16.

Where the two Clearing Offices are unable to agree whether a debt claimed is due, or in case of a difference between an enemy debtor and an enemy creditor, or between the Clearing Offices, the dispute shall either be referred to arbitration if the parties so agree under conditions fixed by agreement between them, or referred to the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for in Section VI hereafter.

At the request of the Creditor Clearing Office the dispute may, however, be submitted to the jurisdiction of the Courts of the place of domicile of the debtor.

17.

Recovery of sums found by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal, the Court, or the Arbitration Tribunal to be due shall be effected through the Clearing Offices, as if these sums were debts admitted by the Debtor Clearing Office.

18. .

Each of the Governments concerned shall appoint an agent who will be responsible for the presentation to the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal of the cases conducted on behalf of its Clearing Office. This agent will exercise a general control over the representatives or counsel employed by its nationals.

Decisions will be arrived at on documentary evidence, but it will be open to the Tribunal to hear the parties in person, or according to their preference by their representatives approved by the two Governments, or by the agent referred to above, who shall be competent to intervene along with the party or to reopen and maintain a claim abandoned by the same.

19.

The Clearing Offices concerned will lay before the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal all the information and documents in their possession, so as to enable the Tribunal to decide rapidly on the cases which are brought before it.

20.

Where one of the parties concerned appeals against the joint decision of the two Clearing Offices he shall make a deposit against the costs, which deposit shall only be refunded when the first judgment is modified in favour of the appellant and in proportion to the success he may attain, his opponent in case of such a refund being required to pay an equivalent proportion of the costs and expenses. Security accepted by the Tribunal may be substituted for a deposit. A fee of 5 per cent of the amount in dispute shall be charged in respect of all cases brought before the Tribunal. This fee shall, unless the Tribunal directs otherwise, be borne by the unsuccessful party. Such fee shall be added to the deposit referred to. It is also independent of the security.

The Tribunal may award to one of the parties a sum in respect of the expenses of the proceedings.

Any sum payable under this paragraph shall be credited to the Clearing Office of the successful party as a separate item.

21.

With a view to the rapid settlement of claims, due regard shall be paid in the appointment of all persons connected with the Clearing Offices or with the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal to their knowledge of the language of the other country concerned.

Each of the Clearing Offices will be at liberty to correspond with the other and to forward documents in its own language.

22.

Subject to any special agreement to the contrary between the Governments concerned, debts shall carry interest in accordance with the following provisions:

Interest shall not be payable on sums of money due by way of dividend, interest or other periodical payments which themselves represent interest on capital.

The rate of interest shall be 5 per cent. per annum except in cases where, by contract, law or custom, the creditor is entitled to payment of interest at a different rate. In such cases the rate to which he is entitled shall prevail.

Interest shall run from the date of commencement of hostilities (or, if the sum of money to be recovered fell due during the war, from the date at which it fell due) until the sum is credited to the Clearing Office of the creditor.

Sums due by way of interest shall be treated as debts admitted by the Clearing Offices and shall be credited to the Creditor Clearing Office in the same way as such debts.

23.

Where by decision of the Clearing Offices or the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal a claim is held not to fall within Article 176, the creditor shall be at liberty to prosecute the claim before the Courts or to take such other proceedings as may be open to him.

The presentation of a claim to the Clearing Office suspends the operation of any period of prescription.

24.

The High Contracting Parties agree to regard the decisions of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal as final and conclusive and to render them binding upon their nationals.

25.

In any case where a Creditor Clearing Office declines to notify a claim to the Debtor Clearing Office, or to take any step provided for in this Annex, intended to make effective in whole or in part a request of which it has received due notice, the enemy creditor shall be entitled to receive from the Clearing Office a certificate setting out the

amount of the claim, and shall then be entitled to prosecute the claim before the courts or to take such other proceedings as may be open to him.

SECTION IV.-PROPERTIES, RIGHTS AND INTERESTS.

ARTICLE 177.

The question of private property, rights and interests in an enemy country shall be settled according to the principles laid down in this Section and to the provisions of the Annex hereto.

(a) The exceptional war measures and measures of transfer (defined in paragraph 3 of the Annex hereto) taken by Bulgaria with respect to the property, rights and interests of nationals of Allied or Associated Powers, including companies and associations in which they are interested, when liquidation has not been completed, shall be immediately discontinued or stayed and the property, rights and interests concerned restored to their owners, who shall enjoy full rights therein in acordance with the provisions of Article 178. The Bulgarian Government will revoke all legislative or administrative provisions which it may have made during the war forbidding companies of Allied and Associated nationality or companies in which Allied or Associated nationals are interested to enjoy the benefit of concessions or contracts in Bulgaria.

(b) Subject to any contrary stipulations which may be provided for in the present Treaty, the Allied and Associated Powers reserve the right to retain and liquidate all property, rights and interests belonging at the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty to Bulgarian nationals, or companies controlled by them, within their territories, colonies, possessions and protectorates, including territories ceded to them by the present Treaty.

The liquidation shall be carried out in accordance with the laws of the Allied or Associated State concerned, and the Bulgarian owner shall not be able to dispose of such property, rights or interests nor to subject them to any charge without the consent of that State.

Bulgarian nationals who acquire ipso facto the nationality of an Allied or Associated Power in accordance with the provisions of the present Treaty will not be considered as Bulgarian nationals within the meaning of this paragraph.

(c) The price or the amount of compensation in respect of the exercise of the right referred to in paragraph (b) will be fixed in accordance with the methods of sale or valuation adopted by the laws of the county in which the property has been retained or liquidated.

(d) As between the Allied and Associated Powers or their nationals on the one hand and Bulgaria or her nationals on the other hand, all the exceptional war measures, or measures of transfer, put into operation by the Allied and Associated Powers, or acts done or to be done in execution of such measures as defined in paragraphs 1 and 3 of the Annex hereto, shall be considered as final and binding upon all persons except as regards the reservations laid down in the present Treaty. If however in the States referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article measures prejudicial to the property, rights and interests of Bulgarian nationals and not in accordance with the local law

have been taken, the Bulgarian proprietor shall be entitled to compensation for the damage caused to him. This compensation shall be fixed by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for by Section VI. The same measures and all others affecting the property, rights and interests of nationals of the Allied and Associated Powers-notably, acts of requisition or seizure, wheresoever effected, by the civil or military authorities, the troops or the population of Bulgaria, or effected in Bulgaria by the civil or military authorities or the troops of the Powers allied with Bulgaria-are declared void, and the Bulgarian Government will take all measures necesary for the restoration of such property, rights and interests.

(e) The nationals of Allied and Associated Powers shall be entitled to compensation in respect of damage or injury inflicted upon their property, rights or interests, including any company or association in which they are interested, in Bulgarian territory as it existed on September 20, 1915, by the application either of the exceptional war measures or measures of transfer mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 3 of the Annex hereto. The claims made in this respect by such nationals shall be investigated, and the total of the compensation shall be determined by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for in Section VI, or by an arbitrator appointed by that Tribunal. This compensation shall be borne by Bulgaria, and may be charged upon the property of Bulgarian nationals within the territory or under the control of the claimant's State. This property may be constituted as a pledge for enemy liabilities under the conditions: fixed by paragraph 4 of the Annex hereto. The payment of this compensation may be made by the Allied or Associated State, and the amount will be debited to Bulgaria.

(f) Whenever a national of an Allied or Associated Power is entitled to property which has been subjected to a measure of transfer in Bulgarian territory and expresses a desire for its restitution, his claim for compensation in accordance with paragraph (e) shall be satisfied by the restitution of the said property if it still exists in specie.

In such case Bulgaria shall take all necessary steps to restore the evicted owner to the possession of his property, free from all encumbrances or burdens with which it may have been charged after theliquidation, and to indemnify all third parties injured by the restitution.

If the restitution provided for in this paragraph cannot be effected, private agreements arranged by the intermediation of thePowers concerned or the Clearing Offices provided for in the Annex to Section III may be made, in order to secure that the national of the Allied or Associated Power may secure compensation for the injury referred to in paragraph (e) by the grant of advantages or equivalent which he agrees to accept in place of the property, rights: or interests of which he was deprived.

Through restitution in accordance with this Article, the price or the amount of compensation fixed by the application of paragraph (e) will be reduced by the actual value of the property restored, account being taken of compensation in respect of loss of use or deterioration.

(g) The rights conferred by paragraph (f) are reserved to owners who are nationals of Allied or Associated Powers within whose ter-

ritory legislative measures prescribing the general liquidation of enemy property, rights or interests were not applied before the signature of the Armistice.

(h) Except in cases where, by application of paragraph (f), restitutions in specie have been made, the net proceeds of sales of enemy property, rights or interests, wherever situated, carried out either by virtue of war legislation, or by application of this Article, and in general all cash assets of enemies, shall be dealt with as follows:

(1) As regards Powers adopting Section III and the Annex thereto, the said proceeds and cash assets shall be credited to the Power of which the owner is a national, through the Clearing Office established thereunder; any credit balance in favour of Bulgaria resulting therefrom shall be dealt with as provided in Article 129, Part VII (Reparation), of the present Treaty.

(2) As regards Powers not adopting Section III and the Annex thereto, the proceeds of the property, rights and interests, and the cash assets, of the nationals of Allied or Associated Powers held by Bulgaria shall be paid immediately to the person entitled thereto or to his Government; the proceeds of the property, rights and interests, and the cash assets, of Bulgarian nationals received by an Allied or Associated Power shall be subject to disposal by such Power in accordance with its laws and regulations, and may be applied in payment of the claims and debts defined by this Article or paragraph 4 of the Annex hereto. Any property, rights and interests or proceeds thereof or cash assets not used as above provided may be retained by the said Allied and Associated Power, and if retained the cash value thereof shall be dealt with as provided in Article 129, Part VII (Reparation), of the present Treaty.

(i) In the case of liquidations effected in new States which are signatories of the present Treaty as Allied and Associated Powers, or in States to which Bulgarian territory is transferred by the present Treaty, or in States which are not entitled to share in the reparation payments to be made by Bulgaria, the proceeds of liquidations effected by such States shall, subject to the rights of the Reparation Commission under the present Treaty, particularly under Article 121, Part VII (Reparation), of the present Treaty, be paid direct to the owner. If, on the application of that owner, the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for by Section VI of this Part, or an arbitrator appointed by that Tribunal, is satisfied that the conditions of the sale or measures taken by the Government of the State in question outside its general legislation were unfairly prejudicial to the price obtained, the Tribunal or arbitrator shall have discretion to award to the owner equitable compensation to be paid by that State.

(j) Bulgaria undertakes to compensate her nationals in respect of the sale or retention of their property, rights or interests in Allied or Associated States.

(k) The amount of all taxes and imposts upon capital levied or to be levied by Bulgaria on the property, rights and interests of the nationals of the Allied or Associated Powers from September 29, 1918, until three months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, or, in the case of property, rights or interests which have been subjected to exceptional measures of war, until restitution in accordance with the present Treaty, shall be restored to the owners.