662.11241/49
The German Ambassador (Von Prittwitz) to the Secretary of State
St. D. 2
Referring to the valued note of His Excellency the Secretary of State of the United States of November 17, 1928, 662.11241/25 [34],36 and supplementary to his acknowledgment of receipt of November 24, 1928,37 relative to the interpretation of Article XXVII of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Consular Rights concluded between the German Reich and the United States on December 8, 1923,38 the German Ambassador on behalf of his Government has the honor to communicate the following:
In the said note of the Secretary of State of November 17, 1928, the exemption of German “Consular Officers” from the payment of internal taxes in addition to excise duties on the basis of the most favored nation clause of Article XVII of the German-American Commercial Treaty of December 8, 1923, in connection with Article XV of the Spanish-American Treaty of July 3, 1902,39 is suggested, in proportion to a corresponding exemption of payment of taxes to be extended to the American Consular Officers in Germany. In this connection, the definition of the class of persons included in the term “Consular Officers” who would be accorded the privilege of this exemption would probably be determined by the description given in Clause 1 of the German Ambassador’s note of January 6, 1928,40 of even tenor with the note of the Secretary of State above referred to. Under such an adjustment, however, the preponderating advantages of the exemption would be on the American side, for the reason that the number [Page 117] of American officers employed in Germany in this connection would be disproportionately greater than that of the officers assigned to the German consular offices in the United States, owing to the fact that according to the above-mentioned interpretation of the term “Consular Officers” consular chancellors, secretaries, disbursing officers, recorders and commercial experts would not be included in the category of “Consular Officers”, but rather in that of “and their suites”. Consequently, according to the proposal of the note of the Secretary of State of November 17, 1928, about 50 persons in 11 American offices in Germany and only about 18 persons in 12 German professional consular offices in the United States would receive exemption from taxation. In view of the fact that the before-mentioned groups of officers in the German foreign service, as well as the commercial experts attached to the professional consular service in the United States actually perform official duties of character or value equal to those of the other Consular Officers, it is the view of the German Government that their classification in the group within the meaning of the term “Consular Officers” for the purpose of according them the privileges and exemptions which they should enjoy, is fully warranted and advisable. Moreover, such a classification is indicated by the text of Article XIX of the German-American Commercial Treaty of December 8, 1923, the provisions of which govern the taxable status of the consular personnel of the respective Governments, in that tax exemption is accorded to the “Consular Officers including the employees of a consulate”, from which it appears that the members of the middle career of the German consular service, since these are not employees for the purpose of this Article, must of necessity come under the category of “Consular Officers”.
Therefore the German Ambassador would be grateful to the Secretary of State of the United States for the favor of an expression of opinion from him as to whether the Government of the United States, as a definitive conclusion of the exchange of notes in this connection, concerning the interpretation of Article XXVII of the German-American Commercial Treaty of December 8, 1923, would declare itself in agreement with the classification of the above-specified employees of the German consular service in those groups of officers who should be designated as “Consular Officers”. Even if no material alteration is made of the regulation under Article XXVII, still, such an alteration would enable the German Government, on the lines of the limitation set forth in the note of the German Ambassador of January 6, 1928, Clause 3, to agree to an exemption on both sides of “Consular Officers” from taxes levied in addition to excise duties.