I.C.J. Coinnuniqué no 57/29
(Unofficial)
The following informtion ?rom the Registry of the International
Court of Justice has been comrmnicated to the Press:
On October Lnd, 1957, the Swiss Arnbassedor to the Netherlands handed
to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice on behalf of the
Swiss Confederation an Application instituting proceedings before the
Court against the United States of ?aerlca regarding a dispute which refers
to the restitution by the, Jnited States of the assets of the Société inter-
nationale pour ~artici~tions industrielles et commerciales. This joint
stock Company, vhich was entered ir! the Comnercial 2egister of the Urban
District of Basle on ,Tune 26th, 19.28, is knovm by the name of ttInterhand.elu.
As fomlated in the 8pplication, the facts are shortly these.
As from 194.2 the Government of the 'gnited Sta$es ordered the vesting
of some 90 per cent-of the shares of the General and FiLïn Corporation,
a business established in the United States and belonging to Interhandel.
These measures were jirstified by the assertion that the said shares were
in fact the property of I.G. Farben of Frankfort or were owned by or held
for that Gerrnan concern.
Interhandel, however, had severed el1 connection with I.G. Farben in
June, 1940, and kiad therefore ceased to be under German control. In 1948
the Government of Svitzerland demanded the release of Interhandelis assets
in the United States, invoking for this purpose more especially the
fihanciel agreement conchded in Mashington on Fky 25th, 1946, betwen Swiss
representatives, on the one side, and representatives, on the other, of the
United States of herica, France and the United Icingdom, acting on behalf
of their ,Illies. hrevertheless, deferring to several Allied representations,
particularly by the United States Governnient, which declared that it had
found in Germany documents implying close association between I.G. Farben
and Interhandel, the Swiss euthorities in 1945 took steps for the
provisional blocking of Interhandelis propertg, with a viewto making a
further and more thorough invastigation.
Tnis enquiry, Like the previous
one, established that Interhandel was in no degree under German influence.
The Allies, however, refused to accept this finding end the shares of the
General Aniline and Film Corporation in the United States were not released.
Diplo,mat ic negot iat ions f ollowed betwen Berne and ri.Jashuigton, but were
abortive. The Swiss Government then proposed to the Government of the
United States to have recourse to arbitration or conciliation proceedings,
basing their proposel both on the treaty of azbitration and conciliation
dated February 16th, 1931 and on Article VI of the T,fashington Accord, in
which arbitration is provided for in case of differences of opinion betmen
the parties to that Accord. In January, 1957, the Government of the United
States declared that conciliation v~ould not lead to any positive res~dt
and that it was unable to submit the dispute to arbitration. It further
refused to undertake to respect the status quo pending a settlement of
the question.
Considering therefore that it had exhausted al1 the means a,t its
di.sposa1 of putting an end to the dispute by diplomtic ineans, the Swiss
Govermer% applied to the Court on the basis of the declarations vihereby
the United States of the one part and Switzerland of the other have
recognised the compulsory jwkdict ion of the Court under Article 36,
paragraph 2, of the Statute. The Acplication requests the Court to decide
that the Goverment of the United States is bound to restore the assets
of Interhandel to that Company and, alternatively, that the dispute is
of a nature to be submitted to jurisdiction, arbitration or concili~tion
under conditions i*rhichit will rest with the Court to determine.
The Registrar of the Court conii:~unicc?ted the Swiss Govermentis
Ap2lication to the United States .of jmerica on the day on vrhich it was
filed, namely, October 2nd.
The Hague, October 3rd, 1957.
The Swiss Confederation files an Application instituting proceedings against the United States of America