Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 61 Part 4.djvu/16

 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OTHER THAN TREATIES [61 STAT. Translation MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND FOREIGN COMMERCE GENERAL ADMINISTRATION a. 2d Bureau. No. 65.828/Pr/Cim. Mil. Am. BRUSSELS, July 28, 1947 MR. AMBASSADOR: Ante, p .3352. Referring to the Embassy's note No. 927 dated June 6, 1947, I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that the Belgian Govern- ment is happy to signify to the Government of the United States its agreement concerning the privileges enumerated below, which are intended to permit the burial in Belgian territory, or the repatriation, of the remains of American citizens who were killed during the World War of 1939 to 1945, or whose death in the European theater of opera- tions may be ascribed directly to that war, or who died in the said theater of operations while they were employed or were otherwise taking part in activities for carrying on the war, and the establish- ment, construction, laying out, and proper maintenance of permanent cemeteries for the final burial of American citizens who lost their lives in the said war, as well as of monuments intended to commemorate them. I. The Belgian Government grants to the United States of America the right to establish and maintain temporary cemeteries in Belgium, subject to the necessary supervision, to bury therein American citizens who died as stated above, as well as the right to exhume bodies from such temporary cemeteries and from other places in order to take them back to the United States or to bring them together in permanent cemeteries in Belgium, including the right to transport bodies from other countries to Belgium. In view of the exiguity of the Belgian territory and the great number of military ceme- teries which are already there, the Government of the United States will limit as far as possible the number of bodies of American citizens which are transported from other countries to Belgium. The Government of the United States will not undertake the mass transportation of bodies from other coun- tries to cemeteries in Belgium with a view to their final burial. II. The Government of the United States will not be subject to the laws and regulations of the Belgian Government which are generally applicable relative to hygiene and the obtain- ing of the necessary permits for burying, exhuming, reburying and transporting the bodies. However, the Government of the United States will promise to carry out that work so that it will not constitute a danger to public health and to take the sanitary measures necessary for that purpose. The exhumations, burials and transportation of the bodies shall be exempt from all Belgian taxes. 3358

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