S.I. No. 116/1991:

THE FOURTH ACP-EEC CONVENTION OF LOMÉ (PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES) ORDER, 1991.

THE FOURTH ACP-EEC CONVENTION OF LOMÉ (PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES) ORDER, 1991.

WHEREAS it is enacted by section 42A (inserted by section 1 of the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities (Amendment) Act, 1976 (No. 2 of 1976)) of the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Act, 1967 (No. 8 of 1967), that the Government may by order make provision to enable international organisations, communities, or bodies, their institutions or organs and their property, and persons to have and enjoy in the State any inviolability, exemptions, facilities, immunities, privileges or rights provided for in relation to them by an international agreement to which the State is or intends to become a party:

AND WHEREAS the Fourth ACP-EEC Convention of Lomé, with the Protocols annexed thereto, done at Lomé on the 15th day of December, 1989, is such an agreement:

Now, the Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by the said section 42A, hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Fourth ACP-EEC Convention of Lomé (Privileges and Immunities) Order, 1991.

2. Protocol No. 3 (the text of which in the English language is set out in the Schedule hereto) to the Fourth ACP-EEC Convention of Lomé done at Lomé on the 15th day of December, 1989, shall apply for the purposes of section 42A (inserted by section 1 of the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities (Amendment) Act, 1976 (No. 2 of 1976)) of the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Act, 1967 (No. 8 of 1967).

SCHEDULE

The Fourth ACP-EEC Convention of Lomé

Protocol No. 3 on privileges and immunities.

The contracting parties

Desiring, by the conclusion of a Protocol on privileges and immunities, to facilitate the smooth functioning of the Convention, the preparation of its work and implementation of the measures adopted for its application;

Whereas it is therefore necessary to specify the privileges and immunities which may be claimed by persons participating in work relating to the application of the Convention and to the arrangements applicable to official communications connected with such work, without prejudice to the provision of the Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Communities, signed at Brussels on 8 April 1965;

Whereas it is also necessary to lay down the treatment to be accorded to the property, funds and assets of the Council of ACP Ministers and its staff; whereas the Georgetown Agreement of 6 June 1975 constituted the ACP Group of States and instituted a Council of ACP Ministers, and a Committee of Ambassadors; whereas the organs of the ACP Group of States are to be serviced by the Secretariat of the ACP States;

HAVE AGREED upon the following provisions, which shall be annexed to the Convention.

Chapter 1

PERSONS TAKING PART IN THE WORK OF THE CONVENTION.

Article 1

The representatives of the Governments of the Member States and of the ACP States and the Representatives of the Institutions of the European Communities, as also their advisers and experts and the members of the staff of the Secretariat of the ACP States taking part, in the territory of the Member States or of the ACP States, in the work either of the institutions of the Convention or of the co-ordinating bodies, or in work connected with the application of the Convention, shall enjoy the customary privileges, immunities and facilities while carrying out their duties and while travelling to or from the place at which they are required to carry out such duties.

The preceding paragraph shall also apply to members of the Joint Assembly of the Convention, to the arbitrators who may be appointed under the Convention, to members of the consultative bodies of the economic and social sectors which may be set up, to the officials and employees of these institutions, and also to the members of the agencies of the European Investment Bank and its staff, and to the staff of the Centre for the Development of Industry and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation.

Chapter 2

PROPERTY, FUNDS AND ASSETS OF THE COUNCIL OF THE ACP MINISTERS.

Article 2

The premises and buildings occupied by the Council of ACP Ministers for official purposes shall be inviolable. They shall be exempt from search, requisition, confiscation or expropriation.

Except when required for the purpose of investigating an accident caused by a motor vehicle belonging to the said Council or being used on its account, or in the event of an infringement of road traffic regulations or of an accident caused by such a vehicle, the property and assets of the Council of ACP Ministers shall not be the subject of any administrative or legal measures of constraint without the authorisation of the Council of Ministers set up under the Convention.

Article 3

The archives of the Council of ACP Ministers shall be inviolable.

Article 4

The Council of ACP Ministers, its assets, income and other property shall be exempt from all direct taxes. The host State shall, wherever possible, take the appropriate measures to remit or refund the amount of indirect taxes or sales taxes included in the price of movable or immovable property, where the Council of ACP Ministers makes, strictly for its official use, substantial purchases, the price of which includes taxes of this kind.

No exemption shall be granted in respect of taxes, charges, duties or fees which represent charges for services rendered.

Article 5

The Council of ACP Ministers shall be exempt from all customs duties, prohibitions and restrictions on imports in respect of articles intended for its official use; articles so imported may not be sold or otherwise disposed of, whether or not in return for payment, in the territory of the country into which they have been imported, except under conditions approved by the Government of that country.

Chapter 3

OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Article 6

For their official communications and the transmission of all their documents, the European Economic Community, the institutions of the Convention and the co-ordinating bodies shall enjoy in the territory of the States party to the Convention the treatment accorded to international organisations.

Official correspondence and other official communications of the European Economic Community, the joint institutions of the Convention and the co-ordinating bodies shall not be subject to censorship.

Chapter 4

STAFF OF THE SECRETARIAT OF THE ACP STATES.

Article 7

1. The Secretary or Secretaries and Deputy Secretary or Deputy Secretaries of the Council of ACP Ministers and the other permanent members of the staff of senior rank as designated by the ACP States, of the Council of ACP Ministers shall enjoy, in the State in which the Council of ACP Ministers is established, under the responsibility of the Chairman in Office of the Committee of ACP Ambassadors, the advantages accorded to the diplomatic staff of diplomatic missions. Their spouses and their children under age living in their household shall be entitled, under the same conditions, to the advantages accorded to the spouses and children under age of such diplomatic staff.

2. Permanent ACP Staff members not referred to in paragraph 1 above shall be exempted by their host country from any taxes on salaries, emoluments or allowances paid to them by the ACP States from the day on which such income becomes subject to tax levied for the benefit of the ACP States.

The above provision shall not apply either to pensions paid by the ACP Secretariat to its former staff members or their dependants, or to salaries, emoluments or allowances paid to its local staff.

Article 8

The State in which the Council of ACP Ministers is established shall grant immunity from legal proceedings to permanent members of the staff of the Secretariat of the ACP States, apart from those referred to in Article 7 (1), only in respect of acts done by them in the performance of their official duties. Such immunity shall not, however, apply to infringements of road traffic regulations by a permanent member of the staff of the Secretariat of the ACP States or to damage caused by a motor vehicle belonging to, or driven by, him or her.

Article 9

The names, positions and addresses of the Chairman in Office of the Committee of ACP Ambassadors, the Secretary or Secretaries and Deputy Secretary or Deputy Secretaries of the Council of ACP Ministers and of the permanent members of the staff of the Secretariat of the ACP States shall be communicated periodically by the President of the Council of ACP Ministers, the Government of the State in whose territory the Council of ACP Ministers is established.

Chapter 5

COMMISSION DELEGATIONS IN THE ACP STATES.

Article 10

1. The Commission Delegate and staff appointed to the delegations, with the exception of locally recruited staff, shall be exempted from any direct taxes in the ACP State where they are in post.

2. Article 309(g) shall also apply to the staff referred to in paragraph 1.

Chapter 6

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

Article 11

The privileges, immunities and facilities provided for in this Protocol shall be accorded to those concerned solely in the interests of the proper execution of their official duties.

Each institution or body referred to in this Protocol shall be required to waive immunity wherever it considers that the waiver of such immunity is not contrary to its own interest.

Article 12

Article 352 of the Convention shall apply to disputes relating to this Protocol.

The Council of ACP Ministers and the European Investment Bank may be party to proceedings during an arbitration procedure.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Government, this 30th day of April, 1991.

CHARLES J. HAUGHEY,

Taoiseach.