Convention of Establishment between France and the United States of America (1959)

The President of the United States of America and the President of the French Republic, President of the Community, desirous of strengthening the ties of peace and friendship traditionally existing between the two countries and of encouraging closer economic intercourse between their peoples, conscious of the contribution which may be made to these ends by arrangements that provide in each country reciprocal rights and privileges on behalf of nationals and companies of the other country, thus encouraging mutually advantageous investments and mutually beneficial commercial relations, have resolved to conclude a convention of establishment and, for that purpose have appointed as Plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States of America,

The Honorable Amory Houghton, Ambassador of the United States of America at Paris,

and the President of the French Republic, President of the Community,

M. Maurice Couve de Murville, Minister of Foreign Affairs,

who, having communicated to each other their full powers, found to be in due form, have agreed on the following Articles :

Each High Contracting Party shall accord equitable treatment to nationals and companies of the other High Contracting Party, both as to their persons and as to their property, enterprises and other interests, and shall assure them within its territories full legal and judicial protection.

Nationals of either High Contracting Party shall, subject to the laws relating to the entry and sojourn of aliens, be permitted to enter the territories of the other High Contracting Party, to travel therein freely, and to reside therein at places of their choice. They shall in particular be permitted to enter the territories of the other High Contracting Party and to remain therein, for the purpose of :

Nationals of each High Contracting Party shall enjoy, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, freedom of conscience, of worship, of information and of the press.

The provisions of the present Article shall be subject to the right of either High Contracting Party to take measures that are necessary for the maintenance of public order and for the protection of public health, morals, and safety.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall be accorded national treatment with respect to access to the courts of justice as well as to administrative tribunals and agencies, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, in all degrees of jurisdiction, both in pursuit and in defense of their rights. Companies of either High Contracting Party not engaged in activities within the territories of the other High Contracting Party shall enjoy such access therein without any requirement of registration. Nationals of either High Contracting Party shall be accorded the benefits of legal aid within the territories of the other High Contracting Party under the same conditions as its own nationals.

Contracts entered into between nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party and nationals and companies of the other High Contracting Party, that provide for the settlement by arbitration of controversies, shall not be deemed unenforceable within the territories of such other High Contracting Party merely on the grounds that the place designated for the arbitration proceedings is outside such territories or that the nationality of one or more of the arbitrators is not that of such other High Contracting Party. No award duly rendered pursuant to any such contract, and final and enforceable under the laws of the place where rendered, shall be deemed invalid or denied effective means of enforcement within the territories of either High Contracting Party merely on the grounds that the place where such award was rendered is outside such territories or that the nationality of one or more of the arbitrators is not that of such High Contracting Party.

The lawfully acquired rights and interests of nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall not be subjected to impairment, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, by any measure of a discriminatory character.

The dwellings, offices, warehouses, factories and other premises of nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party located within the territories of the other High Contracting Party shall be free from molestation and other unjustifiable measures. Official searches conducted on such premises, when necessary, shall be carried out in conformity with the law and with every consideration for the convenience of the occupants and the conduct of business.

Property of nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall not be expropriated within the territories of the other High Contracting Party except for a public purpose and with payment of a just compensation. Such compensation shall represent the equivalent of the property taken; it shall be accorded in an effectively realizable form and without needless delay. Adequate provision for the determination and payment of the said compensation must have been made no later than the time of the taking.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall in no case be accorded, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, less than national treatment with respect to the matters set forth in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the present Article.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall be accorded national treatment with respect to engaging in all types of commercial, industrial, financial and other activities for gain within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, whether directly or through the intermediary of an agent or of any other natural or juridical person. Accordingly, such nationals and companies shall be permitted within such territories :

Each High Contracting Party reserves the right to determine the extent to which aliens may, within its territories, create, control, manage or acquire interests in, enterprises engaged in communications, air or water transport, banking involving depository or fiduciary functions, exploitation of the soil or other natural resources, and the production of electricity.

Each High Contracting Party undertakes not to intensify, within its territories, existing limitations as regards enterprises belonging to or controlled by nationals and companies of the other High Contracting Party which are already engaged in the activities cited in the preceding paragraph. Moreover, each High Contracting Party shall permit, within its territories, transportation, communications and banking companies of the other High Contracting Party to maintain branches and agencies, in conformity with the laws in force, which are necessary to the operations of an essentially international character in which they are engaged.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall be permitted to engage, at their choice, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, accountants and other technical experts, lawyers, and personnel who by reason of their special capacities are essential to the functioning of the enterprise. But these persons must fulfill the conditions necessary to the exercise of their calling under the applicable legislation.

In any event, such nationals and companies shall be permitted to engage accountants and other technical experts, who are not nationals of the other High Contracting Party, without regard to their having qualified to practice a profession within the territories of such other High Contracting Party, but exclusively for conducting studies and examinations for internal purposes on behalf of such nationals and companies.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall be accorded, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, national treatment with respect to leasing, utilizing and occupying real property of all kinds appropriate to the exercise of the rights accorded them by the other Articles of the present Convention. They shall also be accorded therein, as regards the acquisition and possession of real property, all other rights to which aliens and alien companies are entitled under the legislation of such other High Contracting Party, each High Contracting Party reserving the right to invoke reciprocity in this respect.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall be accorded, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, national treatment with respect to leasing and acquiring, by purchase or otherwise, as well as with respect to possessing, personal property of every kind, whether tangible or intangible, with the exception of ships. However, either High Contracting Party may impose restrictions on alien ownership of materials dangerous from the viewpoint of public safety and alien ownership of interests in enterprises carrying on particular types of activity, but only to the extent compatible with the enjoyment of the rights and privileges defined in Article V or provided by other provisions of the present Convention.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall be accorded within the territories of the other High Contracting Party national treatment with respect to the right to dispose of property of all kinds.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall be accorded, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, national treatment with respect to obtaining and maintaining patents of invention and with respect to rights appertaining to trademarks, trade names and certification marks, or which in any manner relate to industrial property.

The High Contracting Parties undertake to cooperate with a view to furthering the interchange and use of scientific and technical knowledge, particularly in the interest of increasing productivity and improving standards of living within their respective territories.

The following categories :

Nationals, companies and associations of either High Contracting Party, not falling within one of the categories specified in paragraph 1 above, shall not be subject, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, to any form of taxation or any obligation relating thereto which is more burdensome than that to which nationals, companies and associations of any third country in the same situation are or may be subject.

Enterprises of either High Contracting Party, the capital of which is owned or controlled in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, by one or more nationals of the other High Contracting Party, shall not be subject in the first High Contracting Party to any form of taxation or any obligation relating thereto which is more burdensome than that to which other like enterprises of the first High Contracting Party are or may be subject.

The nationals, companies and associations of either High Contracting Party referred to in paragraph 1 (b), (c), and (d) of the present Article shall not be subject, within the territories of the other High Contracting Party, to any form of taxation upon capital, income, profits or any other basis, except by reason of the property which they possess within those territories, the income and profits derived from sources therein, the business in which they are there engaged, the transactions which they accomplish there, or any other bases of taxation directly related to their activities within those territories.

The term "form of taxation," as used in the present Article, includes all taxes of whatever nature or denomination.

Each High Contracting Party reserves the right to :

The foregoing provisions shall not prevent the levying, in appropriate cases, of fees relating to the accomplishment of police and other formalities, if these fees are also levied on other foreigners. The rates for such fees shall not exceed those charged the nationals of any other country.

Nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party shall be accorded by the other High Contracting Party the same treatment as nationals and companies of such other High Contracting Party in like situations, with respect to payments, remittances and transfers of funds or financial instruments between the territories of the two High Contracting Parties as well as between the territories of such other High Contracting Party and any third country. This treatment shall be not less favorable than that accorded to nationals and companies of any third country in like situations.

Neither High Contracting Party shall impose exchange restrictions as defined in paragraph 5 of the present Article except to the extent necessary to prevent its monetary reserves from falling to a very low level or to effect a moderate increase in very low monetary reserves. The provisions of the present Article do not alter the obligations either High Contracting Party may have to the International Monetary Fund or preclude imposition of particular restrictions whenever the Fund specifically authorizes or requests a High Contracting Party to impose such restrictions.

The two High Contracting Parties, recognizing that the freedom of movement of investment capital and of the returns thereon would be conducive to the realization of the objectives of the present Convention, are agreed that such movements shall not be unnecessarily hampered. In this spirit, each High Contracting Party will make every effort to accord, in the greatest possible measure, to nationals and companies of the other High Contracting Party the opportunity to make investments and to repatriate the proceeds of the liquidation thereof. This principle shall apply also to the compensation referred to in Article IV, paragraph 3, of the present Convention. Each High Contracting Party shall make reasonable provision for the withdrawal of earnings from investments, whether in the form of salaries, dividends, interest, commissions, royalties, payments for technical services, or payments for other current transactions relative to investments. If more than one rate of exchange is in force, the rate applicable to such withdrawals shall be a rate which is specifically approved by the International Monetary Fund for such transactions or, in the absence of a rate so approved, a rate which, inclusive of any taxes or surcharges on exchange transfers, is just and reasonable.

Exchange restrictions shall not be imposed by either High Contracting Party in a manner unnecessarily detrimental or arbitrarily discriminatory to the claims, investments, transport, trade, and other interests of the nationals and companies of the other High Contracting Party, nor to the competitive position thereof.

The term "exchange restrictions" as used in the present Article includes all restrictions, charges and taxes, regulations, or other requirements imposed by either High Contracting Party which burden or interfere with payments, remittances, or transfers of funds or of financial instruments between the territories of the two High Contracting Parties.

Bach High Contracting Party will take the measures it deems appropriate with a view to preventing commercial practices or arrangements, whether effected by one or more private or public commercial enterprises, which restrain competition, limit access to markets or foster monopolistic control, whenever such practices, or arrangements have or might have harmful effects on trade between the two countries.

The provisions of the present Convention shall not preclude the application of measures :

The High Contracting Parties may deny to any company, in the ownership or direction of which nationals of a third country or countries have directly or indirectly a controlling interest, the advantages of the present Convention, except with respect to recognition of juridical status and access to the courts.

The term national treatment” means treatment accorded to nationals and companies of either High Contracting Party within the territories of the other High Contracting Party upon terms no less favorable than the treatment therein accorded, in like situations, to the nationals and companies, as the case may be, of such other High Contracting Party.

National treatment accorded under the provisions of the present Convention to French companies shall, in any State, territory or possession of the United States of America, be the treatment accorded therein to companies constituted in other States, territories and possessions of the United States of America.

As used in the present Convention, the term "nationals" ("essortissants") means natural persons having the nationality of a High Contracting Party and not domiciled in a non-metropolitan territory thereof to which the present Convention does not extend.

As used in the present Convention, the term companies” ("sociétés") means :

Companies constituted under the applicable laws and regulations within the territories of either High Contracting Party shall be deemed companies thereof and shall have their juridical status recognized within the territories of the other High Contracting Party.

Non-profit associations lawfully constituted within the territories of either High Contracting Party shall have their juridical status recognized by the other High Contracting Party and shall, inter alia, be accorded within the territories thereof the rights provided in Article III, paragraph 1, of the present Convention.

The present Convention shall apply :

The present Convention may be made applicable, by virtue of exchanges of notes between the Governments of the High Contracting Parties, to the Overseas Territories of the French Republic or to one or several such Territories, under the conditions fixed, in each case, in the said exchanges of notes.

The present Convention may be made applicable, in the same manner, to the member States of the Community or to one or several such States.

Each High Contracting Party shall accord sympathetic consideration to such representations as the other High Contracting Party may make with respect to any question affecting the application of the present Convention, and shall afford opportunity for an exchange of views relative thereto.

Any dispute between the High Contracting Parties as to the interpretation or application of the present Convention, not satisfactorily adjusted by diplomacy, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice, unless the High Contracting Parties agree to settlement by some other pacific means.

The entry into force of the present Convention shall terminate the Trademark Convention signed at Washington April 16, 1869.

The present Convention shall be ratified. It will enter into force one month after the exchange of the instruments of ratification, which will take place at Washington.

The present Convention shall have an initial term of ten years. It shall remain in force thereafter until either High Contracting Party terminates it by giving to the other High Contracting Party a written notice one year in advance.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention and have hereunto affixed their seals.

Done in duplicate, in the English and French languages, both equally authentic, at Paris, this twenty-fifth day of November, one thousand nine hundred fifty-nine.