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UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION—JUNE 15, 1897
211

the delivery of said article by paying at the moment of mailing a fixed fee of 25 centimes at the maximum. The same fee may be applied to requests for information relative to registered articles made subsequent to mailing, if the sender has not yet paid the special charge for obtaining a return receipt.

Article 7

1.—Registered articles marked with trade-charges, to be collected on delivery, may be sent, in the mails exchanged between the countries the Administrations of which agree to assure this service.

Articles marked with trade charges are subject to the formalities and rates applicable to registered articles.

The maximum trade charge is fixed, per article, at 1,000 francs, or the equivalent of that sum in the money of the country of destination. Each Administration, however, has the liberty to lower this maximum to 500 francs, per article or to the equivalent of that sum in its own currency.

2.—Unless there be a contrary arrangement, between the Administrations of the countries interested, the amount collected from the addressee must be transmitted to the sender by means of a money order, after deducting the fee for ordinary money orders and a charge of 10 centimes for the service of collection.

The amount of an undeliverable money order of this kind remains at the disposal of the Administration of the country of origin of the article marked with trade charges.

3.—For the loss of a registered article marked with trade charges the responsibility of the postal service is fixed under the conditions determined by Article 8 hereafter for registered articles not marked with trade charges. After the article has been delivered, the Administration of the country of destination is responsible for the amount of the trade charge and must, in case of complaint, prove that the sum collected has been transmitted to the sender, after deducting the fee and charge contemplated by Section 2.

Article 8

1.—In case of the loss of a registered article, and except in case of force majeure, the sender, or, at his request, the addressee, is entitled to an indemnity of 50 francs.

2.—The countries disposed to undertake risks arising from cases of force majeure are authorized to collect from the sender, on this account, a surtax not to exceed 25 centimes for each registered article.

3.—The obligation to pay the indemnity is incumbent on the Administration to which the dispatching office belongs. There is reserved to that Administration a remedy against the responsible Administration, that is to say, against the Administration on the territory or in the service of which the loss occurred.