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 the 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 connection 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 missons. 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 laissezpasser 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 SECTION 26. Similar facilities to those specified in section 25 shall be accorded to experts 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 Secretary-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. 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 of this revised convention. SECTION 36. The Secretary-General may conclude with any Member or Members supplementary agreements adjusting the provisions of this convention so far as that Member or those Members are concerned. These supplementary agreements shall in each case be subject to the approval of the General Assembly. 1947, c. 69, Sch. PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES R.S., 1952, CHAPTER 218 An Act to provide for Privileges and Immunities in respect of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation SHORT TITLE 1. This Act may be cited as the Privileges and Immunities Short title. (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) Act, 1951 (2nd Sess.), c. 32, s. 1. 2. The Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Approval of Treaty Organisation, National Representatives and Interna- agreement and power tional Staff, set out in the Schedule, is approved and confirmed, to make and the Governor in Council may make such orders as appear necessary to him to be necessary for the purpose of carrying out the obli- orders. gations, duties and rights of Canada thereunder, 1951 (2nd Sess.), c. 32, s. 2. SCHEDULE AGREEMENT ON THE STATUS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC The States signatory to the present Agreement, Considering that for the exercise of their functions and the fulfilment of their purposes it is necessary that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, its international staff and the representatives of Member States attending meetings thereof should have the status set out hereunder, Have agreed as follows: PART I-GENERAL ARTICLE 1 In the present Agreement, (a) "the Organisation" means the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation consisting of the Council and its subsidiary bodies; (b) "the Council" means the Council established under Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty and the Council Deputies; (c) "subsidiary bodies" means any organ, committee or service established by the Council or under its authority, except those to which, in accordance with Article 2, this Agreement does not apply; (d) "Chairman of the Council Deputies" includes, in his absence, the Vice-Chairman acting for him. ARTICLE 2 The present Agreement shall not apply to any military headquarters established in pursuance of the North Atlantic Treaty nor, unless the Council decides otherwise, to any other military bodies. ARTICLE 3 The Organisation and Member States shall co-operate at all times to facilitate the proper administration of justice, secure the observance of police regulations and prevent the occurrence of any abuse in connexion with the immunities and privileges set out in the present Agreement. If any Member State considers that there has been an abuse of any immunity or privilege conferred by this Agreement, consultations shall be held between that State and the Organisation, or between the States concerned, to determine whether any such abuse has occurred, and, if so, to attempt to ensure that no repetition occurs. Notwithstanding the foregoing or any other provisions of this Agreement, a Member State which considers that any person has abused his privilege of residence or any other privilege or immunity granted to him under this Agreement may require him to leave its territory. PART II-THE ORGANISATION ARTICLE 4 The Organisation shall possess juridical personality; it shall have the capacity to conclude contracts, to acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property and to institute legal proceedings. ARTICLE 5 The Organisation, its property and assets, wheresoever located and by whomsoever held, shall enjoy immunity from every form of legal process except in so far as in any particular case the Chairman of the Council Deputies, acting on behalf of the Organisation, may expressly authorise the waiver of this immunity. It is, however, understood that no waiver of immunity shall extend to any measure of execution or detention of property. ARTICLE 6 The premises of the Organisation shall be inviolable. Its property and assets, wheresoever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation or any other form of interference. ARTICLE 7 The archives of the Organisation and all documents belonging to it or held by it shall be inviolable, wherever located. ARTICLE 8 1. Without being restricted by financial controls, regulations or Moratoria of any kind, (a) the Organisation may hold currency of any kind and operate accounts in any currency; (b) the Organisation may freely transfer its funds from one country to another or within any country and convert any currency held by it into any other currency at the most favourable official rate of exchange for a sale or purchase as the case may be. 2. In exercising its rights under paragraph 1 above, the Organisation shall pay due regard to any representations made by any Member State and shall give effect to such representations in so far as it is practicable to do so. ARTICLE 9 The Organisation, its assets, income and other property shall be exempt: (a) from all direct taxes; the Organisation will not, however, claim exemption from rates, taxes or dues which are no more than charges for public utility services; (b) from all customs duties and quantitative restrictions on imports and exports in respect of articles imported or exported by the Organisation for its official use; articles imported under such exemption shall not be disposed of, by way either of sale or gift, in the country into which they are imported except under conditions approved by the Government of that country; (c) from all customs duties and quantitative restrictions on imports and exports in respect of its publications. ARTICLE 10 While the Organisation 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 Organisation is making important purchases for official use of property on which such duties and taxes have been charged or are chargeable, Member States will whenever possible make the appropriate administrative arrangements for the remission or return of the amount of duty or tax. ARTICLE 11 1. No censorship shall be applied to the official correspondence and other official communications of the Organisation. 2. The Organisation shall have the right to use codes and to despatch and receive correspondence by courier or in sealed bags, which shall have the same immunities and privileges as diplomatic couriers and bags. 3. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to preclude the adoption of appropriate security precautions to be determined by agreement between a Member State and the Council acting on behalf of the Organisa |