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(2) The International Office shall always place itself at the disposal of members of the Union in order to provide them with any special information which they may require relating to the protection of literary and artistic works. (3) The Director of the International Office shall make an annual report on his administration, which shall be communicated to all the members of the Union. Article 23 (1) The expenses of the Office of the International Union shall be shared by the Countries of the Union. Until a fresh arrangement is made, they shall not exceed the amount of 120,000 gold francs a year.* This amount may be increased, if necessary, by unanimous decision of the Countries of the Union or of one of the Conferences provided for in Article 24. (2) The share of the total expense to be paid by each Country shall be determined by the division of the Countries of the Union and those subsequently acceding to the Union into six classes, each of which shall contribute in the proportion of a certain number of units, viz. : Ist class .. .. .. .. .. .. 25 units. 2nd „ .. .. .. .. .. .. 20 „ 3rd „ .. .. .. .. .. .. 15 „ 4th „ .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 „ sth ~ .. .. .. .. .. 5 „ 6th „ .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 „ (3) These coefficients are multiplied by the number of Countries of each class, and the total product thus obtained gives the number of units by which the total expense is to be divided. The quotient gives the amount of the unit of expense. (4) Each Country shall declare, at the time of its accession, in which of the said classes it desires to be placed, but it may subsequently declare that it wishes to be placed in another class. (5) The Swiss Administration shall prepare the budget of the Office, supervise its expenditure, make the necessary advances, and draw up the annual account which shall be communicated to all the other Administrations. Article 24 (1) This Convention may be submitted to revision for the purpose of introducing improvements intended to perfect the system of the Union. (2) Questions of this kind, as well as those which in other respects concern the development of the Union, shall be considered in Conferences-to be held successively in the Countries of the Union by delegates of the said Countries. The Administration of the Country where a Conference is to meet shall, with the assistance of the International Office, prepare the programme of the Conference. The Director of the Office shall attend the sessions of the Conferences, and shall take part in the discussions without the right to vote. (3) No alteration in this Convention shall be binding on the Union except by the unanimous consent of the Countries composing it. Article 25 (1) Countries outside the Union which make provision for the legal protection of the rights forming the object of the present Convention may accede thereto upon request. (2) Such accession shall be notified in writing to the Government of the Swiss Confederation, who shall communicate it to all the other Countries of the Union. (3) Such accession shall imply full acceptance of all the clauses and admission to all the advantages provided by this Convention, and shall take effect one month after the date of the notification made by the Government of the Swiss Confederation to the other Countries of the Union, unless some later date has been indicated by the acceding Country. It may, nevertheless, contain an indication that the adhering Country wishes to substitute, provisionally at least, for Article 8, which relates to translations, the provisions of Article 5 of the Convention of 1886 revised at Paris in 1896, on the understanding that those provisions shall apply only to translations into the language or languages of that Country. Article 26 (1) Any country of the Union may at any time in writing notify the Swiss Government that this Convention shall apply to its overseas territories, colonies, protectorates, territories under its trusteeship, or to any other territory for the international relations of which it is responsible, and the Convention shall thereupon apply to all the territories named in such notification, as from a date determined in accordance with Article 25, paragraph 3. In the absence of such notification, the Convention shall not apply to such territories.

* This monetary unit is the gold franc of 100 centimes, weighing 10/31 of a gramme and of a fineness of 0,900.

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