711.6521/231: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Phillips) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 7—6:50 p.m.]
319. In a further discussion today with the Foreign Office officials concerning the draft consular convention they state that the Ministry of Finance is not prepared to depart to any great extent from the Italian draft of articles 3 and 4 contained in the memorandum submitted with the Embassy’s despatch No. 342 of April 29. While exemptions from direct taxes might be accorded to “regular” consular officials to include service employees, nationals of the state by which they are appointed, but not temporary or foreign employees, the Ministry is unwilling to extend customs courtesies or other tax exemptions beyond their draft formula. Although it is recognized that existing contrary legislation could be superseded by the provisions of the new treaty it is nevertheless the opinion of the Finance Ministry that under the existing most-favored-nation clauses customs privileges granted to American consular officials on a reciprocal basis would have to be extended to consular officers of other states which would be contrary to Italian practices or desiderata.
We against [again?] explained that there would be little improvement over existing treaty provisions should this position be maintained and that the extension of mutual consular amenities was the underlying principle of all recent American conventions and to abandon it would constitute a recession move in American practice. Foreign Office officials expressed considerable regret that they had been unable up to the present to bring about any change in the position taken by the Ministry of Finance and stated that it might be helpful in this connection if they could be furnished a list of existing American treaties in which provisions similar to those contained in our draft articles 3 and 4 appear. They offer, however, little hope of altering the views of the Ministry of Finance and ask whether under these circumstances the Department would be willing to continue the examination of the other articles.
A telegraphic reply would be appreciated.