SPECIAL COMMERCIAL CONVENTION.

　His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, and His Majesty the King of Spain and in His Royal name Her Majesty the Queen Regent of the Realm, having resolved to conclude in fulfillment of the stipulation of Article I of the Protocol signed at Madrid on the 2nd day of the 1st month of the 30th year of Meiji, corresponding to January 2, 1897, a special commercial convention, based upon the principle of reciprocity, concerning the import duties to be levied upon the goods and merchandise of either of the two Contracting Parties imported into the other, have for that purpose named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:
  His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Viscount AOKI SIUZO, Junii, First Class of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, His Imperial Majesty's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and
  His Majesty the King of Spain and in His Royal name Her Majesty the Queen Regent of the Realm, Don Lousy DE LA BARRERA Y RIERA, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic, Commander of number of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III, First Class of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun and Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Christ of Portugal, His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan;
  Who having communicated to each other their Full Powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

ARTICLE I.
　No other or higher duties, under whatever name or denomination levied, shall be imposed on the importation into the Spanish Peninsula and the Balearic and Canary Islands, of any article the produce or manufacture of Japan, than on the like article produced or manufactured in any other foreign country. There hall not, however, be accorded to the products of Japan the special advantages accorded to Portugal, nor those special privileges, which may be granted to bordering States in order to facilitate frontier traffic, in so far as such advantages or privileges are exclusive and are not enjoyed by any other States.

　Reciprocally, no other or higher duties, under whatever name or denomination levied, shall be imposed on the importation into Japan of any article the produce or manufacture of Spain, that is to say: the Peninsula and the Balearic and Canary Islands, than on the like article produced or manufactured in any other foreign country.

　It is mutually understood that articles passing through or transshipped or deposited at intermediary ports or countries, if accompanied by through bills of lading, are assimilated to articles imported direct.

　Nor shall any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article, the produce or manufacture of the territories of either of the two Contracting Parties into the territories of the other, from whatever place arriving, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like article being the produce or manufacture of any other country. This provision, however, is not applicable to the sanitary and other prohibitions occasioned by the necessity of protecting the safety of persons or of cattle or of plants useful to agriculture.

ARTICLE II.
　No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed in the territories of either of the two Contracting Parties on the exportation of any article to the territories of the other than such as are, or may be, payable on the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the exportation of any article from the territories of either of the two Contracting Parties to the territories of the other, which shall not equally extend to the exportation of the like article to any other country.

ARTICLE III.
　Notwithstanding the provision made in the latter part of the second clause of Article XIV of the Treaty of Friendship and General Intercourse, signed on the 2nd day of the 1st month of the 30th year of Meiji, corresponding to January 2, 1897, to the effect that the first clause of the same Article shall not apply to the special treatment reserved by Spain to the Spanish-American Republics, and not extended to any other country, in respect of commerce and navigation, it is now agreed that such special treatment shall be unconditionally granted to Japan from the date this Convention takes effect.

ARTICLE IV.
　The present Convention shall go into operation immediately after the exchange of the ratifications thereof.

　Either Contracting Party shall have the right, at any time after five years shall have elapsed from the date this Convention takes effect, to give notice to the other of its intention to terminate the same and at the expiration of twelve months after such notice is given, this Convention shall wholly cease and determine.

ARTICLE V.
　The present Convention is written in six copies; viz.: two in the Japanese, two in the Spanish and two in the English language; and in case there should be found any discrepancy between the Japanese and Spanish texts, it will be decided in conformity with the English text.

ARTICLE VI.
　This Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at Tokio as soon as possible.

　In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention and have thereunto affixed their seals.

　Done at Tokio, this twenty-eighth day of the third month of the thirty-third year of Meiji, corresponding to the 28th of March, 1900.

　(L.S.) Vicomte AOKI.

　(L.S.) LUIS DE LA BARRERA Y RIERA.