There are likewise enclosed copies of notes which the French, Greek
and Italian Legations have addressed to the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs on the same subject, together with suggested translations
thereof.44
The situation, as it has developed, is an exceedingly complex one
comprising various phases; and, in consideration of the virtual
impossibility of presenting the facts and circumstances heretofore
completely to the Department with a recommendation of the action
which I considered it advisable to pursue, I have deemed it
advisable to act at my discretion in the belief that a consideration
of the motives necessitating such action will commend my action to
the Department’s approval.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[Enclosure]
The American
Legation to the Egyptian
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
No. 236
The Legation of the United States of America presents its
compliments to the Royal Egyptian Ministry for Foreign Affairs
and has the honor to refer to the decision of the Council of
Ministers
[Page 641]
published in
the Journal Officiel No. 17 of February
29, 1932, that no new licenses or permits shall be granted for
autobusses or trucks beyond the traffic needs of each Moudirieh
or Governorate and that decisions in respect of new licenses or
permits or renewals thereof shall be made upon the
recommendation of the Commission appointed by decision of the
Council of Ministers of December 31, 1931.
The American Legation is constrained to observe that the
Ministerial Decision in question is of a character to cause and
that it is in fact causing serious prejudice to the interests of
American nationals who have imported important stocks of motor
vehicles on which customs dues have been paid in good faith and
who now find themselves precluded by administrative acts of the
Royal Egyptian Government from obtaining the circulation of such
vehicles over Egyptian roads. Moreover, although the above
mentioned Ministerial Decision affirms that it does not alter
the Arrêté of July 16, 1913, concerning the circulation of
automobiles, it would appear to be directly in contradiction
with that Arrêté.
For some time, even before the publication of the Ministerial
Decision of February 29, 1932, the Legation had received
complaints from representatives of the American motor car
industry established in Egypt concerning the inexplicable
difficulties made on the part of the Ministry of Communications
and of local authorities in so far as concerned the issuance of
new permits or the renewal of existing permits for the
circulation of motor vehicles for hire, notwithstanding that the
applicants had conformed strictly with the duly promulgated
automobile regulations.
It has happened that the Egyptian authorities have refused to
accept the payments that applicants were prepared to make in
order not to deliver permits which were requested in a strictly
legitimate manner in conformity with the Automobile Regulations
of July 16, 1913, as modified by the Arrêtés of November 14,
1915, June 30, 1917, and September 3, 1930.45
It is probably in accordance with a like policy that the
Municipality of Alexandria has also refused, without any
justification, and contrary to the above regulations, to renew
the traffic permits of many motor vehicles for hire.
Despite numerous informal interventions which have been made with
the Ministry of Communications and otherwise before the
publication of the Ministerial Decision in question, with a view
to directing attention to the serious inconveniences and losses
suffered by American interests as a result of administrative
acts of the Egyptian
[Page 642]
authorities, in apparent conflict with existing legislation,
such informal representations have achieved no practical result,
and, moreover, have not precluded what would appear to be a
formal sanctioning of such administrative acts by the decision
of the Council of Ministers of February 29, 1932. Although this
decision, not having been submitted either to the Legislative or
to the General Assembly of the Mixed Court of Appeals, cannot be
considered as applicable to the nationals of the capitulatory
Powers, it is effectively so, owing to the restrictions imposed
upon the issuance of traffic permits for automobiles intended
for hire.
Accordingly the American Legation is under the necessity of
observing, in connection with the administrative acts which are
being exercised in seeming conflict with existing legislation
and as sanctioned by the Ministerial Decision of February 29,
1932, that:
- 1
- —Limitation of the freedom of circulation of
automobiles was admitted, in so far as concerns
foreigners, by the Regulations of July 16, 1913, with
the approval of the General Assembly of the Mixed Court
of Appeals, and only in the sense that such a right of
free circulation would be subject to the obtainment of a
permit (Article 2), having a validity of one year
(Article 11), and upon payment of a tax and inspection
fee (Article 12), and to certain special provisions for
motor vehicles intended for hire;
- 2
- —The right of causing motor vehicles to circulate for
public hire, subject to the single condition of the
obtainment of a special permit and payment of an
increased tax, was confirmed by the Arrêté of September
3, 1930, constituting a modification, inter alia, of Articles 12 and 35 of the
Arrêté of July 16, 1913, as approved by the Mixed Court
of Appeals on June 13, 1930;
- 3
- —The Arrêtés of September 9, 1913, and December 30,
1929,46 concerning which the Mixed Court of
Appeals was not consulted, concerned exclusively
conditions having to do with the solidity and security
of motor vehicles which, under Article 4 of the
Regulations of July 16, 1913, the Ministry of the
Interior was given the authority to prescribe;
- 4
- —While Article 35 of the Regulations of July 16, 1913,
grants authority to Governors or Mudirs to change the
conditions of the special permit required for autobusses
so far as concerns the tariff, security and public
health, no authority would appear to be given to change
the conditions of the special permit for autobusses in a
manner to militate against the interest of traffic or to
withhold in general the issuance of special permits in
the case of the fulfillment of the conditions mentioned.
In the case of motor vehicles destined for the
transportation of merchandise, the special permit which
Governors or Mudirs are authorized to grant is subject
to the single restriction of the indication on the
permit of the weight, height and maximum bulk of load as
well as the character of the wheels.
[Page 643]
In viewing the question in general it may be said that the right,
on the part of foreign nationals, to circulate their motor
vehicles on Egyptian public highways for whatever legitimate use
is a consequence of the principle of the freedom of traffic, a
principle formally recognized by the Egyptian Government which,
for the purpose of legislation in the matter, has considered it
appropriate to have recourse to the authority of the General
Assembly of the Mixed Court of Appeals. Consequently, it
follows, that such a right may not suffer abridgement or
limitation unless sanctioned by the Mixed Court of Appeals in
Legislative or General Assembly, or directly by the Powers. Any
like limitation is an infringement of a right consecrated by
custom and usage.
In the hope that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs may be good
enough to give appropriate consideration to the foregoing
observations, the Legation of the United States of America
avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Royal Egyptian
Ministry for Foreign Affairs the assurance of its high
consideration.
