The Agreement relating to the suppression of the Capitulations in Egypt was signed at Christiania (now Oslo) on 22 April 1921. Plenipotentiaries: M. de C. Findlay, British minister plenipotentiary, and C. F. Michelet, Norwegian minister for foreign affairs. Official text: French, in duplicate. Communicated to the League by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Office. Registration: 28 May 1921, Treaty Series No. 114, volume 5. A Norwegian note of 15 June 1921 states that it would come into force without ratification. It is not the 1937 Montreux Convention, which was multilateral, and not the analogous agreements with Greece, Sweden or Denmark.

The preamble finds the moment opportune to give full effect to the special situation of Great Britain in Egypt and replaces the regime then applied to Norwegian subjects. Article 1: so long as Great Britain exercises in Egypt the control necessary to protect foreign interests, Norway renounces in her favour the rights and privileges held under the Capitulations. In the reconstituted mixed Tribunals, to which jurisdiction hitherto exercised by the Consular Courts will be transferred, Norway is assured rights similar to those of the other Powers concerned. Occupation or court regulations are not transcribed.

Article 2: from the coming into force of the new judicial system under British authority, the Norwegian Consular Courts cease to sit, except to dispose of current proceedings. Article 3 grants Norwegian nationals, as to public liberties, the administration of justice, private rights (including landed property and mining), the professions, and taxes, the same treatment as British nationals; children born in Egypt of a Norwegian father remain entitled to Norwegian nationality. Article 4: from the closing of the Consular Courts, consuls enjoy the same immunities as in Great Britain and continue their non-judicial functions so far as consistent with the laws of Egypt.

Article 5 applies the treaties in force between Great Britain and Norway in Egypt; the extradition agreements of 26 June 1873 and 11 February 1907 remain, with the prohibition on extraditing nationals extended, for refugees in Egypt, to subjects of the Sultan. This is not an extradition handbook. Reciprocal trade rules are not to be altered without twelve months’ notice, without limiting general modifications applicable to all countries. Article 6: the rights and duties of the International Quarantine Commission pass to the Anglo-Egyptian authorities, subject only to the unanimous consent of the Powers concerned.

The register source, WorldLII, returns 403; the working text is LNTS volume 5. Cover: Victoria Terrasse, seat of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Christiania, the place of signature; no claim is made to the hall. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Agreement Between Great Britain and Norway Relating to the Suppression of the Capitulations in Egypt; Agreement relating to the suppression of the Capitulations in Egypt (LNTS No. 114).