ity granted in section 117 (b) of the ECA Act of 1948. Membership was accepted by the Union on March 30, 1949.16 Payments. U. S. membership dues were paid from Eca funds for the year 1949 under the above authorization. The United States payment for 1949 was 150 pounds (approximately $600). Agencies Chiefly Concerned. The Department of Commerce and the European Economic Administration are the agencies chiefly concerned with the United States relations with the organization. Participation. The Department of Commerce participates as a full member of the Union and as a member of the Executive Committee through the Chief of the Travel Branch, Office of International Trade. RELATIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS The International Union has consultative status with the United Nations and cooperates with the Transport and Communications Commission of the Economic and Social Council which has been charged by that council with handling international travel problems for the United Nations. BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS United States Participation: 62 Stat. 153 (22 U.S.C. Supp. II, Sec. 1515 (b)). International Union of Travel Organizations. Monthly Bulletin. November 1947 Interim Bulletin. 1948- . The Union also publishes annual proceedings of conferences. 1946- . Pan American Railway Congress Association Paseo Colon 185, Buenos Aires, Argentina ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT The Pan American Railway Congress Association developed from a prior organization known as the South American Railway Congress which held its first congress in 1910 at Buenos Aires. The idea had originally grown from a railway exhibition and congress held in 1907 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first railway built in the Argentine Republic. At the same time, the railway lines in several South American republics had reached the neighborhoods of their respective borders and the moment seemed appropriate for reaching an understanding of the problem relating to international railway 16 See Basic Texts and Publications, below. traffic. Including the initial Congress, six congresses have been held, in 1922, 1929, 1941, 1946, and 1948. At the 1941 Congress, the name of the organization was changed to the Pan American Railway Congress and invitations to join were extended to countries of Central and North America. The present name was adopted at the 1948 Congress with a view to conforming to the nomenclature of the International Railway Congress Association. MEMBERSHIP The Association is not purely a governmental organization but is composed of national governments, railway companies, both government and privately owned, and persons, real or legal, who contribute to its maintenance. With the adherence of the United States in 1948, the number of national government members totaled seventeen— Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS The purpose of the Association is "to promote the development and progress of railways in the American Continent" by periodic meetings, publication of pertinent documents and a periodic Bulletin, and the maintenance of information services and the preparation of studies on matters of common interest. Through its congresses, it is concerned with such matters as the coordination of the different means of transport, international unification of bookkeeping and statistics, costs of railway transport, systems of tariffs, maintenance of track, modernization of railway legislation, and the well-being of the staff, problems relating to permanent way and structures, rolling stock and motive power, operations, accounts and statistics, legislation and administration, coordination and regulation of the different means of transport, international railroad communications in the Western Hemisphere, and uniform tariff structures. In preparation for the next congress scheduled for October 1950, two committees are at work on various subjects including the preparation of a proposed uniform system of accounts for railroads, and a glossary of standardized railway terms. STRUCTURE The Association is organized into periodic congresses to be held every three years; a Permanent Commission, with headquarters at Buenos Aires, composed of resident members elected by the congress and one appointee of each National Commission and an Executive Committee. The Executive Committee, which directs the organization, consists of a president, two vice presidents, a general secretary and a treasurer chosen from among the members of the Permanent Commission and is assisted by a secretariat consisting of an administrative chief and an accountant appointed by the Executive Committee with, presumably, a clerical staff. In addition, each government member has a National Commission of 10 members each. The General Secretary of the Association is Joaquin Nuñez Brian. FINANCES Budget. The budget of the organization, which is prepared by the Permanent Commission, is governed by the receipt of contributions according to the scale fixed by its charter. The Association's 1949 expenditures are estimated at 76,295 pesos (approximately $15,895). Members' Quotas. Contributions of member governments and railroads are based on five cents per kilometer of railroad lines in operation with a minimum of one hundred dollars and a maximum of five thousand dollars for member governments and a minimum of twentyfive dollars and a maximum of two thousand dollars for member railroads. Permanent members pay an annual fee of 5 dollars, and manufacturers, merchants, and autonomous institutions pay 10 dollars. Transient members are charged a fixed membership fee of 5 dollars. The membership fee for life members is 50 dollars. The quotas of member governments for 1949 are as follows: Authorization. United States membership in the congress was authorized by a joint resolution approved June 28, 1948.17 Payments. The joint resolution providing for participation by the United States in the organization authorizes an annual appropriation See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 292. 17 not to exceed five thousand dollars for the payment of the United States proportionate share of the expenses of the Congress and its Permanent Commission. The quota of the United States is paid from funds appropriated to the Department of State. The United States paid a quota of $2,500 for half of the year 1948 and $5,000 for the year 1949. Its share is 42.18 percent of the total quotas of member governments for 1949. Agencies Chiefly Concerned. The Department of State is concerned with the administrative matters incident to U. S. membership, while the Department of Commerce and the Interstate Commerce Commission are responsible for the functional aspects of the U. S. participation in the Association. Participation. United States participation commenced with the payment of the U.S. quota obligation for 1948. The joint resolution providing for U.S. membership in the Association authorizes the appointment of a United States Delegation to the Congress, which will be in addition to the delegates of the private members in this country. Pursuant to the Statutes of the Association, a U.S. National Commission is now being organized and the U.S. member of the Permanent Commission is to be designated from the staff of the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires. RELATIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS The Association has no formal relationships with other international organizations. BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS United States Participation: 61 Stat. 1060. Pan American Railway Congress Association: Charter of the Association of the Pan American Railway Congress, approved at Havana, April 1948. Buenos Aires, 1948. Brief Historical Review. Buenos Aires, 1947. Proceedings of the South American Railway Congress. 1910-1941. Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses 155 rue de la Loi, Brussels 20, Belgium ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT A series of international congresses on inland navigation was initiated with a meeting at Brussels in 1885, and a parallel series on maritime navigation, at Paris in 1889. At The Hague in 1894 it was resolved to combine the two into a single International Navigation Congress, the first of which was held at Brussels in 1898. There it was decided to establish a permanent organization, and a committee was organized to draw up the necessary plans. This committee was composed of representatives of more than 20 states, including the United States, and its recommendations were unanimously adopted by the Paris Congress of 1900, which thus established the present Association.18 Since then more than 50 governments have officially joined it at the invitation of the Belgian Government. The basic document of the Association is its Regulations, the most recent edition having been agreed upon in 1926.18 The Association was inactive from 1939 to 1946 and was not formally reactivated until late in 1947. The Seventeenth International Congress, which had been scheduled to be held at Berlin in 1940, was held at Lisbon in September 1949. MEMBERSHIP There are three classes of members-governments, corporations, and individuals. While it has not yet been possible to set up a definite postwar membership list, the following countries and territories are currently considered members of the organization: Algeria, Austria, Belgian Congo, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Cameroons, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, French Equatorial Africa, French India and French Somali Coast, French West Africa, Great Britain, India, Indochina, Ireland, Italy, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Union of South Africa, United States of America. In addition, the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, the Suez Canal Commission, some 400 corporations, and 1,950 individuals are contributing members. PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS The purpose of the Association is to promote the progress of inland and maritime navigation, more particularly to consider the improvement of rivers, inland and maritime canals, et cetera, their technical exploitation, and relevant commercial and economic questions and to review reports. The Congress deals with the improvement and maintenance of harbors and waterways and their accessories but not with ships and the actual navigation thereof. It accomplishes its purpose by organizing international navigation congresses; by arranging trips of inspection to harbors, locks, and 18 See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 295. |