General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe

Transcription

1 Europen Trety Series No. 2 Generl Agreement on Privileges nd Immunities of the Counil of Europe Pris, 2.IX.1949 The Governments of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmrk, the Frenh Repuli, the Kingdom of Greee, the Irish Repuli, the Itlin Repuli, the Grnd Duhy of Luxemourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlnds, the Kingdom of Norwy, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Turkish Repuli nd the United Kingdom of Gret Britin nd Northern Irelnd, Wheres under the provisions of Artile 40, prgrph, of the Sttute, the Counil of Europe, representtives of memers nd the Seretrit shll enjoy in the territories of its memers suh privileges nd immunities s re neessry for the exerise of their duties; Wheres under the provisions of prgrph of the ove-mentioned rtile, the memers of the Counil hve undertken to enter into n greement for the purpose of fulfilling the provisions of the sid prgrph; Wheres in pursune of the ove-mentioned prgrph, the Committee of Ministers hs reommended to memer governments the eptne of the following provisions, Hve greed s follows: Prt I Personlity Cpity Artile 1 The Counil of Europe shll possess juridil personlity. It shll hve the pity to onlude ontrts, to quire nd dispose of movle nd immovle property nd to institute legl proeedings. In these mtters the Seretry Generl shll t on ehlf of the Counil of Europe. Artile 2 The Seretry Generl shll o-operte t ll times with the ompetent uthorities of the memers to filitte the proper dministrtion of justie, seure the oservne of polie regultions nd prevent the ourrene of ny use in onnetion with the privileges, immunities, exemptions nd filities enumerted in the present Agreement.

2 ETS 2 Privileges nd Immunities (Generl Agreement), 2.IX.1949 Prt II Property, funds nd ssets Artile 3 The Counil, its property nd ssets, wheresoever loted nd y whomsoever held, shll enjoy immunity from every form of legl proess exept in so fr s in ny prtiulr se, the Committee of Ministers hs expressly uthorised the wiver of this immunity. It is, however, understood tht no wiver of immunity shll extend to ny mesure of exeution or detention of property. Artile 4 The uildings nd premises of the Counil shll e inviolle. Its property nd ssets, wheresoever loted nd y whomsoever held, shll e immune from serh, requisition, onfistion, exproprition or ny other form of interferene whether y dministrtive, judiil or legisltive tion. Artile 5 The rhives of the Counil, nd in generl ll douments elonging to it or held y it, shll e inviolle wheresoever loted. Artile 6 Without eing restrited y finnil ontrols, regultions or finnil mortori of ny kind: the Counil my hold urreny of ny kind nd operte ounts in ny urreny; the Counil my freely trnsfer its funds from one ountry to nother or within ny ountry nd onvert ny urreny held y it into ny other urreny; in exerising its rights under su-prgrphs nd ove, the Counil of Europe shll py due regrd to ny representtions mde y the government of memer nd shll defer to suh representtions in so fr s it onsiders this n e done without detriment to the interests of the Counil. Artile 7 The Counil, its ssets, inome nd other property shll e exempt: from ll diret txes; the Counil will not, however, lim exemption from rtes, txes or dues whih re no more thn hrges for puli utility servies; from ll ustoms duties nd prohiitions nd restritions on imports nd exports in respet of rtiles required y the Counil for its offiil use; rtiles imported under suh exemption will not e sold in the ountry into whih they re imported, exept under onditions pproved y the government of tht ountry; from ll ustoms duties, nd prohiitions nd restritions on imports nd exports in respet of its pulitions. 2

3 ETS 2 Privileges nd Immunities (Generl Agreement), 2.IX.1949 Prt III Communitions Artile 8 The Committee of Ministers nd the Seretry Generl shll enjoy in the territory of eh memer, for their offiil ommunitions, tretment t lest s fvourle s tht orded y tht memer to the diplomti missions of ny other government. No ensorship shll e pplied to the offiil orrespondene nd other offiil ommunitions of the Committee of Ministers nd of the Seretrit. Prt IV Representtives of memers to the Committee of Ministers Artile 9 Representtives t the Committee of Ministers shll, while exerising their funtions nd during their journeys to nd from the ple of meeting, enjoy the following privileges nd immunities: d e f Immunity from personl rrest or detention nd from seizure of their personl ggge, nd, in respet of words spoken or written nd ll ts done y them in their offiil pity, immunity from legl proess of every kind. Inviolility for ll ppers nd douments. The right to use odes nd to reeive ppers or orrespondene y ourier or in seled gs. Exemption in respet of themselves nd their spouses from immigrtion restritions or liens registrtion in the Stte whih they re visiting or through whih they re pssing in the exerise of their funtions. The sme filities in respet of urreny or exhnge restritions s re orded to representtives of omprle rnk of diplomti missions. The sme immunities nd filities in respet of their personl ggge s re orded to memers of omprle rnk of diplomti missions. Artile 10 In order to seure for the representtives t the Committee of Ministers omplete freedom of speeh nd omplete independene in the dishrge of their duties, the immunity from legl proess in respet of words spoken or written nd ll ts done y them in dishrging their duties shll ontinue to e orded, notwithstnding tht the persons onerned re no longer engged in the dishrge of suh duties. Artile 11 Privileges nd immunities re orded to the representtives of memers, not for the personl enefit of the individuls themselves, ut in order to sfegurd the independent exerise of their funtions in onnetion with the Committee of Ministers. Consequently, memer not only hs the right, ut is under duty to wive the immunity of its representtive in ny se where, in the opinion of the memer, the immunity would impede the ourse of justie, nd where it n e wived without prejudie to the purpose for whih the immunity is orded. 3

4 ETS 2 Privileges nd Immunities (Generl Agreement), 2.IX.1949 Artile 12 The provisions of Artiles 9, 10 nd 11 re not pplile in reltion to the uthorities of Stte of whih the person is ntionl or of whih he is or hs een representtive. In Artiles 9, 10, 11 nd 12. ove, the expression "representtives" shll e deemed to inlude ll representtives, lternte representtives, dvisers, tehnil experts nd seretries of delegtions. Prt V Representtives to the Consulttive Assemly Artile 13 No dministrtive or other restrition shll e imposed on the free movement to nd from the ple of meeting of Representtives to the Consulttive Assemly nd their sustitutes. Representtives nd their sustitutes shll, in the mtter of ustoms nd exhnge ontrol, e orded: y their own government, the sme filities s those orded to senior offiils trvelling rod on temporry offiil duty; y the governments of other memers, the sme filities s those orded to representtives of foreign governments on temporry offiil duty. Artile 14 Representtives to the Consulttive Assemly nd their sustitutes shll e immune from ll offiil interrogtion nd from rrest nd ll legl proeedings in respet of words spoken or votes st y them in the exerise of their funtions. Artile 15 During the sessions of the Consulttive Assemly, the Representtives to the Assemly nd their sustitutes, whether they e memers of Prliment or not, shll enjoy: on their ntionl territory, the immunities orded in those ountries to memers of Prliment; on the territory of ll other memer Sttes, exemption from rrest nd proseution. This immunity lso pplies when they re trvelling to nd from the ple of meeting of the Consulttive Assemly. It does not, however, pply when Representtives nd their sustitutes re found ommitting, ttempting to ommit, or just hving ommitted n offene, nor in ses where the Assemly hs wived the immunity. Prt VI Offiils of the Counil Artile 16 In ddition to the immunities nd privileges speified in Artile 18 elow, the Seretry Generl nd Deputy Seretry Generl shll e orded in respet of themselves, their spouses nd minor hildren the privileges nd immunities, exemptions nd filities orded to diplomti envoys in ordne with Interntionl Lw. 4

5 ETS 2 Privileges nd Immunities (Generl Agreement), 2.IX.1949 Artile 17 The Seretry Generl will speify the tegories of offiils to whih the provisions of Artile 18 elow shll pply. He shll ommunite them to the governments of ll memers. The nmes of the offiils inluded in these tegories shll from time to time e mde known to the ove-mentioned governments. Artile 18 Offiils of the Counil of Europe shll: d e f e immune from legl proess in respet of words spoken or written nd ll ts performed y them in their offiil pity nd within the limit of their uthority; e exempt from txtion on the slries nd emoluments pid to them y the Counil of Europe; e immune, together with their spouses nd reltives dependent on them, from immigrtion restritions nd liens' registrtion; e orded the sme privileges in respet of exhnge filities s re orded to offiils of omprle rnk forming prt of diplomti missions to the government onerned; e given, together with their spouses nd reltives dependent on them, the sme reptrition filities in time of interntionl risis s diplomti envoys; hve the right to import free of duty their furniture nd effets t the time of first tking up their post in the ountry in question, nd to re-export the sme free of duty to their ountry of domiile. Artile 19 Privileges nd immunities re grnted to offiils in the interests of the Counil of Europe nd not for the personl enefit of the individuls themselves. The Seretry Generl shll hve the right nd the duty to wive the immunity of ny offiil in ny se where, in his opinion, the immunity would impede the ourse of justie nd n e wived without prejudie to the interests of the Counil of Europe. In the se of the Seretry Generl nd of the Deputy Seretry Generl, the Committee of Ministers shll hve the right to wive immunity. Prt VII Supplementry greements Artile 20 The Counil my onlude with ny memer or memers supplementry greements modifying the provisions of this Generl Agreement, so fr s tht memer or those memers re onerned. 5

6 ETS 2 Privileges nd Immunities (Generl Agreement), 2.IX.1949 Prt VIII Disputes Artile 21 Any dispute etween the Counil nd privte persons regrding supplies furnished, servies rendered or immovle property purhsed on ehlf of the Counil, shll e sumitted to ritrtion, s provided in n dministrtive order issued y the Seretry Generl with the pprovl of the Committee of Ministers. Prt IX Finl provisions Artile 22 The present Agreement shll e rtified. Instruments of rtifition shll e deposited with the Seretry Generl. The Agreement shll ome into fore s soon s seven signtories hve deposited their instruments of rtifition. Nevertheless, pending the entry into fore of the Agreement in ordne with the provisions of the preeding prgrph, the signtories gree, in order to void ny dely in the effiient working of the Counil, to pply it provisionlly from the dte of signture, so fr s it is possile to do so under their respetive onstitutionl systems. In witness whereof the undersigned plenipotentiries, eing duly uthorised to tht effet, hve signed the present Generl Agreement. Done t Pris, this 2nd dy of Septemer 1949, in Frenh nd in English, oth texts eing eqully uthenti, in single opy whih shll remin in the rhives of the Counil of Europe. The Seretry Generl shll trnsmit ertified opies to eh of the signtories. 6