Editorial Note
On March 24, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment came to an end with the signing of the Final Act which incorporated the Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization. The Charter was to enter into force after a majority of the signatory nations approved. If such conditions had not obtained within a year, the Charter was to take effect when certain specified conditions had been met. For text see United Nations document ICITO/1/4. Other copies of the text of the Final Act and Belated Documents are available in these editions: (1) Department of State Publication 3117, Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization, and Final Act and Related Documents (Washington, Government Printing Office, April 1947 [1948]); (2) a preliminary text which was issued in Habana in advance of signature (United States Delegation files, Lot 57D284, Box 105); and (3) copies of an authentic official edition which was reproduced from the text of the signature copy (United States Delegation files, Lot 57D284, Box 105). In September 1948 the Department of State issued a text with a Guide to the Study of the Charter (Publication 3206). In 1949 the United States Tariff Commission prepared a useful detailed analysis of the Habana Charter for the Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Report on the Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization (United States Tariff Commission, Washington, D.C., May 1949); a copy is in the United States Delegation files, Lot 57D284, Box 105. The Final Act included a series of resolutions among which was one which created an Interim Commission for the International Trade Organization.
The Department of State called the signing of the Charter a “momentous achievement”. Statements made by President Truman, Secretary Marshall, Ambassador Austin, William Clayton, and by the Department on this occasion may be found in the Department of State Bulletin, April 4, 1948, pages 441–445.
In September, the Interim Commission published Reports of Committees and Principal Sub-Committees, ICITO 1/8, a collection of reports of the principal committees which functioned at Habana. The publication’s aim was “to provide a record of the principal discussions … give an indication of the origins of the various articles … explaining particularly the changes made in the Geneva draft” so as to preserve the comments or observations regarding the Charter text. These Committee Reports are also included in the United States Delegation files (Lot 57D284, Box 103).
There follows an extract from the Official Report of the Chairman of the United States Delegation to the Habana Conference, summarizing [Page 896] aspects of the conference of particular interest to the United States.