ARTICLE 267.—Every favor, immunity, or privilege in regard to the importation, exportation, or transit of goods granted by Germany to any Allied or Associated State or to any other foreign country whatever shall simultaneously and unconditionally, without request and without compensation, be extended to all the Allied and Associated States.

ARTICLE 268.—The provisions of Article 264 to 267 inclusive of this chapter and of Article 323 of Part XII. (ports, waterways, and railways) of the present treaty are subject to the following exceptions:

  1. For a period of five years from the coming into force of the present treaty, natural or manufactured products which both originate in and come from the territories of Alsace and Lorraine reunited to France shall, on importation into German customs territory, be exempt from all customs duty.
  2. The French Government shall fix each year by decree communicated to the German Government, the nature and amount of the products which shall enjoy this exemption.
  3. The amount of each product which may be thus sent annually into Germany shall not exceed the average of the amounts sent annually in the years 1911—1913.
  4. Further, during the period above mentioned the German Government shall allow the free export from Germany, and the free reimportation into Germany, exempt from all customs duties and other charges, (including internal charges,) of yarns, tissues, and other textile materials or textile products of any kind and in any condition sent from Germany into the territories of Alsace or Lorraine, to be subjected there to any finishing process, such as bleaching, dyeing, printing, mercerization, gassing, twisting, or dressing.
  5. During a period of three years from the coming into force of the present treaty natural or manufactured products which both originate in and come from Polish territories which before the war were part of Germany shall, on importation into German customs territory, be exempt from all customs duty.
  6. The Polish Government shall fix each year, by decree communicated to the German Government, the nature and amount of the products which shall enjoy this exemption.
  7. The amount of each product which may be thus sent annually into Germany shall not exceed the average of the amounts sent annually in the years 1911—1913.
  8. The Allied and Associated Powers reserve the right to require Germany to accord freedom from customs duty, on importation into German customs territory, to natural products and manufactured articles which both originate in and come from the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, for a period of five years from the coming into force of the present treaty.
  9. The nature and amount of the products which shall enjoy the benefits of this régime shall be communicated each year to the German Government.
  10. The amount of each product which may be thus sent annually into Germany shall not exceed the average of the amounts sent annually in the years 1911—1913.

ARTICLE 269.—During the first six months after the coming into force of the present treaty, the duties imposed by Germany on imports from Allied and Associated States shall not be higher than the most favorable duties which were applied to imports into Germany on the 31st July, 1914.

During a further period of thirty months after the expiration of the first six months, this provision shall continue to be applied exclusively with regard to products which, being comprised in Section A of the First Category of the German Customs Tariff of the 25th December, 1902, enjoyed at the above-mentioned date (31st July, 1914,) rates conventionalized by treaties with the Allied and Associated Powers, with the addition of all kinds of wine and vegetable oils, of artificial silk and of washed or scoured wool, whether or not they were the subject of special conventions before the 31st July, 1914.

ARTICLE 270.—The Allied and Associated Powers reserve the right to apply to German territory occupied by their troops a special customs régime as regards imports and exports, in the event of such a measure being necessary in their opinion in order to safeguard the economic interests of the population of these territories.

CHAPTER II.—SHIPPING

ARTICLE 271.—As regards sea fishing, maritime coasting trade, and maritime towage, vessels of the Allied and Associated Powers shall enjoy, in German territorial waters, the treatment accorded to vessels of the most-favored nation.

ARTICLE 272.—Germany agrees that, notwithstanding any stipulation to the contrary contained in the conventions relating to the North Sea fisheries and liquor traffic, all rights of inspection and police shall, in the case of fishing boats of the Allied Powers, be exercised solely by ships belonging to those powers.

ARTICLE 273.—In the case of vessels of the Allied or Associated Powers, all classes of certificates or documents relating to the vessel, which were recognized as valid by Germany before the war, or which may hereafter be recognized as valid by the principal maritime States, shall be recognized by Germany as valid and as equivalent to the corresponding certificates issued to German vessels.