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FREE PORTS

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 86 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FREE PORTS , a See also:term, strictly speaking, given to localities where no customs duties are levied, and where no customs super-See also:vision exists. In these ports (subject to See also:payment for specific services rendered, wharfage, storage, &c., and to the observance of See also:local See also:police and sanitary regulations) See also:ships load and unload,. cargoes are deposited and handled, See also:industries are exercised, manufactures are carried on, goods are bought and sold, without any See also:action on the See also:part of fiscal authorities. Ports are likewise designated " free " where a space or See also:zone exists within which commercial operations are conducted without payment of import or export See also:duty, and without active interference on the part of customs authorities. The See also:French and See also:German designations for these two descriptions of ports are—for the former La Ville franche, Freih...fen; for the latter Le See also:Port See also:franc, Freibezirk or Freilager. The See also:English phrase free port applies to both.' The leading conditions under which free ports in See also:Europe derived their origin were as follows:—(1) When public See also:order became re-established during the See also:middle ages, trading centres were gradually formed: Marts for the See also:exchange and See also:purchase of goods arose in different localities. Many See also:Italian settlements, constituting free zones, were established in the See also:Levant. The Hanseatic towns arose in the 12th See also:century. See also:Great fairs became recognized—the See also:Leipzig See also:charter was granted in 1268. These localities were free as regards customs duties, although dues of the nature of See also:octroi charges were often levied. (2) Until the 19th century See also:European states were numerous, and often of small See also:size. Accordingly See also:uniform customs tariffs of wide application did not exist. i In See also:China at the See also:present See also:time (1902) certain ports are designated " free and open." This phrase means that the ports in question are (t) open to See also:foreign See also:trade, and (2) that vessels engaged in oversea voyages may freely resort there.

Exemption from payment of customs duties is not implied, which is a See also:

matter distinct from the permission granted under treaty engagements to foreign vessels to carry cargoes to and from the " treaty ports." Uniform rates of duty were fixed in See also:England by the See also:Subsidy See also:Act of 166o. In See also:France, before the Revolution (besides the free ports), See also:Alsace and the See also:Lorraine Bishoprics were in trade matters treated as foreign countries. The unification of the German customs See also:tariff began in 1834 with the Steuerverein and the See also:Zollverein. The See also:Spanish fiscal See also:system did not include the Basque provinces until about 185o. The uniform Italian tariff See also:dates from 1861. Thus until very See also:recent times on the See also:Continent free ports were compatible with the fiscal policy and practice of different countries. (3) Along the Mediterranean See also:coast, up to the 19th century, convenient shelter was needed from corsairs. In other See also:continental countries the prevalent colonial and See also:mercantile policy sought to create trans-oceanic trade. Free ports were advantageous from all these points of view. In following the See also:history of these harbours in Europe, it is to be observed that in Great See also:Britain free ports have never existed. In 1552 it was contemplated to See also:place See also:Hull and See also:Southampton on this footing, but the See also:design was abandoned. Subsequently the bonding and not the free port system was adopted in the See also:United See also:Kingdom.

See also:

Austria-See also:Hungary.—Fiume and See also:Trieste were respectively free ports during the periods 1722–1893 and 1719–1893. See also:Belgium.—The See also:emperor See also:Joseph II. during his visit to the See also:Austrian See also:Netherlands in See also:June 1781 endeavoured to create a See also:direct trade between that See also:country and See also:India. See also:Ostend was made a free port, and large bonding facilities were afforded at Brines, See also:Brussels, See also:Ghent and See also:Louvain. In 1796, however, the revolutionary See also:government abolished the Ostend privileges. See also:Denmark.—In See also:November 1894 an See also:area of about 15o acres at See also:Copenhagen was opened as a free port, and great facilities are afforded for See also:shipping and commercial operations in order that the Baltic trade may centre there. France.—Marseilles was a free port in the middle ages, and so was See also:Dunkirk when it formed part of See also:Flanders. In 1669 these privileges were confirmed, and extended to See also:Bayonne. In 1784 there was a fresh See also:confirmation, and See also:Lorient and St See also:Jean de Luz were included in the ordonnance. The See also:National See also:Assembly in 1790 maintained this policy, and created free ports in the French See also:West Indies. In 1795, however, all such privileges were abolished, but large bonding facilities were allowed at See also:Marseilles to favour the Levant trade. The government of See also:Louis XVIII. in 1814 restored, and in 1871 again revoked, the free port privileges of Marseilles. There are now no free ports in France or in French possessions; the bonding system is in force.

See also:

Germany.—Bremen, See also:Hamburg and See also:Lubeck were reconstituted free towns and ports under the See also:treaties of 1814–1815. Certain See also:minor ports, and several landing-stages on the See also:Rhine and the See also:Neckar, were also designated free. As the Zollverein policy became accepted throughout Germany, previous privileges were gradually lessened, and since 1888 only Hamburg remains a free port. There an area of about 2500 acres is exempt from customs duties and See also:control, and is largely used for shipping and commercial purposes. See also:Bremer-haven has a similar area of nearly 700 acres. See also:Brake, See also:Bremen, See also:Cuxhaven, See also:Emden, Geestemunde, Neufahrwasser and See also:Stettin possess Freibezirke areas, portions of the larger port. See also:Heligoland is outside the Zollverein—practically a foreign country. In See also:Italy free ports were numerous and important, and possessed privileges which varied at different dates. They were—Ancona, during the See also:period 1696–1868; See also:Brindisi, 1845–1862; See also:Leghorn (in the 17th and 18th centuries a very important Mediterranean See also:harbour), 1675–1867; See also:Messina, 1695–1879_ See also:Senigallia, 1821–1868, during the See also:month of the local See also:fair. See also:Venice possessed warehouses, See also:equivalent to bonded stores, for German and See also:Turkish trade during the See also:Republic, and was a free port 1851–1873. See also:Genoa was a free port in the titne of the Republic and under the French See also:Empire, and was continued as such by the treaties of 1814–1815. The free port was, however, changed into a " deposito franco " by a See also:law passed in 1865, and only storing privileges now remain.

See also:

Rumania.—Braila, Galati and Kustenji were free ports (for a period of about See also:forty years) up to 1883, when bonded warehouses were established by the Rumanian government. See also:Sulina remains free. See also:Russia.—Archangel was a free port, at least for English goods, from 1553 to 1648. During this period English products were admitted into Russia via See also:Archangel without any customs payment for See also:internal See also:consumption, and also in transit to See also:Persia. The See also:tsar See also:Alexis revoked this See also:grant on the See also:execution of See also:Charles I. Free ports were opened in 1895 at See also:Kola, in See also:Russian See also:Lapland. Dalny, adjoining Port See also:Arthur, was a free port during the Russian occupation; and See also:Japan after the See also:war decided to renew this See also:privilege as soon as practicable. The number of free ports outside Europe has also lessened. The administrative policy of European countries has been gradually adopted in other parts of the See also:world, and customs duties have become almost universal, conjoined with bonding and transhipment facilities. In See also:British colonies and possessions, under an act of See also:parliament passed in 1766, and repealed in 1867, two ports in See also:Dominica and four in See also:Jamaica were free, Malacca, See also:Penang and See also:Singapore have beenfree ports since 1824, Hong-See also:Kong since 1842, and Weihaiwei since it was leased to Great Britain in 1898. See also:Zanzibar was a free port during 1892–1899. See also:Aden, See also:Gibraltar, St See also:Helena and St See also:Thomas (West Indies) are sometimes designated free ports.

A few duties are, however, levied, which are really octroi rather than customs charges. These places are mainly stations for coaling and awaiting orders. Some harbours in the Netherlands See also:

East Indies were free ports between 1829 and 1899 ; but these privileges were withdrawn by See also:laws passed in 1898–1899, in order to establish uniformity of customs See also:administration. Harbours where See also:custom houses are not maintained will be practically closed to foreign trade, though the See also:governor-See also:general may in See also:special circumstances vary the application of the new regulations. See also:Macao has been a free port since 1845. See also:Portugal has no other harbour of this See also:character. The See also:American Republics have adopted the bonding system. In 1896 a free See also:wharf was opened at New See also:Orleans in See also:imitation of the recent European See also:plan. See also:Livingstone (See also:Guatemala) was a free port during the period 1882-1888. The privileges enjoyed under the old free port system benefited the towns and districts where they existed; and their abolition has been, locally, injurious. These places were, however, " foreign " to their own country, and their inland intercourse was restricted by the duties levied on their products, and by the precautions adopted to prevent evasion of these charges. With fiscal usages involving preferential and deferential treatment of goods and places, the drawbacks thus arising did not attract serious See also:attention.

Under the limited means of communication within and beyond the country, in former times, these conveniences were not much See also:

felt. But when See also:finance departments became more completely organized, the free port system See also:fell out of favour with fiscal authorities: it afforded opportunities for See also:smuggling, and impeded uniformity of action and practice. It became, in fact, out of See also:harmony with the administrative and See also:financial policy of later times. Bonding and See also:entrepot facilities, on a See also:scale commensurate with local needs, now satisfy trade requirements. In countries where high customs duties are levied, and where fiscal regulations are See also:minute and rigid, if an See also:extension of foreign trade is desired, and the competition which it involves is a national aim, special facilities must be granted for this purpose. In these circumstances a free zone sufficiently large to admit of commercial operations and transhipments on a scale which will fulfil these conditions (watched but not interfered with by the customs) becomes indispensable. The German government have, as we have seen, maintained a free zone of this nature at Hamburg. And when the free port at Copenhagen was opened, See also:counter See also:measures were adopted at See also:Danzig and Stettin. An agitation has arisen in France to provide at certain ports free zones similar to those at Copenhagen and Hamburg, and to open free ports in French possessions. A See also:bill to this effect was submitted to the chamber of deputies on the 12th of See also:April 1905. Colonial. free ports, such as Hong-Kong and Singapore, do not interfere with the uniformity of the See also:home customs and See also:excise policy. These two harbours in particular have become great shipping resorts and distributing centres.

The policy which led to their See also:

establishment as free ports has certainly promoted British commercial interests. See the See also:Parliamentary See also:Paper on " Continental Free Ports," 1904. (C. M. K.

End of Article: FREE PORTS

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