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 * 3d. Simply an absolute majority, if they affect the interpretation of the stipulations of the Convention, except in the case of dispute contemplated in Article 23 preceding.

4.—Resolutions adopted are sanctioned, in the first two cases, by a diplomatic declaration, which the Government of the Swiss Confederation is charged to prepare and transmit to all the Governments of the contracting countries, and, in the third case, by a simple notification from the International Bureau to all the Administrations of the Union.

5.—No modification or resolution adopted is binding until at least three months after its notification.

For the application of Articles 22, 25 and 26 preceding, the following are considered as forming a single country, or a single Administration, as the case may be:

The whole of the German Colonies;

The Empire of British India;

The Dominion of Canada;

The whole of the British Colonies of Australasia;

The whole of the other British Colonies;

The whole of the Danish Colonies;

The whole of the Spanish Colonies;

The French Colonies and Protectorates in Indo-China;

The whole of the other French Colonies;

The whole of the Netherlands Colonies;

11th. The whole of the Portuguese Colonies.

The present Convention shall be put into execution on the 1st of January, 1899, and shall remain in force during an indefinite period; but each contracting party has the right to withdraw from the Union, by means of a notice given one year in advance by its Government to the Government of the Swiss Confederation.

1.—From the date on which the present Convention takes effect, all the stipulations of the Treaties, Conventions, Arrangements, or other Acts previously concluded between the various countries or Administrations, in so far as those stipulations are not in accordance with the terms of the present Convention, are abrogated, without prejudice to the rights reserved by Article 21 preceding.