Message to the Senate Transmitting a Protocol Amending the 1928 Convention Concerning International Expositions.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith the Protocol amending the Convention signed at Paris on November 22, 1928, concerning international expositions with a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to its ratification. The Protocol was signed at Paris on November 30, 1972 by the United States and 22 other nations party to the 1928 Convention.

The Paris Convention of 1928 created the Bureau of International Expositions, the purpose of which is to provide basic rules regarding international expositions. The United States joined the Bureau in 1968 with the advice and consent of the Senate, after it had become apparent that it would be in the national interest to coordinate planning of United States expositions with planning in other countries. One of the objectives of membership in the Bureau was to give the United States a voice in modernizing the Convention.

The United States participated in the drafting of the 1972 Protocol, which incorporates a completely revised text of the Convention. The purpose of the revision is to amend the rules and procedures governing international expositions in line with current techniques and to modernize the provisions concerning the activities of the Bureau. By limiting the frequency of expositions, the new Protocol should reduce the financial demands on participating governments.

I commend the purposes of the Protocol and request that the Senate advise and consent to its ratification, subject to the reservation recommended in the report of the Department of State.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House,

July 19, 1973.