Article 16
Governments which are not parties to the present Convention shall be permitted to adhere to it upon their request. Such adherence shall be communicated through diplomatic channels to the contracting Government in whose territory the last conference shall have been held, and by the latter to the remaining Governments.
The adherence shall carry with it to the fullest extent acceptance of all the clauses of this Convention and admission to all the advantages stipulated therein.
Article 17
The provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12 and 17 of the International Telegraph Convention of St. Petersburg of July 10/22, 1875,[1] shall be applicable to international wireless telegraphy.
- ↑ Articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 17 of the convention of 1875 read, in translation, as follows:
Art. 1. The High Contracting Parties concede to all persons the right to correspond by means of the international telegraphs.
Art. 2. They bind themselves to take all the necessary measures for the purpose of insuring the secrecy of the correspondence and its safe transmission.
Art. 3. They declare, nevertheless, that they accept no responsibility as regards the international telegraph service.
Art. 5. Telegrams are classed in three categories:
1. State telegrams: those emanating from the Head of the Nation, the Ministers, the Commanders-in-Chief of the Army and Naval forces, and the Diplomatic or Consular Agents of the Contracting Governments, as well as the answers to such telegrams.
2. Service telegrams: those which emanate from the Managements of the Telegraph Service of the Contracting States and which relate either to the international telegraph service or to subjects of public interest determined jointly by such Managements
3. Private telegrams.
In the transmission, the State telegrams shall have precedence over other telegrams. Art. 6. State telegrams and service telegrams may be issued in secret language, in any communications.
Private telegrams may be exchanged in secret language between two States which admit of this mode of correspondence.
The States which do not admit of private telegrams in secret language upon the expedition or arrival of the same, shall allow them to pass in transit, except in the case of suspension defined in article 8.
Art. 7. The High Contracting Parties reserve the right to stop the transmission of any private telegram which may appear dangerous to the safety of the State, or which may be contrary to the laws of the country, to public order or good morals.
Art. 8. Each Government also reserves the right to suspend the international telegraph service for an indefinite period, if deemed necessary by it, either generally, or only over certain lines and for certain classes of correspondence, of which such Government shall immediately notify all the other Contracting Governments.
Art. 11. Telegrams relating to the international telegraph service of the Contracting States shall be transmitted free of charge over the entire systems of such States.
Art. 12. The High Contracting Parties shall render accounts to one another of the charges collected by each of them.
Art. 17. The High Contracting Parties reserve respectively the right to enter among themselves into special arrangements of any kind with regard to points of the service which do not interest the States generally.
For full text of convention of 1875, see 57 LNTS 212.
