MEXICO: MEXICO CITY.
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Art. 12. Independently of the vigilance spoken of in the following article,
warehouses which are permitted to receive foreign merchandise on which the
customs duties have not been paid shall be subject to the vigilance of the cus
tom-houses in the ports where they are established. Likewise relevant pro
visions of the general tariff law are applicable in so far as they do not conflict
with this law, and also regulations of a general character which may in the
future be enacted on this subject, provided they do not conflict with the con
tracts of concession.
Art. 13. The concessions shall specify (or establish the bases upon which
shall be determined later) the number of interventions, warehouse guards, and
inspectors which the treasury department shall name for perfect vigilance
over the operations of the warehouses, and shall also fix the amount which
the owners of the warehouses shall pay into the general treasury of the nation
annually to cover the expenses of Government intervention and vigilance.
Warehouse guards and inspectors shall be named by the Government only to
supervise the operations of the warehouses referred to in the last paragraph
of the preceding article.
Art. 14. The franchises which the general law on the subject authorizes for
institutions of credit in the matter of taxes shall be extended to general ware
houses, as also shall the certificates of deposit and hypothecary bonds issued
hy them be included among the documents mentioned in article 124 of said law.
Art. 15. In addition to the franchises mentioned in the preceding article,
general warehouses shall be exempt from the payment of customs dues on all
construction material and machinery required for their establishment and for
the railroad tracks in the interior of the warehouses. This exemption shall only
he in force until January 1, 1905, and shall be used in accordance with the regu
lations issued or to be issued by the treasury department.
Art. 16. General warehouses may establish rail connections with the railroad
stations or docks in the places where they exist, but on the condition that their
owners shall be subject, in the construction and use of said tracks, to the
general law and regulations governing railroads and to the department of com
munications and public works.
Art. 17. The tariffs for storage and all other charges to the owners of the
merchandise for its care and sale, as also the regulations fixing the relations of
the company with the public, shall be submitted for approval to the treasury
department, and without its approval can not be effective.
Art. 18. A regulation shall fix the conditions which the buildings and annexes
must have for the perfect conservation of the effects stored, as also to facili
tate the diverse operations in connection with the handling of the merchandise,
hliis regulation shall prescribe the interior arrangement of the buildings and
the obligation of the concessionaires to construct habitations and an office for
the employees of the custom-house, when the warehouses are intended for the
storage of merchandise on which the customs dues have not been paid. In
every case the plans for construction shall he submitted for the approval of
the treasury department.
Art. 19. At the expiration of the term of the contractor in case it lapses the
Government shall have the right to buy the buildings, lands, machinery, and
°ther property of the warehouses, and the price which it shall pay shall he
fixed by experts in the manner provided by the law of expropriation for public
Use, but taking into account not the estimated value of the business but the
Actual value of the properties in their existing state, and on the understanding
that if the Government has ceded gratuitously any lands or buildings for the
establishment of said warehouses they shall not be computed in fixing the
v !ilue of same, and that if the cession was made in the form of sale or by other
binding title only the actual amount which the Government received therefor,
Provided the lands and buildings have not deteriorated in value, shall be com
puted.
Art. 20. In the concessions shall he stipulated the capacity of the ware
houses which must he constructed and in actual use in two, five, and ten years,
Counting from the date of the concession, and failure to comply with the obli
gations which this article places upon the concessionaires will cause the for
feiture of the concession.
In case of forfeiture the company shall he responsible to the Government for
fi>e payment of the customs dues on the effects which have been imported free
°f dues by virtue of the franchises of this law, and shall forfeit the amount
fixed as a penalty in the concession, which amount shall he not less than 5 per
cent of the nominal capital of the company. This amount, in bonds of the public