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140 
WAREHOUSES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
the near future. The company is waiting for the completion of the 
Government work and the railroad terminals, to select a site for the 
construction of a large bonded warehouse at Veracruz. The ware 
houses in this city are fully connected with the railroads centering 
here. 
MEXICAN WAREHOUSE LAW. 
Following is a translation of the law under which bonded ware 
houses may operate in Mexico : 
Article 1. The name “ almacenes generales de depósito " (general storage 
warehouses) shall apply to those establishments which have for their principal 
object the storage, conservation, and custody of merchandise and effects, 
national or foreign, and which are authorized to issue documents of credit, 
transferable by indorsement, and destined to cover deposits of merchandise or 
loans guaranteed by the same. 
Art. 2. General storage warehouses shall be considered as institutions of 
credit, and the law of March 19, 1897, shall apply to them in regard to their 
creation, privileges, and to the common safeguards which apply to all institu 
tions of credit, save those provided in this decree. 
Art. 3. General storage warehouses shall be divided into two classes: (1) 
Those which receive national merchandise or merchandise on which the cus 
toms duties have been paid, and (2) those which are authorized to receive such 
merchandise and also to receive foreign merchandise on which the customs 
dues have not been paid. 
Art. 4. Warehouses destined exclusively for the storage of merchandise on 
which no customs duties are due may be established in all parts of the country. 
Warehouses intended for the storage of merchandise on which the customs dues 
have not been paid may only be established in the City of Mexico or seaports or 
frontier ports where custom-houses exist. The Executive has absolute power to 
select or approve the places where warehouses may be established, and to 
extend the corresponding concessions. 
Art. 5. The capital for the establishment of general warehouses for the stor 
age of national merchandise or merchandise on which the customs dues have 
been paid shall not be less than $500,000 Mexican currencey. When the ware 
houses are authorized to receive in storage foreign merchandise on which the 
customs dues have not been paid the capital shall be fixed by the secretary of 
the treasury in the respective concessions, taking for a base a minimum of 
$500,000, and taking into account the amount of importation through the 
custom-houses in the places where the warehouses are to be located or the 
amount of merchandise whose final destination is in those places, and the prob 
able amount of the responsibility which the warehouses will assume for unpaid 
customs duties on the merchandise which they will receive in storage. 
Art. 6. The duration of the concession for the establishment of general ware 
houses shall in no case exceed forty years from the date of the general bank 
ing law (March 19, 1897). 
Art. 7. The emission of certificates of deposit and hypothecary bonds, as all 
other operations of general warehouses, shall be subject to the provisions of the 
commercial code and to the general laws now in force or which may be enacted. 
Art. 8. The warehouses shall be responsible to the treasury for the payment 
of all duties on merchandise which they receive, if not paid by the owners or 
consignees, and for all fines in connection therewith. They shall also be 
directly responsible to the depositors of merchandise for the deterioration or 
the value of the effects deposited in storage, according to law. For the pur 
pose of this article warehouses will not receive merchandise on which the 
customs duties have not already been assessed by the respective custom-houses. 
Art. 9. The storage of foreign merchandise on which the customs duties 
have not been paid shall not exceed one year, unless before the expiration of 
that time said duties have been paid or it is proved that the merchandise is 
intended for reexportation. 
Art. 10. General warehouses may have suitable places for the display of 
samples of merchandise, and such samples, if subject to the payment of customs 
duties, may remain there without payment of duties for a period of two years. 
Art. 11. General warehouses shall be obliged to insure merchandise which 
they receive against fire.