[Enclosure—Translation]
The French Ministry for
Foreign Affairs to the American
Embassy
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has, at various times, had occasion
to speak to the Embassy of the United States concerning the
difficulties which have arisen in France on account of the
activities of the agents of the Treasury Department, owing to their
claiming the right to examine the books of French firms having
business relations with the United States.
On March 6, 1926, in particular, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
handed unofficially to Mr. Johnson, at that time Counselor of the
Embassy of the United States at Paris, an aide-mémoire giving the point of view of the French
Government in this regard.9
The misunderstanding was happily straightened out by the agreement
contained in the notes exchanged last autumn between the two
Governments, concerning the customs régime applicable to American
products upon their importation into France.10 In the aide-mémoire handed on October 24, 1927, to
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs,11 the Embassy of the
United States was good enough, indeed, to state that [Page 821] its Government “assures the French
Government that if the French Government objects, no investigation
of private books and records of French producers, manufacturers or
merchants will be made by representatives of the American Government
in French territory.”
The French Government, which has already taken note of this
undertaking, admits readily on its side that, on account of the
collection of ad valorem customs duties in the United States, the
American Government desires to exercise a proper control over the
declarations of value made by French exporters.
Consequently, it seems desirable to the French Government to seek, in
agreement with the Government of the United States, a procedure
which would permit the delegates of the American Treasury Department
to fulfill their mission in a manner compatible with their
obligations, without exceeding the provisions of French law and
without arousing the legitimate susceptibilities of French producers
and merchants.
This procedure might, in its opinion, be established on the following
bases:
- 1.
- The delegates of the American Treasury Department would be
attached to the American consular authorities, to whom
French exporters must apply for the visaing of their
invoices, and would control, by making use of their
knowledge of the market and their personal information, the
sincerity and exactness of these invoices and the documents
which usually accompany them.
- 2.
- When they are in doubt concerning the sincerity or the
exactness of these documents, they would proceed to their
verification.
- 3.
- In such a case, the exporter would have the choice between
the two following methods:
- a).
- either he would produce the bills of sale,
contracts and correspondence relating to the
transactions in question. Only such documents as the
French customs authorities are themselves entitled
to demand for declaration of value could be
produced;
- b).
- or the exporter’s declarations would be submitted
to an expert accountant or to a technical expert, or
to two experts,—one accountant and the other a
technical expert.
- 4.
- The expert or experts, who would be of French nationality,
would be chosen by the American authorities from a list
drawn up by the French Government. The list of expert
accountants would be that at present prepared by the French
Government, in execution of the decree of March 22, 1927,
creating the diploma of expert accountant. The list of
technical experts would be that of the customs experts,
among whom the French Administration already chooses its own
experts in cases of similar disputes.
- 5.
- It would be understood that verifications of the
declarations made by French exporters would only be made in
case the American authorities thought it necessary to
question the sincerity of a declaration of value. There can
be no question, indeed, of subjecting all French exporters
doing business with the United States to a permanent control
over the elements of their declarations.
- 6.
- The verification thus effected would guarantee French
exporters against any new valuation by the American customs,
except in case of a suspicion of fraud or substitution of
merchandise.
The French Government would be happy to know the opinion of the
Government of the United States concerning the foregoing
suggestions. It also desires to obtain the assurance that, in a
spirit of equitable reciprocity, the French agents who shall
eventually be authorized to this effect by it, would be authorized
to control the declarations of American exporters under the same
conditions as those which it has the honor to propose to-day to the
Government of the United States. It believes that, if its
suggestions were accepted, they would be of a nature to settle
definitely, to the common satisfaction of both countries, the very
delicate question of the control of exporters’ declarations of
value.
