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Official correspondence relative to the postal service is exempt from postage. With this exception, no franking or reduction of postage is allowed.

Each Administration shall keep the whole of the sums which it collects by virtue of the foregoing Articles 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Consequently, there will be no necessity on this head for any accounts between the several Administrations of the Union.

Neither the senders nor the addressees of letters and other postal packets shall be called upon to pay, either in the country of origin or in that of destination, any tax or postal duty other than those contemplated by the Articles above mentioned.

The right of transit is guaranteed throughout the entire territory of the Union.

Consequently, there shall be full and entire liberty of exchange, the several Postal Administrations of the Union being able to send reciprocally, in transit through intermediate countries, closed mails as well as correspondence in open mails, according to the requirements of trade and the exigencies of the postal service.

Closed mails and correspondence sent in open mails must always be forwarded by the most rapid routes at the command of the Postal Administrations concerned.

When several routes offer the same advantages of speed, the despatching Administration shall have the right of choosing the route to be adopted. It is obligatory to make up closed mails whenever the number of letters and other postal packets is of a nature to hinder the operations of the re-forwarding office, according to the declaration of the Administration interested.

The despatching Office shall pay to the Administration of the territory providing the transit, the sum of 2 francs per kilogramme for letters and 25 centimes per kilogramme for the several articles specified in Article 4, net weight, whether the transit takes place in closed mails or in open mails.

This payment may be increased to 4 francs for letters and to 50 centimes for the articles specified in Article 4, when a transit is provided of more than 750 kilometers in length over the territory of one Administration.

It is understood, however, that in any case in which the transit is already actually gratuitous or subject to lower rates, those conditions shall be maintained.

Whenever a transit shall take place by sea over a distance exceeding 300 nautical miles within the district of the Union, the Administration by or at