EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES)
ACT 1963: ANTARCTIC TREATY CONSULTATIVE MEETING
(PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES) REGULATIONS
Statutory Rules 1983 No.151 Issued by Authority of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
The purpose of the Regulations is to accord privileges and immunities to persons attending the Twelfth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM XII). The Consultative Meeting will be held in Canberra between 13 and 27 September 1983.
The meeting will be attended by representatives of the fourteen Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs), and also by representatives of the fourteen Contracting Parties to the Antarctic Treaty which are not full Consultative Parties. ATCMs are held every two years, on a rotational basis in ATCP capitals. The main purpose of such meetings is to discuss scientific research, resource management and political questions relating to the collective management of Antarctica by the fourteen ATCPs.
The agenda for both meetings will concentrate on scientific items (telecommunications, sites of special scientific interest, man’s impact on the environment), and on a series of measures aimed at making the operation of the Antarctic Treaty system more accessible to countries now outside the Antarctic Treaty.
Representatives of ATCPs who are accredited as foreign diplomatic agents in Australia will retain their diplomatic privileges and immunities but, apart from the privileges and immunities to be accorded under the proposed Regulations, no other privileges or immunities would be applicable to persons associated with the Consultative Meeting. International practice requires that appropriate privileges and immunities be granted.
The Regulations will declare the Twelfth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting to be a conference to which S.7 of the International Organizations (Privileges and Immunities) Act 1963 applies. This will have the effect of according diplomatic privileges and immunities to persons representing countries other than Australia at the meeting, and comparable privileges and immunities to the official staff of such representatives. Members of the Secretariat will be accorded immunity from suit and legal process in respect of their official acts only.