456 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

by a letter sent at the initiative of the committee, or by a request made to
it by any single member. The resolution may be passed by a majority of
four-fifths of the voters, but, if it is a question of a raising of the tariff and
conditions, it must be passed unanimously.
If, however, as a result of a revisional voting, one of the contracting firms
considers that its special interests have been seriously and unjustly injured,
this firm can submit a request to the court of arbitration, whose decision is
final, to be released from its obligations within a fortnight after the date of
voting,
Voting can only take place with regard to these questions with which it is
the duty of the general assembly to deal.
’ Resolutions agreed to finally in the general assembly are to be adhered to
by all the members, even by those members not present at the voting, .
Each member has a right to one vote.
ARTICLE 10.

Conventional firms are held responsible for their agents—contracting or
traveling—who commit acts contrary to the conventional agreement, and it
is their duty to take measures with regard to those agents to insure the strict
observance of the conditions stated, and also with regard to the wholesale
merchants to whom they have sold or sell their products.
All means (unforeseen here) used by any contracting firm to compromise
the faithful observance of the convention and to avoid the fulfillment of its
conditions, will be, upon the complaint of any one member or of the controller,
examined by the committee in order to ascertain if the firm in question can
be previously notified to cease using these means, or directly referred to the
court of arbitration instituted by article 12.
In these means, submitted to the investigation of the committee are comprised
 the abuse of premiums, presents, or any special advantages granted
either to the wholesale merchant or to the retail purchaser. After having
received the complaint the committee will examine each case separately and
will proceed, if it is considered that a violation of the agreement has taken
place, and if a warning has not proved sufficient, to refer the case to the court
of arbitration.
Goods used for advertising purposes and having no commercial value, as well
as samples bearing a corresponding inseription, can be distributed without committing
 a violation of the agreement.
ArTicLe 11.

The committée of the Independent Union, as soon as it has been notified,
either by complaint from any one member or officially by the controller, of an
act of irregularity must first of all decide by a simple majority whether this
act has been committed voluntarily or whether it has been committed involuntarily,
 through an error, in the application of the clauses of the conventional
agreement. The committee may in either case make use of a warning. If,
however, the committee decides that the violation is a serious one—and this
question must also be decided by a majority of votes—or if the warning has not
proved sufficient, the case will then be placed for judgment in the hands of the
court of arbitration.
If the committee refuses to refer the erring firm to the court of arbitration,
the plaintiff has the right to request the direct intervention of the court of
arbitration, but at his own expense and risk.
ARTICLE 192

A. For fulfillment of the present conventional agreement and all the condltions
 attached to it, the firms whose signatures are affixed to the said agreement
 hereby declare the offices of the permanent secretary, M. James Perrenoud,
 La Chaux de Fonds, to be the headquarters of the convention with
tribunal attribution.
B. The court of arbitration already mentioned ‘as being appointed to judge all
disputes which may arise in connection with the execution of the conventional
agreement, and whose decisions are to be considered as final, is a- permanent
court consisting of three members appointed for the whole period of validity