Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 49 Part 2.djvu/1835

 LETTERS ROGATORY-SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS. part of the Executive Branch of the Government of the United States makes a practice of acting as a channel for the transmittal of letters rogatory issuing out of courts in foreign countries and ad- dressed to courts in the United States. In some States of the United States, laws have been enacted requiring letters rogatory to be pre- sented to the State court by the appropriate consular officer of the country in which the testimony is to be used. As my Government is of the opinion that this practice should be generally followed with respect to both Federal and State courts, letters rogatory issuing out of It court in the Soviet Union for execution in the United State~ should be presented to the court to which they are addressed by the consular officer of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the United States within whose consular district the court in question is located. (3) While my Government is not, as has been stated above, in a position to set forth with precision what the requirements of a par- ticular court in the United States may be at a given time in respect of the execution of letters rogatory issuing out of a court in a foreign country, my Government desires me to suggest the following points which courts in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics may find it advantageous to observe in preparing letters rogatory for execution in the United States: (a) The letters rogatory should be addressed by name to the court in the United States which is to execute them, if that is known; or they may be addressed "To any court of competent jurisdiction in the United States". (b) Requests for the execution of letters rogatory should spec- ify the name of the court out of which they issue, as well as the names of the parties to the action in which the testimony called for by the letters rogatory is desired. (c) Requests for the execution of letters rogatory should be accompanied by English translations thereof and of accompany- ing documents such as exhibits and any instructions to the executing court. With respect to the service of documents on Soviet nationals in the United States in connection with cases pending in courts in the Soviet Union, my Government has informed me that, while it cannot undertake to obligate courts or officials in the United States, no restrictions are known to exist upon the service of such documents without the application of coercion by Soviet diplomatic and con- sular officers in the United States. Accept, Excellency, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration. His Excellency MAXIM M. LITVINOV, People's OO'lT1.ll'J'l4sSOI1' for Foreign AffaIrs, M 08COW. 3841