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Agreement for the Suppression of the Circulation of Obscene Publications [*]

Done at: New York

Date enacted: 1949-05-04

In force: 1950-03-01

Article 1

Each of the Contracting Governments agrees to establish or to designate an authority charged with the duty:

1.

Of coordinating all information which may facilitate the discovery and suppression of acts constituting offences against their internal legislation in respect of obscene writings, designs, pictures, or objects, where the various acts constituting the offence have taken place in different countries;

2.

Of furnishing all information which may be useful for the purpose of preventing the importation of publications of objects contemplated by the preceding paragraph, or of securing or expediting the seizure thereof, so far as their respective laws permit;

3.

Of communicating the laws which have been or shall be introduced in their respective States with reference to the object of the present Agreement.

The Contracting Governments shall mutually make known to one another, through the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the authority established or designated in accordance with the present Article.

Article 2

The authority designated under Article 1 shall have power to correspond direct with the similar department established in each of the other Contracting States.

Article 3

The authority designated under Article 1 shall, if the internal legislation of the country concerned so permit, communicate to the similar authorities of all the other Contracting States particulars of convictions pronounced in the said country in respect of offences contemplated by Article 1.

Article 4

Non-signatory States will be permitted to adhere to the present Agreement. They shall notify their intention to that effect by means of an instrument which shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall send a certified copy of the said instrument to each one of the Contracting States and to all the Members of the United Nations, and at the same time apprise them of the date of deposit.

Six months after that date, the Agreement will go into effect throughout the territory of the adhering State, which will thereby become a Contracting State.

Article 5

The present Agreement shall come into force six months after the date of the deposit of ratifications.

In the event of one of the Contracting States denounces it, the denunciation would only have effect in regard to that State.

The denunciation shall be notified by any instrument which shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations. the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall send a certified copy thereof to each one of the Contracting States and to all the Members of the United Nations, and at the same time apprise them of the date of deposit.

Twelve months after this date the Agreement shall cease to be in force throughout the territory of the State which has denounced it.

Article 6

The present Agreement shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be deposited at Paris as soon as six of the Contracting States are in a position to do so.

A procès-verbal of every deposit of ratifications shall be drawn up and a certified copy thereof shall be delivered through the diplomatic channel to each one of the Contracting States.

Article 7

Should a Contracting State wish to enforce the present Agreement in one or more of its colonies, possessions or areas under consular jurisdiction, it shall notify its intention to that effect by an instrument which shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall send a certified copy to each of the Contracting States and to all the Members of the United Nations and the same time apprise them of the date of the deposit.

Six months after this date the Agreement shall go into effect in the colonies, possessions, or consular court districts specified in the instrument of ratification.

The denunciation of the Agreement by one of the Contracting States on behalf of one or more of its colonies, possessions or consular court districts shall be effected in the form and under the conditions set forth in the first paragraph of this Article. It shall take effect twelve months after the date of the deposit of the instrument of denunciation in the archives of the United Nations.

Article 8

The present Agreement, which shall be dated 4 March 1910, may be signed in Paris up to 31 July following, by the plenipotentiaries of the Powers represented at the Conference for the Suppression of Obscene Publications.

[*]

This Convention revises the Agreement for the Suppression of the Circulation of Obscene Publications adopted 1910-05-04, in force 1911-09-15. As amended by Protocol adopted 1949-05-04, in force 1950-03-01.