PARCEL POST AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

　The Government of Japan and the Government of the Republic of South Africa desiring to improve the parcel post service between the two countries;

　The undersigned, being duly authorized by their respective Governments for that purpose, have agreed upon the following articles:

Article 1 Conditions of Exchange.

1. Parcels under the designation of postal parcels, may be exchanged between the contracting countries by direct sea service or through the intermediary of one or more ther Postal Administrations.

2. Parcels sent to or from a third country may be forwarded by either closed mail or open mail transit and shall be re-forwarded by the most rapid land and sea routes which are used for their own mails by the countries undertaking the transit.

3. The parcels shall be despatched in bags, and closed mails shall only be made up on such offices of exchange as may be mutually agreed upon by the Postal Administrations of the contracting countries (hereinafter referred to as the "Postal Administrations") .

Article 2 Weight and Dimensions.

　The weight of each parcel shall not exceed 10 Kilogrammes and the dimensions shall not exceed 1.05 metres in length and 1.80 metres in length and girth combined.

Article 3 Parcel Rates.

1. The parcel rates shall be composed only of the sum of the territorial and maritime rates of the countries of origin, transit and destination.

2. Prepayment of parcel rates on all parcels is obligatory except in the case of redirected parcels.

Article 4 Territorial and Maritime Rates.

1. The territorial rates for each country shall be those as may be fixed from time to time by mutual consent between the Chiefs of the Postal Administrations on the basis of the cost of handling and territorial conveyance in its service.

2. The maritime rate shall be the total amount of the cost of sea conveyance between the two countries and in addition costs in respect of transportation required by the Postal Administration of origin.

3. For parcels sent by open mail transit from one of the contracting countries to the other through one or more third countries, the maritime rates, the transit charges and the territorial rates which are applicable between the countries of origin and transit, between the countries of transit and between the countries of transit and of destination, shall be applicable instead of the maritime rates and the territorial rates due to the country of destination referred to in the preceding paragraphs.

4. The Postal Administration of origin undertakes to pay for the sea conveyance of the parcels despatched to the country of destination.

Article 5 Customs Clearance Fee, Warehousing Charge, etc.

　The Postal Administrations may collect the amounts in respect to the Customs clearance fee, warehousing charge, and the other postal rates for the various services prescribed hereinafter in this Agreement, of which the amounts are not fixed clearly therein, within the limits of maximum amounts for these services prescribed in the Parcel Post Agreement of the Universal Postal Union.

Article 6 Request for Inquiry.

　The sender of a parcel may make a request for an inquiry about the disposal of the parcel within the period of one year counting from the day following that of posting.

Article 7 Responsibility.

1. The Postal Administrations are not responsible as a rule for the loss of parcels, theft or damage of their contents; but either Postal Administration is at liberty to indemnify the sender for such loss of parcels or theft or damage to their contents as may occur in its own service, without giving rise to the right to demand compensation from the other Postal Administration.

2. The sender of a parcel shall be responsible for packing the parcel securely so as to protect the contents from damage and moreover so that it is impossible to tamper with the contents without leaving an obvious trace of violation.

Article 8 Prohibitions.

1. Parcels shall not contain materials of a dangerous, destructive, explosive or offensive nature, or contraband articles or materials, or liquids (unless securely packed in suitable containers) nor shall they contain a letter or any article, the transmission of which by parcel post is prohibited by the country of destination.

2. The Postal Administrations shall communicate to each other, by means of "Liste des objets interdits" published by the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union, a list of the prohibited articles.

3. Any parcel, the contents of which are found to be prohibited in terms of the preceding paragraphs shall be disposed of in accordance with the internal regulations of the country concerned.

4. If the parcel be found to contain an unpaid or insufficiently prepaid letter, such letter shall be charged with double the deficient postage at the letter rate and the amount of charge shall accrue to the country of destination.

5. Parcels sent by open mail transit from one of the contracting countries to the other shall not contain articles of which the open mail transit is forbidden by the country of transit.

Article 9 Cancellation of Customs and Other Non-Postal Charges.

1. The Postal Administrations agree to consult with the competent authorities of their respective countries in order to obtain the cancellation of Customs and other non-postal charges on parcels returned to the country of origin, abandoned by the sender, wholly destroyed or forwarded to a third country.

2. Similar action shall be taken in respect of the loss of parcels, or theft or damage of their contents occurring in their services.

Article 10 Addressing of Parcels.

1. Every parcel shall bear the name and address of the person for whom it is intended, given with such completeness as will enable delivery to be effected.

2. Names and addresses in pencil shall not be allowed, provided that parcels bearing names and addresses written in copying pencil on a surface previously damped shall be accepted.

3. The sender of a parcel shall be advised to enclose in the parcel a copy of the addressee's name and address to which his own name and address have been appended.

Article 11 Customs Declaration.

1. Every parcel shall have affixed thereto a Customs Declaration duly completed.

2. The Postal Administrations assume no responsibility for the correctness of the Customs Declaration.

Article 12 Parcel Bills.

1. Parcels exchanged between the Postal Administrations shall be entered by the despatching office of exchange on parcel bills in the manner agreed upon by the Postal Administrations. The parcel bills shall be forwarded with the parcels to the office of exchange of the country of destination.

2. Each despatching office of exchange shall affix a serial number to the parcel bills, commencing each year a fresh series for each office of exchange of destination.

Article 13 Checking of Parcels.

　The Postal Administration which has received a closed parcel mail shall check the parcels and the accompanying bills. When the nonarrival of a parcel or some other irregularity is discovered, it shall be immediately reported to the despatching Postal Administration by means of a verification note. A report concerning a serious irregularity where there is suspicion of loss or theft shall be accompanied by such articles of evidence as labels, strings, wax, or lead seals used for closing the mail bag containing the parcel, where these are available. If no report is made by the next mail, it will be assumed that the closed bag has been received in proper order unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Article 14 Missent Parcels.

1. Missent parcels shall be forwarded to destination by the most direct route at the disposal of the Postal Administration re-transmitting them. When this re-transmission involves the return of parcels to the Postal Administration from which they were received, the allotted rates in the parcel bill from that Postal Administration shall be cancelled and the re-transmitting Postal Administration shall simply enter the parcels in the return parcel bill and moreover make notification of the error by means of a verification note.

2. In other cases the allotted rates shall be allowed to stand and if the allotted amount is insufficient to cover the expense of re-transmission, the re-transmitting Postal Administration shall cancel the original amount entered to its credit on the parcel bill of the despatching Postal Administration and moreover shall claim the appropriate charges for the onward transmission, notifying the despatching Postal Administration by means of a verification note.

Article 15 Redirection.

1. A parcel may be redirected within the country of destination in consequence of the addressee's change of address, at the request of the addressee, or without his definite request if the regulations of that country admit of it. A parcel may be redirected outside the country only at the addressee's request, and provided that the parcel complies with the conditions required for its further transmission.

2. For parcels redirected in its territory, the Postal Administration of the country of destination may collect from the addressee additional charges fixed by its internal regulations.

3.Parcels redirected outside the country shall be subjected by the delivering Postal Administration to a charge to be paid by the addressee. This charge shall consist of the allotted rates due to the delivering Postal Administration, to the redirecting Postal Administration and to each intermediary Postal Administration, when there be any. The redirecting Postal Administration shall recover its quota by charging it to the first intermediary Postal Administration or to the Postal Administration of the new destination. But when the amount chargeable for the further transmission of a redirected parcel  be paid at the time of its redirection, the parcel shall be dealt with as if it had been addressed direct from the redirecting country to the country of destination, and moreover delivered without any charge to the addressee for parcel rates.

4. The sender is entitled to forbid any redirection, by means of a suitable entry on the parcel and on the Customs Declaration.

Article 16 Undeliverable Parcels.

1. The sender of a parcel may request at the time of posting that if the parcel cannot be delivered as addressed it shall be either (a) treated as abandoned or (b) delivered at a second address in the country of destination. No other request is admissible.

2. If the sender avails himself of this facility, his request must be indicated in the appropriate place in the Customs Declaration, and must be in one of the following forms:-

　"If undeliverable as addressed, abandon."

　"If undeliverable as addressed, deliver to......"

3. In the absence of a definite request for abandonment, a parcel which is undeliverable at the original address, or at the alternative address if one is furnished, shall be returned to the sender without previous notification and at his expense.

4. Parcels which cannot be delivered, returned to the senders, or otherwise disposed of, or which have been abandoned by the senders, shall not be sent back to the country of origin, but shall be dealt with in accordance with the regulations of the country of destination.

5. When the addressee has moved from the country of original destination to a country to which transmission of postal parcels cannot be made, the parcel to that addressee shall be treated as "undeliverable".

Article 17 Deterioration of Contents.

　Where the deterioration or imminent corruption of the contents of a parcel is feared they may be sold immediately, without previous notice or recourse to judicial formality, for the benefit of the rightful person, or they may be disposed of in such other manner as provided for by the regulations of the country concerned.

Article 18 Return of Empty Containers.

　Except where special arrangements exist for reciprocal use, empty containers must be returned to the Postal Administration to which they belong by the earliest available mail. No territorial or maritime transport charges are payable in respect of these returned empty containers and the route used on the outward journey must be followed as far as possible.

Article 19 Air Parcels.

1. Air parcels may be exchanged between Japan and the Republic of South Africa. In this case the general regulations applicable as regards the exchange of surface mail parcels between the two countries shall be applied.

　The charges allotted for each country shall be as follows:

　Air conveyance-Not to exceed the maximum amount as fixed by the Universal Postal Union.

　Territorial-Same as for surface mail parcels (see Article4).

2. Either of the two countries which, within its territory, transports by air route an incoming parcel with prior consent of the other, is entitled, for that transportation, to collect a special air charge from the country of origin.

　The amount of this charge shall be fixed by mutual consent between the Chiefs of the Postal Administrations. However, the basic rate for fixing the amount must not exceed the basis set forth in paragraph 1.

Article 20 Mutual Consent between the Postal Administrations.

　Matters necessary to ensure the execution of the present Agreement shall be settled by mutual consent between the Chiefs of the Postal Administrations.

Article 21 Settlement of Accounts.

　Accounts based on the charges due under the terms of the provisions of Article 4 and the details set forth in the relative parcel bills shall be prepared at intervals and under conditions mutually agreed upon by the Postal Administrations. Settlement of the balances resulting from accounts shall also be effected by mutual agreement.

Article 22 Monetary Standard.

　The franc adopted as the monetary unit in the provisions of this Agreement shall be the gold franc of 100 centimes of a weight of 10/31 of a gramme and of a fineness of 0.900.

Article 23 Entry into Force and Duration of Agreement.

1. This Agreement shall be approved by each contracting party in accordance with its legal procedures, and, thereafter, it shall come into force two months after the date of exchange of notes indicating such approval.

2. This Agreement shall continue in force until six months after either of the contracting parties shall have notified the other of its intention to terminate it.

　DONE in duplicate, in the Japanese and English languages, both texts being equally authentic, and signed at Tokyo on the sixth day of April, 1963.

　FOR JAPAN:
Shinsaku Hogen
Nobuhiro Sakata

　FOR THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA:
J.S.F. Botha