840.811/7–2545
No. 758
Proposal by the United States
Delegation1
Draft Proposal by American Delegation
Subject: Free and Unrestricted Navigation of International Inland Waterways.
The U. S. A., the U. K. and the U. S. S. R. are in accord that there should be free and unrestricted navigation of such inland waterways as border on two or more states, of the Kiel Canal, and of the Straits of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora and the Bosphorus, which are comprised under the general term “Straits”. This free and unrestricted navigation on these waterways should be assured by international agreement.
As an initial step there will be set up as soon as possible interim navigation agencies for the Danube and the Rhine. The functions of the interim navigation agencies will be the restoration and development of navigation facilities on the river concerned, the supervision of river activities in the interest of equal treatment for various nationalities and the establishment of uniform regulations concerning use of facilities, rules of navigation, customs and sanitation formalities, and other similar questions. Membership on both these agencies will include the U. S., the U. K., the U. S. S. R., and France; on the agency for the Rhine River, Switzerland and the Netherlands will be invited to participate; on the agency for the Danube River, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Rumania will be invited to participate. Arrangements with respect to the eventual membership [Page 657] of Austria and Germany will be subject to subsequent agreement among the U. S., the U. K., the U. S. S. R., and France.
In accordance with the principle of free and unrestricted navigation, it is likewise agreed that the Control Council in Germany shall provide for equal treatment of all traffic passing through the Kiel Canal.
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- Submitted at a meeting of the Subcommittee on Inland Waterways, July 27. See ante, p. 453. For the final paragraph of this proposal, see document No. 1373.↩