Note from Italian ministry of foreign affairs., July 26, 1871

Note from Italian ministry of foreign affairs.

Mr. Minister: By your notes of the 9th, 15th, and 20th instant, you called the attention of the government of His Majesty to the loss which the increased tariff on petroleum is causing American merchants who, before the publication of the law for raising the revenue, had shipped, or had contracts to ship, that product to Italy.

Yon remarked that the trade should have been informed of the tenor of this law before its application, and added that the date on which the law was to be enforced was not fixed by the royal decree of June 16, 1871, No. 260, second series, at the same time that article 3, of the supplement 6, provided that the day on which the provisions of this law were to be enforced would be determined by royal decree.

Taking this royal decree for basis, the custom-house authorities appeared in the wrong, when exacting from July 1 the duty on petroleum as fixed by the new law. For these reasons you recommended to the attention of this government the interests of American merchants who, in good faith, had made shipments of petroleum to Italy before the new law was known or promulgated.

I shall not now stop to examine at what period the minister of finance, impressed with the necessity of increasing the duties on certain imports, made, in accord with the committee of the chambers, his proposals to parliament.

I have only to observe that, by the royal decree of June 16, No. 264, second series, published in the official gazette of the 17th of last month, No. 163, the changes in the tariff on imports, cited in the supplement 6, to the law 260, were ordered to take effect on the 1st of July, 1871.

And even if article 3 of the supplement 6 to the law published with the royal decree No. 260, had not made the reservation of appointing the day on which its provisions should take effect; and even if the decree No. 264 had not provided for that reservation, the law in any case would become obligatory fifteen days after its publication by the terms of the codice civile, (article 1st, regulations concerning the promulgation, interpretation, and application of laws in general.)

Regarding, then, the rules for the application of new duties, the minister of finance observes that article 4 of the preliminary regulations for the custom-house provides that—

“Should any change be made in the duties on goods coming from abroad, or of foreign produce, the pre-existing duty shall be charged on those withdrawn from the warehouses, if the declaration to pass them through the custom-house has been made before the publication of the new duties.”

The declaration of the entry of the goods being obligatory at the moment of their entry, it is clear that the law, instead of making any exception in favor of merchandise afloat on the way, intends to subject it to taxation by the new tariff on arrival in the kingdom.

I trust, Mr. Minister, that the foregoing explanations, while they prove that the additional duty on petroleum was rightfully enforced on the 1st of July, will also suffice to show that the royal government finds in the law an obstacle which prevents the claims of the American merchants being taken into consideration, and it cannot, in consequence, although with regret, adopt any measure in favor of those products which, notwithstanding their having left before the publication of the changes in the tariff, arrived in the kingdom when these changes were in operation.

Accept, Mr. Minister, the assurance of my high consideration.