses of the Pan American Union.

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Chapter X.—Aircraft

Art. 61. The provisons [sic] of this Convention shall apply to aircraft, and the signatory Governments agree to designate landing places for aircraft which shall have the same status as quarantine anchorages.

Chapter XI.—Sanitary Convention of Washington

Art. 62. The provisions of Articles 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 25, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 49, and 50, of the Pan American Sanitary Convention concluded in Washington on October 14, 1905,55 are hereby continued in full force and effect, except in so far as they may be in conflict with the provisions of this Convention.

Chapter XII

Be is understood that this Code does not in any may [sic] abrogate or impair the validity or force of any existing treaty convention or agreement between any of the signatory governments and any other government.

Chapter XIII.—Transitory Disposition

Art. 63. The Governments which may not have signed the present Convention are to be admitted to adherence thereto upon demand, notice of this adherence to be given through diplomatic channels to the Government of the Republic of Cuba.

Made and signed in the city of Havana, on the fourteenth day of the month of November, 1924, in two copies, in English and Spanish, respectively, which shall be deposited with the Department of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Cuba, in order that certified copies thereof, in both English and Spanish, may be made for transmission through diplomatic channels to each of the signatory Governments.

By the Republic of Argentine:
Gregorio Araoz Alfaro

Joaquin Llambias

By the United States of Brazil:
Nascimento Gurgel

Raul Almeida Magalhaes

By the Republic of Chile:
Carlos Graf

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By the Republic of Colombia:
R. Gutierrez Lee

By the Republic of Costa Rica:
Jose Varela Zequeira

By the Republic of Cuba:
Mario G. Lebredo

Jose A. Lopez del Valle

Hugo Roberts

Diego Tamayo

Francisco M. Fernandez

Domingo F. Ramos

By the Republic of El Salvador:
Leopoldo Paz

By the United States of America:
Hugh S. Cumming

Richard Creel

P. D. Cronin

By the Republic of Guatemala:
Jose De Cubas y Serrate

By the Republic of Haiti:
Charles Mathon

By the Republic of Honduras:
Aristides Agramonte

By the Republic of Mexico:
Alfonso Pruneda

By the Republic of Panama:
Jaime de la Guardia

By the Republic of Paraguay:
Andres Gubetich

By the Republic of Peru:
Carlos E. Paz Soldan

By the Dominican Republic:
R. Perez Cabral

By the Republic of Uruguay:
Justo F. Gonzalez

By the United States of Venezuela:
Enrique Tejera

Antonio Smith
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[An appendix to the convention, containing forms of certificates and other documents, and an annex are not printed here; but may be found in Treaty Series No. 714 published by the Department of State in 1925.]

  1. In English and Spanish; Spanish text not printed. Ratification advised by the Senate, Feb. 23, 1925; ratified by the President, Mar. 28, 1925; ratification of the United States deposited with the Government of Cuba, Apr. 18, 1925; proclaimed by the President, Apr. 28, 1925.
  2. Explanatory Footnote:—The nature of the goods or merchandise likely to harbor rats (plague suspicious cargo), shall, for purpose of this section, be deemed to be the following, namely; rice or other grain (exclusive of flour); oilcake in sacks, beans in mats or sacks; goods packed in crates with straw or similar packing material; matting in bundles; dried vegetables in baskets or cases; dried and salted fish; peanuts in sacks; dry ginger; curios, etc., in fragile cases, copra, loose hemp in bundles; coiled rope in sacking kapok, maize in bags, sea grass in bales; tiles, large pipes and similar articles; and bamboo poles in bundles. [Footnote in the original.]
  3. Malloy, Treaties, 1776–1909, vol. ii, p. 2144.