INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS
(PRIVILEGES
AND IMMUNITIES).
No. 72 of 1948.
An Act relating to the Privileges and
Immunities of the United Nations and other International Organizations, and for
other purposes.
[Assented
to 17th December, 1948.]
[Date
of commencement, 14th January, 1949.]
BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent
Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of
Australia, as follows:—
Short
title.
1. This Act may be cited as the International
Organizations (Privileges and
Immunities) Act 1948.
Definitions.
2. In this Act, “the Convention” means the General Convention on the
Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations which was adopted by the
General Assembly of the United Nations on the thirteenth day of February, One
thousand nine hundred and forty-six, and a copy of which is set out in the
Schedule to this Act.
Accession to
Convention.
3. Approval is hereby given to the accession by Australia to the
Convention.
Protection of
name, &c, of United Nations.
4.—(1.) Except with the consent in writing of the
Minister, a person shall not assume or use in connexion with any trade,
business, calling or profession the name, official seal or emblem of the United
Nations or of any other prescribed international organization, or any seal or
emblem so nearly resembling any such seal or emblem as to be likely to deceive.
Penalty: Twenty pounds.
(2.) A copy of each seal and emblem in relation to
which the last preceding sub-section applies shall be published in the Gazette.
(3.) Evidence of any seal or emblem in relation to
which sub-section (1.) of this section applies may be given by the production
of the Gazette purporting to contain
a copy of the seal or emblem.
Regulations.
5. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with
this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted
to be prescribed or are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving
effect to this Act, and in particular—
(a) for giving effect to the provisions
of the Convention; and
(b) for giving effect, in relation to any
international organization, to the provisions of any convention on the
privileges and immunities of that international organization to which Australia
has acceded.
THE SCHEDULE. Section
2.
—
CONVENTION ON THE PRIVILEGES AND
IMMUNITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS.
Whereas Article 104 of the
Charter of the United Nations provides that the Organization shall enjoy in the
territory of each of its Members such legal capacity as may be necessary for
the exercise of its functions and the fulfilment of its purposes and
Whereas Article 105 of the
Charter of the United Nations provides that the Organization shall enjoy in the
territory of each of its Members such privileges and immunities as are
necessary for the fulfilment of its purposes and that representatives of the
Members of the United Nations and officials of the Organization shall similarly
enjoy such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the independent
exercise of the functions in connexion with the Organization:
Consequently
the
General Assembly by a resolution adopted on 13th February, 1946, approved the
following convention and proposes it for accession by each Member of the United
Nations.
Article I
Juridical
Personality
Section 1. The United Nations shall possess juridical
personality. It shall have the capacity:
(a) to contract;
(b) to acquire and dispose of immovable
and movable property;
(c) to institute legal proceedings.
Article II
Properly,
Funds and Assets
Section 2. The United Nations, its property and assets
wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall enjoy immunity from every form
of legal process except in so far as in any particular case it has expressly
waived its immunity. It is, however, understood that no waiver of immunity
shall extend to any measure of execution.
Section 3. The premises of the United Nations shall be
inviolable. The property and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and
by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation,
expropriation and any other form of interference, whether by executive,
administrative, judicial or legislative action.
Section 4. The archives of the United Nations, and in
general all documents belonging to it or held by it, shall be inviolable
wherever located.
Section 5. Without being restricted by financial
controls, regulations or moratoria of any kind.
(a) The United Nations may hold funds,
gold or currency of any kind and operate accounts in any currency;
(b) The United Nations shall be free to
transfer its funds, gold or currency from one country to another or within any
country and to convert any currency held by it into any other currency.
The Schedule—continued.
Section 6. In exercising its rights under section 5
above, the United Nations shall pay due regard to any representations made by
the Government of any Member in so far as it is considered that effect can be
given to such representations without detriment to the interests of the United
Nations.
Section 7. The United Nations, its assets, income and
other property shall be:
(a) exempt from all direct taxes; it is
understood, however, that the United Nations will not claim exemption from
taxes which are, in fact, no more than charges for public utility services;
(b) exempt from customs duties and
prohibitions and restrictions on imports and exports in respect of articles
imported or exported by the United Nations for its official use. It is
understood, however, that articles imported under such exemption will not be
sold in the country into which they were imported except under conditions
agreed with the Government of that country;
(c) exempt from customs duties and
prohibitions and restrictions on imports and exports in respect of its
publications.
Section 8. While the United Nations will not, as a
general rule, claim exemption from excise duties and from taxes on the sale of
movable and immovable property which form part of the price to be paid,
nevertheless, when the United Nations is making important purchases for
official use of property on which such duties and taxes have been charged or
are chargeable, Members will, whenever possible, make appropriate
administrative arrangements for the remission or return of the amount of duty
or tax.
Article
III
Facilities
in respect of Communications
Section 9. The United Nations shall enjoy in the
territory of each Member for its official communications treatment not less
favorable than that accorded by the Government of that Member to any other
Government, including its diplomatic mission, in the matter of priorities,
rates and taxes on mails, cables, telegrams, radiograms, telephotos, telephone
and other communications; and press rates for information to the press and
radio. No censorship shall be applied to the official correspondence and other
official communications of the United Nations.
Section 10. The United Nations shall have the right to use
codes and to dispatch and receive its correspondence by courier or in bags,
which shall have the same immunities and privileges as diplomatic couriers and
bags.
Article IV
The
Representatives of Members
Section
11. Representatives of Members to the principal and
subsidiary organs of the United Nations and to conferences convened by the
United Nations, shall, while exercising their functions and during their
journey to and from the place of meeting, enjoy the following privileges and
immunities:
(a) immunity from personal arrest or
detention and from seizure of their personal baggage, and, in respect of words
spoken or written and all acts done by them in their capacity as
representatives, immunity from legal process of every kind;
(b) inviolability for all papers and
documents;
(c) the right to use codes and to receive
papers or correspondence by courier or in sealed bags;
(d) exemption in respect of themselves
and their spouses from immigration restrictions, aliens registration or
national service obligations in the State they are visiting or through which
they are passing in the exercise of their functions;
(e) the same facilities in respect of
currency or exchange restrictions as are accorded to representatives of foreign
governments on temporary official missions:
The Schedule—continued.
(f) the same immunities and facilities in
respect of their personal baggage as are accorded to diplomatic envoys, and
also;
(g) such other privileges, immunities and
facilities, not inconsistent with the foregoing, as diplomatic envoys enjoy,
except that they shall have no right to claim exemption from customs duties on
goods imported (other-wise than as part of their personal baggage) or from
excise duties or sales taxes.
Section 12. In order to secure for the representatives of
Members to the principal and subsidiary organs of the United Nations and to
conferences convened by the United Nations, complete freedom of speech and
independence in the discharge of their duties, the immunity from legal process
in respect of words spoken or written and all acts done by them in discharging
their duties shall continue to be accorded, notwithstanding that the persons
concerned are no longer the representatives of Members.
Section 13. Where the incidence of any form of taxation
depends upon residence, periods during which the representatives of Members to
the principal and subsidiary organs of the United Nations and to conferences
convened by the United Nations are present in a State for the discharge of
their duties shall not be considered as periods of residence.
Section 14. Privileges and immunities are accorded to the
representatives of Members not for the personal benefit of the individuals
themselves, but in order to safeguard the independent exorcise of their
functions in connexion with the United Nations. Consequently a Member not only
has the right but is under a duty to waive the immunity of its representative
in any case where in the opinion of the Member the immunity would impede the
course of justice, and it can be waived without prejudice to the purpose for
which the immunity is accorded.
Section 15. The provisions of sections 11, 12 and 13 are
not applicable as between a representative and the authorities of the State of
which he is a national or of which he is or has been the representative.
Section 16. In this article the expression “representatives”
shall be deemed to include all delegates, deputy delegates, advisers, technical
experts and secretaries of delegations.
Article V
Officials
Section
17. The Secretary-General will specify the
categories of officials to which the provisions of this article and article VII
shall apply. He shall submit these categories to the General Assembly.
Thereafter these categories shall be communicated to the Governments of all
Members. The names of the officials included in these categories shall from
time to time be made known to the Governments of Members.
Section 18. Officials of the United Nations shall:
(a) be immune from legal process in
respect of words spoken or written and all acts performed by them in their
official capacity;
(b) be exempt from taxation on the
salaries and emoluments paid to them by the United Nations;
(c) be immune from national service
obligations;
(d) be immune, together with their
spouses and relatives dependent on them, from immigration restrictions and
alien registration;
(e) be accorded the same privileges in
respect of exchange facilities as are accorded to the officials of comparable
ranks forming part of diplomatic missions to the government concerned;
(f) be given, together with their spouses
and relatives dependent on them, the same repatriation facilities in time of
international crisis as diplomatic envoys.
(g) have the right to import free of duty
their furniture and effects at the time of first taking up their post in the
country in question.
Section 19. In addition to the immunities and privileges
specified in section 18, the Secretary-General and all Assistant
Secretaries-General shall be accorded in respect of themselves, their spouses
and minor children, the privileges and immunities exemptions and facilities
accorded to diplomatic envoys, in accordance with international law.
The Schedule—continued.
Section
20. Privileges and immunities are granted to
officials in the interests of the United Nations and not for the personal
benefit of the individuals themselves The Secretary-General shall have the
right and the duty to waive immunity of any official in any case where, in his
opinion, the immunity would impede the course of justice and can be waived
without prejudice to the interests of the United Nations. In the case of the
Secretary-General, the Security Council shall have the right to waive immunity.
Section 21. The United Nations shall co-operate at all
times with the appropriate authorities of Members to facilitate the proper
administration of justice, secure the observance of police regulations, and
prevent the occurrence of any abuse in connexion with the privileges,
immunities and facilities mentioned in this article.
Article
VI
Experts
on Missions for the United Nations
Section
22. Experts (other than officials coming within the
scope of article V) performing missions for the United Nations shall be
accorded such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the independent
exercise of their functions during the period of their missions, including the
time spent on journeys in connection with their missions. In particular they
shall be accorded:
(a)immunity from personal arrest or detention and from seizure of their
personal baggage;
(b) in respect of words spoken or written
and acts done by them in the course of the performance of their mission,
immunity from legal process of every kind. This immunity from legal process
shall continue to be accorded notwithstanding that the persons concerned are no
longer employed on missions for the United Nations;
(c) inviolability for all papers and
documents;
(d) for the purpose of their
communications with the United Nations, the right to use codes and to receive
papers or correspondence by courier or in sealed bags;
(e) the same facilities in respect of
currency or exchange restrictions as are accorded to representatives of foreign
governments on temporary official missions;
(f) the same immunities and facilities in
respect of their personal baggage as are accorded to diplomatic envoys.
Section 23. Privileges and immunities are granted to
experts in the interests of the United Nations and not for the personal benefit
of the individuals themselves. The Secretary-General shall have the right and
the duty to waive the immunity of any expert in any case where, in his opinion,
the immunity would impede the course of justice and it can be waived without
prejudice to the interests of the United Nations.
Article VII
United
Nations Laissez-Passer
Section
24. The United Nations may issue United Nations laissez-passer to its officials. These laissez-passer shall be recognized and
accepted as valid travel documents, by the authorities of Members, taking into
account the provisions of section 25.
Section 25. Applications for visas (where required) from
the holders of United Nations laissez-passer,
when accompanied by a certificate that they are travelling on the business
of the United Nations, shall be dealt with as speedily as possible. In
addition, such persons shall be granted facilities for speedy travel.
Section 26. Similar facilities to those specified in
section 25 shall be accorded to exports and other persons who, though not the
holders of United Nations laissez-passer,
have a certificate that they are travelling on the business of the United
Nations.
Section 27. The Secretary-General, Assistant
Secretaries-General and Directors travelling on United Nations laissez-passer on the business of the
United Nations shall be granted the same facilities as are accorded to
diplomatic envoys.
Section
28. The provisions of this article may be applied
to the comparable officials of specialized agencies if the agreements for
relationship made under Article 63 of the Charter so provide.
The
Schedule—continued.
Article VIII
Settlement of Disputes
Section
29. The United Nations shall make provisions for
appropriate modes of settlement of:
(a) disputes arising out of contracts or
other disputes of a private law character to which the United Nations is a
party;
(b) disputes involving any official of
the United Nations who by reason of his official position enjoys immunity, if
immunity has not been waived by the Secretary-General.
Section 30. All differences arising out of the
interpretation or application of the present convention shall be referred to
the International Court of Justice, unless in any case it is agreed by the
parties to have recourse to another mode of settlement. If a difference arises
between the United Nations on the one hand and a Member on the other hand, a
request shall be made for an advisory opinion on any legal question involved in
accordance with Article 96 of the Charter and Article 65 of the Statute of the
Court. The opinion given by the Court shall be accepted as decisive by the
parties.
Final Article
Section
31. This convention is submitted to every Member of
the United Nations for accession.
Section
32. Accession shall be effected by deposit of an
instrument with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the convention
shall come into force as regards each Member on the date of deposit of each
instrument of accession.
Section
33. The Secretary-General shall inform all Members
of the United Nations of the deposit of each accession.
Section
34. It is understood that, when an instrument of
accession is deposited on behalf of any Member, the Member will be in a
position under its own law to give effect to the terms of this convention.
Section
35. This convention shall continue in force as
between the United Nations and every Member which has deposited an instrument
of accession for so long as that Member remains a Member of the United Nations,
or until a revised general convention has been approved by the General Assembly
and that Member has become a party to this revised convention.
Section