INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CONCERNINTHE USE OF BROADCASTING IN THE CAUSE OF PEACE. SIGNED AT GENEVA, SEPTEMBER 23RD, 1936.

ALBANIA, THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, THE UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, CHILE, COLOMBIA, DENMARK, THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EGYPT, SPAIN, ESTONIA, FRANCE, GREECE, INDIA, LITHUANIA, LUXEMBURG, THE UNITED STATES OF MEXICO, NORWAY, NEW ZEALAND, THE NETHERLANDS, ROUMANIA, SWITZERLAND, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, TURKEY, THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS and URUGUAY,

Having recognised the need for preventing, by means of rules established by common agreement, broadcasting from being used in a manner prejudicial to good international understanding;

Prompted, moreover, by the desire to utilise, by the application of these rules, the possibilities offered by this medium of intercommunication for promoting better mutual understanding between peoples:

Have decided to conclude a Convention for this purpose, and have appointed as their

Plenipotentiaries

ALBANIA:

M. Thomas LUARASSI, Secretary of the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations.

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC:

M. Carlos A. PARDO, Commercial Adviser to the Legation at Berne.

AUSTRIA:

His Excellency Dr. Marcus LEITMAIER, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.

BELGIUM:

M. Maurice BOURQUIN, Professor at the University of Geneva.

THE UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL:

M. Elyseu MONTARROYOS, Delegate to the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation.

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND:

Viscount CRANBORNE, M. P., Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;

Mr. Frederick William PHILLIPS, Director of Telecommunications, General Post Office;

Mr. Henry George Gordon WELCH, Principal, General Post Office.

CHILE:

M. Enrique GAJARDO V., Head of the Permanent Office to the League of Nations.

COLOMBIA:

His Excellency Dr. Gabriel TURBAY, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations,

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary;

His Excellency Dr. Carlos LOZANO Y LOZANO, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister

Plenipotentiary to the President of the Spanish Republic.

DENMARK:

M. Holger Oluf Quistgaard BECH, First Secretary of the Permanent Delegation to the

League of Nations.

THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

M. Charles ACKERMANN, Consul-General at Geneva,

EGYPT:

M. Abd-el-Fattah AssAL, Acting Charg6 d'Affaires at Berne.

SPAIN:

M. Jos6 RIVAS Y GONZALEZ, Head of the Radio-Communications Section of the Ministry of Communications;

M. Manuel MARQUEZ MIRA, Professor at the Official School of Telecommunication.

ESTONIA:

M. Johannes K6DAR, Permanent Delegate a.i. to the League of Nations.

FRANCE:

M. Marcel PELLENC, Director-General of Broadcasting of the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones;

M. Yves CHATAIGNEAU, Chief of Section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

GREECE:

His Excellency M. Raoul BIBICA-RoSETTI, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Minister Plenipotentiary.

INDIA:

Sir Denys DE SAUMAREZ BRAY, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E., C.B.E.

LITHUANIA :

M. Juozas URB9YS, Minister Plenipotentiary, Political Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

LUXEMBURG:

His Excellency M. Emile REUTER, Honorary Minister of State, President of the Chamber of Deputies.

UNITED STATES OF MEXICO:

His Excellency M. Narciso BASSOLS, Ambassador, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister

Plenipotentiary accredited to the Court of St. James;

His Excellency M. Primo VILLA MICHEL, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations,

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.

NORWAY:

M. Einar MASENG, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations.

NEW ZEALAND:

Mr. William Joseph JORDAN, High Commissioner in London;

Sir Christopher James PARR, G.C.M.G.

THE NETHERLANDS:

His Excellency Ridder C. VAN RAPPARD, Permanent Representative to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal

Council.

ROUMANIA:

M. Tudor A. TANASESCO, Engineer, attached to the Ministry of Communications, Lecturer

at the Bucharest Polytechnic School.

SWITZERLAND:

M. Camille GORGt, Counsellor of Legation, Chief of the League of Nations Section at the Federal Political Department;

M. Jakob BUSER, Chief of Division at the General Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA:

His Excellency M. Rudolf KONZL-JIZERSK, Permanent Delegate to the League of

Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal

Council.

TURKEY:

His Excellency M. Necmeddin SADAK, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations,

Minister Plenipotentiary.

UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS:

M. Edouard HOERSCHELMANN, Secretary-General of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.

URUGUAY:

His Excellency M. Victor BENAVIDES, Engineer, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council.

Who, having communicated their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following provisions:

Article 1

The High Contracting Parties mutually undertake to prohibit and, if occasion arises, to stop without delay the broadcasting within their respective territories of any transmission which to the detriment of good international understanding is of such a character as to incite the population of any territory to acts incompatible with the internal order or the security of a territory of a High Contracting Party.

Article 2.

The High Contracting Parties mutually undertake to ensure that transmissions from stations within their respective territories shall not constitute an incitement either to war against another High Contracting Party or to acts likely to lead thereto.

Article 3.

The High Contracting Parties mutually undertake to prohibit and, if occasion arises, to stop without delay within their respective territories any transmission likely to harm good international understanding by statements the incorrectness of which is or ought to be known to the persons responsible for the broadcast.

They further mutually undertake to ensure that any transmission likely to harm good international understanding by incorrect statements shall be rectified at the earliest possible moment by the most effective means, even if the incorrectness has become apparent only after the broadcast has taken place.

Article 4.

The High Contracting Parties mutually undertake to ensure, especially in time of crisis, that stations within their respective territories shall broadcast information concerning international relations the accuracy of which shall have been verified - and that by all means within their power - by the persons responsible for broadcasting the information.

Article 5.

Each of the High Contracting Parties undertakes to place at the disposal of the other High Contracting Parties, should they so request, any information that, in his opinion, is of such a character as to facilitate the broadcasting, by the various broadcasting services, of items calculated to promote a better knowledge of the civilisation and the conditions of life of his own country as well as of the essential features of the development of his relations with other peoples and of his contribution to the organisation of peace.

Article 6.

In order to give full effect to the obligations assumed under the preceding Articles, the High Contracting Parties mutually undertake to issue, for the guidance of governmental broadcasting services, appropriate instructions and regulations, and to secure their application by these services.

With the same end in view, the High Contracting Parties mutually undertake to include appropriate clauses for the guidance of any autonomous broadcasting organisations, either in the constitutive charter of a national institution, or in the conditions imposed upon a concessionary company, or in the rules applicable to other private concerns, and to take the necessary measures to ensure the application of these clauses.

Article 7.

Should a dispute arise between the High Contracting Parties regarding the interpretation or application of the present Convention for which it has been found impossible to arrive at a satisfactory settlement through the diplomatic channel, it shall be settled in conformity with the provisions in force between the Parties concerning the settlement of international disputes.

In the absence of any such provisions between the Parties to the dispute, the said Parties shall submit it to arbitration or to judicial settlement. Failing agreement concerning the choice of another tribunal, they shall submit the dispute, at the request of one of them, to the Permanent

Court of International Justice, provided they are all Parties to the Protocol' of December I6th, 192o, regarding the Statute of the Court; or, if they are not all Parties to the above Protocol, the shall submit the dispute to an arbitral tribunal, constituted in conformity with the Hague

Convention 2 of October 18th, 1907, for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.

Before having recourse to the procedures specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 above, the High Contracting Parties may, by common consent, appeal to the good offices of the International Committee on Intellectual Co-operation, which would be in a position to constitute a special committee for this purpose.

Article 8.

The present Convention, of which the French and English texts are both authentic, shall bear this day's date, and shall be open for signature until May 1st, 1937, on behalf of any Member of the League of Nations, or any non-member State represented at the Conference which drew up the present Convention, or any non-member State to which the Council of the League of Nations shall have communicated a copy of the said Convention for that purpose.

Article 9.        

The present Convention shall be ratified. The instruments of ratification shall be sent to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, who shall notify the deposit thereof to all the Members of the League and to the non-member States referred to in the preceding Article.

Article 10.

After May 1st, 1937, any Member of the League of Nations and any non-member State referred to in Article 8 may accede to the present Convention.

The notifications of accession shall be sent to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, who shall notify the deposit thereof to all the Members of the League and to all the non-member States referred to in the aforesaid Article.

Article 11.

The present Convention shall be registered by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, in conformity with the provisions of Article 18 of the Covenant, sixty days after the receipt by him of the sixth ratification or accession.

The Convention shall enter into force on the day of such registration.

Article 12.

Every ratification or accession effected after the entry into force of the Convention shall take effect sixty days after the receipt thereof by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations.

Article 13.

The present Convention may be denounced by a notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations. Such notification shall take effect one year after its receipt.

The Secretary-General shall notify the receipt of any such denunciation to all Members of the League and to the non-member States referred to in Article 8.

If, as the result of denunciations, the number of High Contracting Parties should fall below six, the present Convention shall cease to apply.

Article 14.

Any High Contracting Party may, on signing, ratifying or acceding to the present Convention, or at any subsequent date, by a written document addressed to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, declare that the present Convention shall apply to all or any of his colonies, protectorates, overseas territories, or territories placed under his suzerainty or mandate. The present Convention shall apply to the territory or territories specified in the declaration sixty days after its receipt. Failing such a declaration, the Convention shall not apply to any such territory.

Any High Contracting Party may at any subsequent date, by a notification to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, declare that the present Convention shall cease to apply to any or all of his colonies, protectorates, overseas territories, or territories placed under his suzerainty or mandate. The Convention shall cease to apply to the territory or territories specified in the notification one year after its receipt.

The Secretary-General shall communicate to all Members of the League and to the non-member States referred to in Article 8 all declarations received under the present Article.

Article 15.

A request for the revision of the present Convention may be made at any time by any High Contracting Party in the form of a notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations. Such notification shall be communicated by the Secretary-General to the other High Contracting Parties. Should not less than one-third of them associate themselves with such request, the High Contracting Parties agree to meet with a view to the revision of the Convention.

In that event, it shall be for the Secretary-General of the League of Nations to propose to the Council or Assembly of the League of Nations the convening of a revision conference.

Done at Geneva, the twenty-third day of September, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Secretariat of the League of Nations and of which a certified true copy shall be delivered to all the Members of the League and to the non-member States referred to in Article 8.