Executive Agreement Series No. 42
856.8561/10
The Netherlands Minister (Van Royen) to the Secretary of State
Sir: Referring to my note of April 27, 1932, No. 1393,6 regarding the loadline agreement between the Governments of the Netherlands [Page 491] and the United States and to the third paragraph of Your Excellency’s letter of April 22, 1932 on the same subject, I have the honor, pursuant to instructions received from The Hague, to inform you, that, according to article 34 of the Royal Decree of 1929, referred to in articles 5, 9 and 17 of the “Schepenwet” (Netherland Merchant Shipping Act) of July 1, 1909 published in the Staatsblad (Official Gazette) No. 219 of said year,—of which two documents I presented you with a copy by my letter of January 20, 1931, No. 113,7—the Netherland load-line certificates are exclusively issued by the “Commissie tot Vaststelling van de minimum-Uitwatering” (Commission for the Determination of loadlines) and never by the classification societies even when recognized in accordance with the “Schepenwet”.
These classification bureaux, when recognized by the Netherland Government, act on the subject of the marking of loadlines and the issuance of certificates, only in advisory capacity; however, the advice of the majority of these bureaux is generally followed.
I avail myself [etc.]