3746 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OTHER THAN TREATIES [61 STAT. officially announced its desire that the quantitative restrictions upon imports, imposed by it on March 15, 1947, shall be of as short duration as possible. The Swedish Government also brings to the notice of the United States Government the Govern- ment Bill of May 30, 1947, in which it indicated its desire, due consideration being given to existing trade agreements, to see an expansion of the volume and a development of the direction of Swedish exports serving to redress Sweden's international balance of payments at the earliest possible date. The Swedish Govern- ment has not at present any undertaking, and does not propose to enter into undertakings, that specific commodities will be delivered to specific countries unless such a policy should form part of a fair allocation among all importing countries of essential commodities in short supply. 4. During the period while the quantitative import restrictions re- main in force, the Government of Sweden, which has taken note of the fact that the Government of the United States of America does not in relation to Sweden restrict the free disposition of dollar earnings or assets, except as provided for in the exchange of letters of March 18 and 25, 1947 [l] establishing the procedure for unblocking of Swedish assets in the United States, will con- tinue to authorize all current payments, including payments for imports and the transfer of earnings and remittances, and will limit such control of foreign exchange as it may become necessary to maintain to the control of international capital movements. 5. During the period while the quantitative restrictions upon im- ports remain in force the Government of Sweden when admin- istering the controls will observe the following principles: a. Commodities will be licensed without regard to the country of origin, except as stated below. b. In those instances where, during the period covered by the present arrangements, the above licensing principle would exert a restrictive influence on the overall volume of inter- national trade by reducing imports from areas experiencing a serious shortage of gold and/or convertible currencies in a way which would not improve Sweden's multilateral pay- ments possibilities, Sweden in granting import licenses may take into consideration the special payments possibilities which may exist between Sweden and the country of origin. c. Licenses will, unless otherwise agreed, be granted permitting the importation of commodities from the United States listed in Schedule I of the Commercial Agreement between the 49 stat. 3788 . United States of America and Sweden of 1935, and not on the unrestricted list, to an amount, for the period from January 1, 1947 to June 30, 1948, equivalent to not less than 150% of the volume of like imports from the United States during 1946. [Not printed.]
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