Department of State, December 1946 Preliminary Draft CHARTER for the INTERNATIONAL TRADE ORGANIZATION of the UNITED NATIONS ARTICLES AS DRAFTED AT THE LONDON MEETING, OCTOBER 15-NOVEMBER 26, 1946, BY THE PRE PARATORY COMMITTEE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND EMPLOYMENT, DRAFTS OF ARTICLES ON WHICH THE PREPARA TORY COMMITTEE TOOK NO SPECIFIC ACTION 99616-47-pt. 1—6 FOREWORD The draft charter for an international trade organization which follows is not an official document of either the United States Government or the Preparatory Committee of the International Conference on Trade and Employment. It is submitted purely as an interim working paper to facilitate study in the United States of proposed provisions for a charter of an international trade organization. In September 1946 the United States Government published a Suggested Charter for an International Trade Organization of the United Nations. The Suggested Charter was submitted to the Preparatory Committee of the International Conference on Trade and Employment, which held its first meeting in London between October 15 and November 26 of that year. The Preparatory Committee used the Suggested Charter as the main basis for its discussions. Acting as a group of experts, without committing the governments represented, the Preparatory Committee agreed to texts of draft articles with respect to about 85 percent of the provisions which it is anticipated might be included in a charter for an international trade organization. In the case of other provisions, draft articles were not agreed to, because the short duration of the Preparatory Committee meeting and the complexity of the provisions concerned made it necessary to refer them to an interim drafting committee, which will meet in New York beginning in January, and to the second meeting of the Preparatory Committee in April. In preparing the draft charter which follows, the Department of State has used the basic organization of the Suggested Charter published by the United States Government in September 1946. In cases where the Preparatory Committee agreed on draft articles, those articles have been substituted for the corresponding articles in the United States Suggested Charter. Of the 89 articles in the draft. charter which follows, 74 are articles which were agreed to by the Preparatory Committee. In cases where the Preparatory Committee did not agree on an article, the original article from the United States Suggested Charter has been included in square brackets. In order to provide an integrated document, it was necessary to change the numbers of the articles and also to edit the references in certain articles to provisions in others. All such editing changes have been underlined in the text. The Preparatory Committee prepared a new chapter on Economic Development. In the draft which follows, that chapter has been inserted between the chapters on Employment and General Commercial Policy. Article 3. Relation of Em.ployment to the Purposes of the Organization Article 4. The Maintenance of Domestic Employment Article 5. The Development of Domestic Resources and Productivity Article 7. The Removal of Maladjustments in the Balance of Payments Article 8. Safeguards for Countries Subject to External Deflationary Article 9. Consultation and Exchange of Information on Matters Re- CHAPTER V. GENERAL COMMERCIAL POLICY SECTION A. General Commercial Provisions Article 14. General Most-Favored-Nation Treatment Article 15. National Treatment on Internal Taxation and Regulation* 67789a6 SECTION B. Tariffs and Tariff Preferences Article 24. Reduction of Tariffs and Elimination of Preferences *Asterisks indicate that these articles have been taken from the United States |