Extracts PARIS, 12 March 1946

INTER-ALLIED REPARATIONS AGENCY FIRST SESSION OF THE ASSEMBLY

Report of the Australian Delegate
The First Session of the Assembly of the Inter-Allied Reparations
Agency, established under the Paris Reparations Agreement of
January, 1946, met in Brussels from the 28th February to 7th
March, 1946. Delegates from the following countries were present:

United States of America India
Australia Luxembourg
Belgium Norway
Canada New Zealand
Denmark Netherlands
France Czechoslovakia
Great Britain Union of South Africa
Greece Yugoslavia

[matter omitted]

Standing Committees of the Assembly
19. The Assembly established eight standing committees to
concentrate on the specialised problems arising, and to carry on
the work of the Assembly between Sessions in particular fields.

The Australian Delegate was appointed to five of these committees,
namely, the Credentials Committee, the Financial and Budgetary
Committee, the Shipping Committee, the Committee on Procedure in
Industrial, Technical, Artistic and Literary Property Rights.

20. Membership of these committees gives Australia a significant
place in planning the work of the Agency and an opportunity to
influence those sections of its operations which are of greatest
interest to the Australian Government. The three committees on
which Australia is not represented are:-Inland Water Transport,
Current Production, and German External Assets. It is provided in
the case of the last-mentioned committee that whenever a matter
affecting a particular country is under consideration, that
country's delegate shall be co-opted to the committee.

Industrial Plant
21. No industrial plant has yet been allocated to any of the
western powers by way of reparations. Reference was made by some
delegates to alleged transfers of certain equipment to some
countries, but it is believed that this information relates to
specialised scientific and other equipment taken as war booty by
the occupying forces.

[matter omitted]

Patents and industrial Processes
28. As already reported by cable, the Belgian delegate proposed
the establishment of a Committee on Industrial, Technical,
Scientific, Artistic and Literary Property Rights. The United
Kingdom delegate did not encourage this proposal, but the Belgian
delegate pressed it and received considerable support from other
small countries, which clearly have not enjoyed the facilities
afforded to Australia by the United Kingdom for the examination of
German technical processes. The United Kingdom delegate stated
that it was the policy of his Government to place patent and
technical rights at the disposal of all the United Nations, and he
suggested that the questions raised by the Belgian delegate did
not properly fall within the province of the Reparations Agency.

29. However, the delegates of Netherlands, Canada, and Yugoslavia
stressed the intimate connection between patents and other aspects
of reparations. On the one hand, it was pointed out that German
owned patents in other allied countries are included under German
external assets, which, in turn, are covered by the Paris
Agreement. In addition, it was pointed out that the liberty of a
country to use plant awarded to it under the Reparations
Agreement, and to export the production of such plant, might be
limited by the existence of patents.

30. The Assembly finally decided to establish the Committee and
appointed to it the delegates of Australia, Belgium, Canada,
Yugoslavia, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United
States. The Belgian delegate pressed for an early meeting of the
Committee, which accordingly met on Friday, 8th March. The United
Kingdom delegate was elected chairman. The Committee agreed that
the three occupying powers should be asked to provide material for
a statement covering the steps taken by them to preserve
scientific and technical documents following the invasion of
Germany, and also to make such information available to other
members of the United Nations. The Committee also decided to draw
the attention of the Assembly to the various problems that may
arise from the existence of patents affecting processes of plant
that will be awarded to various countries by way of reparations.

The Belgian delegate was asked to prepare in more detail proposed
terms of reference for the committee, and the Secretariat was
asked to secure certain documentation relating to the handling of
patent rights after the last war. On the initiative of the French
delegate, the terms of reference will also refer to problems
associated with copyrights. The next meeting of the Committee will
be on 1st April, 1946.

31. It seems likely that this move by the Belgian delegate will
lead the occupying powers to take more definite steps to make
available industrial processes to other members of the United
Nations. It is by no means clear that this will improve the
facilities already made available to Australia by the United
Kingdom Government. [1]

32. The question of patents is so complicated that it seems
unlikely that discussions can be carried very far within the
framework of the Reparations Agency. The United Kingdom Government
will presumably oppose any move to bring German patents within the
general scheme of allocation contemplated in the Reparations
Agreement, and it would seem more likely that if practical
difficulties arise in providing access for the United Nations to
German patents, there will be a need for a separate conference on
the existing international conventions on patents.

33. In view of Australia's special interest in the matter of
industrial processes, we shall follow the discussions in the
Agency very closely, and will report immediately on any
significant developments. The delegation will have the advice of
Mr. Davies [2], the patent expert who is a member of the
Scientific and Technical Mission, but it would be very helpful if
any relevant material and information could be forwarded from
Australia for the guidance of the delegation.

Shipping
34. Australia is a member of the Shipping Committee, along with
twelve other governments, which suffered losses of shipping during
the war. It is estimated that approximately 293 German ships,
amounting to a little more than 800,000 tons gross registered
weight, will be available for division among the members of the
Agency in proportion to their losses through enemy action. In view
of the heavy losses suffered by the United Kingdom and other
countries, Australia's share will be very small.

[matter omitted]

E. RONALD WALKER
Delegate