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Treaty of Neuilly, and Protocol the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan.
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SECTION IV.
PROPERTY, 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
accordance 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 na-tionality 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 and
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 na- tionals
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 country 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 (i) 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 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 all declared void, and the
Bulgarian Government will take all measures necessary for the restoration of such property, rights
and interests.
(e) The nationals of Alled 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 paragarph (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 if may have been charged after the
liquidation, and to indemnify all third parties injured by the restitution.
If the restition provided for in this paragraph cannot be effected, private agreements aranged by the
intermediation of the Powers 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 equivalents
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 Alled or
Associated Powers within whose territory 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 applicatbn 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 proceds 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 theref 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 eonditions 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 and interests which have been
subjected to exceptional measures of war, until restitution in accordance with the present Treaty,
shall be restored to the owners.
ARTICLE 178.
Bulgaria undertakes, with regard to the property, rights and interests, including companies and
associations in which they were interested, restored to nationals of Allied and Associated Powers in
accordance with the provisions of Article 177:
(a) To restore and maintain, except as expressly provided in the present Treaty, the property, rights
and interests of the nationals of Allied or Associated Powers in the legal position obtaining in
respect of the property, rights and interests of Bulgarian nationals under the laws in force before the
war;
(b) Not to subject the property, rights or interests of the nationals of the Allied or Associated
Powers to any measures in derogation of property rights which are not applied equally to the
property, rights and interests of Bulgarian nationals, and to pay adequate compensation in the event
of the application of these measures.
ARTICLE 179.
Diplomatic or consular claims made before the war by the Representatives or Agents of the Allied
and Associated Powers with regard to the private property, rights or interests of nationals of those
Powers shall, on the application of the Power concerned, be siubmitted to the Mixed Arbitral
Tribunal provided for in Section Vl.
ANNEX.
I.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 177, paragraph (d), the validity of vesting orders and
of orders for the winding up of businesses or companies, and of any other orders, directions,
decisions or instructions of any court or any department of the Government of any of the Allied and
Associated Powers made or given, or purporting to be made or given, in pursuance of war
legislation with regard to enemy property, rights and interests is confirmed. The interests of all
persons shall be regarded as having been effectively dealt with by any order, direction, decision or
instruction dealing with property in which they may be interested, whether or not such interests are
specifically mentioned in the order, direction, decision or instruction. No question shall be raised as
to the regularity of a transfer of any property, rights or interests dealt with in pursuance of any such
order, direction, decision or instruction. Every action taken with regard to any property, business or
company, whether as regards its investigation, sequestration, compulsory administration, use,
requisition, supervision, or winding up, the sale or management of property, rights or interests, the
collection or discharge of debts, the payment of costs, charges or expenses, or any other matter
whatsoever, in pursuance of orders, directions, decisions or instructions of any court or of any
department of the Government of any of the Allied and Associated Powers, made or given, or
purporting to be made or given, in pursuance of war legislation with regard to enemy property,
rights or interests, is confirmed. Provided that the provisions of this paragraph shall not be held to
prejudice the titles to property heretofore acquired in good faith and for value and in accordance
with the laws of the country in which the property is situated by nationals of the Allied and
Associated Powers.
2.
No claim or action shall be made or brought against any Allied or Associated Power or against any
person acting on behalf of or under the direction of any legal authority or department of the
Government of such a Power by Bulgaria or by any Bulgarian national wherever resident in respect
of any act or omission with regard to his property, rights, or interests during the war or in
preparation for the war. Similarly, no claim or action shall be made or brought against any person in
respect of any act or omission under or in accordance with the exceptional war measures laws or
regulations of any Allied or Associated Power.
3
In Article I77 and this Annex the expression "exceptional war measures" includes measures of all
kinds, legislative, administrative, judicial or others, that have been taken-or will be taken hereafter
with regard to enemy property, and which have had or will have the effect of removing from the
proprietors the power of disposition over their property, though without affecting the ownership,
such as measures of supervision, of compulsory administration, and of sequestration; or measures
which have had or will have as an object the seizure of, the use of, or the interference with enemy
assets, for whatsoever motive, under whatsoever form or in whatsoever place. Acts in the execution
of these measures include all detentions, instructions, orders or decrees of Government departments
or courts applying these measures to enemy property, as well as acts performed by any person
connected with the administration or the supervision of enemy property, such as the payment of
debts, the collection of credits, the payment of any costs, charges or expenses, or the collecting of
fees.
Measures of transfer are those which have affected or will affect the ownership of enemy property
by transferring it in whole or in part to a person other than the enemy owner, and without his
consent, such as measures directing the sale, liquidation or devolution of ownership in enemy
property, or the cancelling of titles or securities.
4
All property, rights and interests of Bulgarian nationals within the territory of any Allied or
Associated Power and the net proceeds of their sale, liquidation or other dealing therewith may be
charged by that Allied or Associated Power in the first place with payment of amounts due in
respect of claims by the nationals of that Allied or Associated Power with regard to their property,
rights and interests, including companies and associations in which they are interested, in Bulgarian
territory, or debts owing to them by Bulgarian nationals, and with payment of claims growing out
of acts committed by the Bulgarian Government or by any Bulgarian authorities since October 11,
1915, and before that Allied or Associated Power entered into the war. The amount of such claims
may be assessed by an arbitrator appointed by M. Gustav Ador, if he is willing, or if no such
appointment is made by him, by an arbitrator appointed by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for
in Section Vl. They may be charged in the second place with payment of the amounts due in respect
of claims by the nationals of such Allied or Associated Power with regard to their property, rights
and interests in the territory of other enemy Powers, in so far as those claims are otherwise
unsatisfied.
5
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 177, where immediately before the outbreak of war a
company incorporated in an Allied or Associated State had rights in common with a company
controlled by it and incorporated in Bulgaria to the use of trade-marks in third countries, or enjoyed
the use in common with such company of unique means of reproduction of goods or articles for
sale in third countries, the former company shall alone have the right to use these trade-marks in
third countries to the exclusion of the Bulgarian company, and these unique means of reproduction
shall be handed over to the former company, notwithstanding any action taken under Bulgarian war
legislation with regard to the latter company or its business, industrial property or shares.
Nevertheless, the former company, if requested, shall deliver to the latter company derivative copies
permitting the continuation of reproduction of articles for use within Bulgarian territory.
6.
Up to the time when restitution is carried out in accordance with Article 177, Bulgaria is responsible
for the conservation of property, rights and interests of the nationals of Allied or Associated
Powers, including companies and associations in which they are interested, that have been
subjected by her to exceptional war measures.
7
Within one year from the coming into force of the present Treaty the Allied or Associate effective
legislation in accordan rights and interests over which they intend to exercise the right provided in
Article 177, paragraph (f).
8.
The restitution provided in Article 177 will be carried out by order of the Bulgarian C,overnment or
of the authorities which have been substituted for it. Detailed accounts of the action of
administrators shall be furnished to the interested persons by the Bulgarian authorities upon request,
which may be made at any time after the coming into force of the present Treaty.
9
Until completion of the liquidation provided by Article 177 paragraph (b), the property, rights, and
interests of Bulgarian nationals will continue to be subject to exceptional war measures that have
been or will be taken with regard to them.
10.
Bulgaria will, within six months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, deliver to each
Allied or Associated Power all securities, certificates, deeds or other documents of title held by its
nationals and relating to property, rights or interests situated in the territory of that Allied or
Associated Power, including any shares, stock, debentures, debenture stock or other obligations of
any company incorporated in accordance with the laws of that Power.
Bulgaria will at any time on demand of any Allied or Associated Power furnish such information as
may be required with regard to the property, rights and interests of Bulgarian nationals within the
territory of such Allied or Associated Power, or with regard to any transactions concerning such
property, rights or interests effected since September 1, 1915.
11.
The expression "cash assets" includes all deposits or funds established before or after the existence
of a state of war, as well as all assets coming from deposits, revenues or profits collected by
administrators, sequestrators or others from funds placed on deposit or otherwise, but does not
include sums belonging to the Allied or Associated Powers or to their component States, Provinces
or Municipalities.
12.
All investments wheresoever effected with the cash assets of nationals of the High Contracting
Parties, including companies and associations in which such nationals were interested, by persons
responsible for the administration of enemy properties or having control over such administration,
or by order of such persons or of any authority whatsoever, shall be annulled. These cash assets
shall be accounted for irrespective of any such investment.
13.
Within one month from the coming into force of the present Treaty, or on demand at any time,
Bulgaria will deliver to the Allied and Associated Powers all accounts, vouchers, records,
documents and information of any kind which may be within Bulgarian territory, and which
concern the property, rights and interests of the nationals of those Powers, including companies and
associations in which they are interested, that have been subjected to an exceptional war measure, or
to a measure of transfer either in Bulgarian territory or in territory occupied by Bulgaria or her
allies.
The controllers, supervisors, managers, administrators, sequestrators, liquidators and receivers,
shall be personally responsible under guarantee of the Bulgarian Government for the immediate
delivery in full of these accounts and documents, and for their accuracy.
14.
The provisions of Article 177 and this Annex relating to property, rights and interests in an enemy
country, and the proceeds of the liquidation thereof, apply to debts, credits and accounts, Section
III regulating only the method of payment.
In the settlement of matters provided for in Article 177 between Bulgaria and the Allied or
Associated States, their colonies or protectorates, or any one of the British Dominions or India, in
respect of any of which a declaration shall not have been made that they adopt Section III, and
between their respective nationals, the provisions of Section III respecting the currency in which
payment is to be made and the rate of exchange and of interest shall apply unless the Government of
the Allied or Associated Power concerned shall, within six months of the coming into force of the
present Treaty, notify Bulgaria that one or more of the said provisions are not to be applied.
15.
The provisions of Article 177 and this Annex apply to industrial, literary and artistic property which
has been or will be dealt with in the liquidation of property, rights, interests, companies or
businesses under war legislation by the Allied or Associated Powers, or in accordance with the
stipulations of Article 177, paragraph (b).
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