The Geneva Protocol, by David Hunter Miller

CHAPTER XX. 153
reduction of armaments, that plan has not been carried out, the Council shall make a declaration to that effect;
this declaration shall under the present Protocol be null and void.
"The grounds on which the Council may declare that the plan drawn up by the International Conference for
the Reduction of Armaments has not been carried out, and that in consequence the present {259} rendered
null and void, shall be laid down by the Conference itself.
"A signatory State which, after the expiration of the period fixed above, fails to comply with the plan adopted
by the Conference, shall not be admitted to benefit by the application of sanctions provided in the present
Protocol."
120. The sub-committee adopted a proposal to add to the third paragraph "and communicated to Governments
two months previously." In view of representations made by the Japanese Delegation, this was subsequently
altered to "and communicated to Governments at the earliest possible date, and at the latest three months
before the Conference meets."
121. The Swedish Delegation proposed that a clause should be added to the effect that "the present Protocol in
no way effects obligations arising out of the Covenant." It was agreed that a clause to this effect could be
either added or inserted as a separate article. The latter alternative was eventually adopted (see article 19 of
the final Protocol).
122. After some discussion, the number of ratifications required in paragraph 2 of this article was finally fixed
as now provided in the Protocol (see paragraph 4 of article 21 of the final Protocol).
(N. B.--The Joint Drafting Committee of the First and Third Committees made a final revise of the whole text,
with a view to checking the wording of the various articles, their logical arrangement, &c. In the course of this
work they removed paragraphs 3, 5, 6 and 7 of this article and incorporated them in the "ratification" article of
the final Protocol--No. 21.)
123. Article 10.--The British Delegation proposed the suppression of the words "carrying out." It was decided
to consult the First Committee on this point. (The words are omitted in the final Protocol.)
124. Article 11.--In view of the new text of article 9, it was decided to omit the second paragraph of this
article.
125. This concluded the work of the sub-committee, and {260} the text of the above articles of the Protocol
were submitted to the Third Committee on the 22nd September.
Dr. Benes, as chairman and rapporteur of the sub-committee, made a general report on the sub-committee's
work, and it was then agreed to discuss the articles seriatim.
126. On Article 4 a debate ensued on an objection raised by the Italian Delegation to the proposal that
investigations should be carried out by the organisation to be set up by the International Conference. In the
first place, they disliked the idea of a permanent organ of investigation--they considered that, if an
investigation were necessary, this should be carried out by a special body appointed for the purpose if and
when the occasion arose. In the second place, they suggested that it would be improper to anticipate, in the
Protocol, any decision that the International Conference might take. The British Delegation explained that this
proposal had been inserted in their draft merely as a matter of convenience: thinking that it would be
necessary for the Conference to appoint some body to ensure that the decisions of the Conference were carried
out, it had seemed to them that it would be only duplicating labour for any other body to be set up by the
Council to carry out these special investigations. The Italian Delegation finally suggested that the text should
run, "such enquiries and investigations shall be carried out with the utmost possible despatch, and the