3. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the receipt of the notification by the Government of the United States of America. After the expiration of this period of one year, the Agreement shall cease to be in force as regards the Contracting Party which denounces it, but shall continue in force for the remaining Contracting Parties. ARTICLE XX 1. Subject to the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article, the present Agreement shall apply only to the metropolitan territory of a Contracting Party. 2. Any State may, however, at the time of the deposit of its instrument of ratification or accession or at any time thereafter, declare by notification given to the Government of the United States of America that the present Agreement shall extend (subject, if the State making the declaration considers it to be necessary, to the conclusion of a special agreement between that State and each of the sending States concerned), to all or any of the territories for whose international relations it is responsible in the North Atlantic Treaty area. The present Agreement shall then extend to the territory or territories named therein thirty days after the receipt by the Government of the United States of America of the notification, or thirty days after the conclusion of the special agreements if required, or when it has come into force under Article XVIII, whichever is the later. 3. A State which has made a declaration under paragraph 2 of this Article extending the present Agreement to any territory for whose international relations it is responsible may denounce the Agreement separately in respect of that territory in accordance with the provisions of Article XIX. In witness whereof the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Agreement. Done in London this nineteenth day of June, 1951, in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authoritative, in a single original which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America. The Government of the United States of America shall transmit certified copies thereof to all the signatory and acceding States. 28. AGREEMENT ON THE STATUS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION, NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AND INTERNATIONAL STAFF, SEPTEMBER 20, 19511 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 Organi1 TIAS 2992; 5 UST 1087. sation, its international staff and the representatives of Member States attending meetings thereof should have the status set out hereunder, Have agreed as follows: In the present Agreement, Part I.-General ARTICLE 1 (a) "the Organisation" means the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation consisting of the Council and its subsidiary bodies; 1 (b) "the Council" means the Council established under Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty and the Council Deputies; 2 (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 3 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 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. For the organization of the North Atlantic Council and its subsidiary bodies as of the date of the signature of this agreement, see the May 5, 1951, communiqué of the NAC Deputies; infra, pp. 1609–1612. 2 For the text of the North Atlantic Treaty of Apr. 4, 1949, see supra, pp. 812 815. See the Protocol of Aug. 28, 1952, on the Status of International Military Headquarters set up pursuant to the North Atlantic Treaty; infra, doc. 30. 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 (b) from all customs duties and quantitative restrictions on imports 0 C P 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 arrangments 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 Organisation. Part III. Representatives of Member States ARTICLE 12 Every person designated by a Member State as its principal permanent representative to the Organisation in the territory of another Member State, and such members of his official staff resident in that territory as may be agreed between the State which has designated them and the Organisation and between the Organisation and the State in which they will be resident, shall enjoy the immunities and privileges accorded to diplomatic representatives and their official staff of comparable rank. ARTICLE 13 1. Any representative of a Member State to the Council or any of its subsidiary bodies who is not covered by Article 12 shall, while present in the territory of another Member State for the discharge of his duties, enjoy the following privileges and immunities: (a) the same immunity from personal arrest or detention as that accorded to diplomatic personnel of comparable rank; (b) in respect of words spoken or written and of acts done by him in his official capacity, immunity from legal process; (e) inviolability for all papers and documents; (d) the right to use codes and to receive and send papers or correspondence by courier or in sealed bags; (e) the same exemption in respect of himself and his spouse from immigration restrictions, aliens registration and national service obligations as that accorded to diplomatic personnel of comparable rank; (f) the same facilities in respect of currency or exchange restrictions as are accorded to diplomatic personnel of comparable rank; (g) the same immunities and facilities in respect of his personal baggage as are accorded to diplomatic personnel of comparable rank; (h) the right to import free of duty his furniture and effects at the time of first arrival to take up his post in the country in question, and, on the termination of his functions in that country, to re-export such furniture and effects free of duty, subject in either case to such conditions as the Government of the country in which the right is being exercised may deem necessary; (i) the right to import temporarily free of duty his private motor vehicle for his own personal use and subsequently to re-export such vehicle free of duty, subject in either case to such conditions as the Government of the country concerned may deem necessary. 2. Where the legal incidence of any form of taxation depends upon residence, a period during which a representative to whom this Article applies is present in the territory of another Member State for the discharge of his duties shall not be considered as a period of residence. In particular, he shall be exempt from taxation on his official salary and emoluments during such periods of duty. 3. In this Article "representative" shall be deemed to include all representatives, advisers and technical experts of delegations. Each Member State shall communicate to the other Member States concerned, if they so request, the names of its representatives to whom this Article applies and the probable duration of their stay in the territories of such other Member States. ARTICLE 14 Official clerical staff accompanying a representative of a Member State who are not covered by Articles 12 or 13 shall, while present in the territory of another Member State for the discharge of their duties, be accorded the privileges and immunities set out in paragraph 1 (b), (c), (e), (f), (h) and (i) and paragraph 2 of Article 13. ARTICLE 15 Privileges and immunities are accorded to the representatives of Member States and their staffs not for the personal benefit of the individuals themselves, but in order to safeguard the independent exercise of their functions in connection with the North Atlantic Treaty. Consequently, a Member State not only has the right, but is under a duty to waive the immunity of its representatives and members of their staffs in any case where, in its opinion, the immunity would impede the course of justice and can be waived without prejudice to the purposes for which the immunity is accorded. |