Key Benefits:
Law of 31 October 2002, laying down provisions on legal personality, privileges and immunities of the High Commissioner for National Minorities (HCNM Act)
We Beatrix, at the grace of God, Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, etc. etc. etc.
All of them, who will see or hear these, saluut! do know:
In this regard, we considered that it would be desirable to give legal personality to the High Commissioner for National Minorities, as an institution of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as to the Commission. to grant privileges and immunities to its staff and to its staff for the purpose of independent exercise and of the need to adopt legal provisions to that end;
In this way, we, the Council of State, and with the mean consultations of the States-General, have been well-regarded and understood to be right and to be understood by the following:
1 In this Act the following definitions shall apply:
a. HCNM: the High Commissioner for National Minorities in The Hague, in the capacity of an institution governed by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
b. OSCE: the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
c. High Commissioner: the High Commissioner for National Minorities in the capacity of Head of the HCNM;
d. HCNM officials: persons employed by the OSCE in charge of the HCNM work in the performance of official functions of the HCNM, including the High Commissioner, with the exception of: operating personnel, persons recruited locally and paid on the basis of an hourly rate, experts and trainees;
e. official functions: those tasks and activities arising from the mandate as defined by the HCNM, which is defined by the OSCE;
f. experts: persons, other than those of the HCNM or of the OSCE, agency workers or trainees, who work on behalf of the OSCE or the HCNM for the purposes of the HCNM or the HCNM for the purposes of the OSCE;
g. OSCE officials: persons employed by the OSCE, other members of the HCNM, agency workers or trainees;
h. Buildings: building or part of a building, used by the HCNM in the course of the fulfillment of its official functions;
land or part of a site used by the HCNM in the context of the fulfilment of its official functions;
j. Archives: all files, correspondence, documents, manuscripts, computer and media information, photographs, films, video and sound recordings and other data media which the HCNM or one of its officials have in the course of the performance of his owns or has official functions;
(k) Family members means the spouse or registered partner of a HCNM staff member, his children under the age of 18, and his children of 18 years of age and older if those children are already part of the Netherlands prior to the first entry in the Netherlands. of the family of the staff of the HCNM and are still part of the HCNM staff member, being unmarried, financially dependent on the staff of the HCNM and enjoying education in the Netherlands;
l. Our Minister: Our Minister for Foreign Affairs.
2 Our Minister may, for the application of this Act, make other persons, other than those referred to in paragraph 1 (j), as a member of the family, if the application of this section in full would lead to an injustice of the nature of that paragraph.
1 The HCNM shall have legal personality.
2 For the purposes of this Act, the OSCE shall be treated as an international organisation of international law, the HCNM of which is part of it. The privileges and immunities provided for in this Act will be applied in an equal manner to the privileges and immunities accorded to other organizations of international law established in the Netherlands or to parts of them.
1 Premises and land are inviolable.
2 It is not allowed to enter buildings or land, subject to the consent of the High Commissioner.
3 The provisions of the first and second paragraphs of this Article shall not apply where:
a. From the point of view of firefighting, immediate action is required; and
b. In cases of acute threat to a person ' s life or property, the required consent cannot be obtained in time.
4 Exercise of jurisdiction shall be exercised within the premises or in the premises only with the prior consent of the High Commissioner and subject to the relevant provisions of the High Commissioner.
5 The High Commissioner prevents the buildings and land belonging to the HCNM from being used to protect persons who:
a. Arrest on the basis of a Dutch law;
(b) to escape the exercise of jurisdiction; or
c. sought by the Dutch authorities for extradition to, or expulsion from, another State.
1 The HCNM can communicate freely and without the required special consent for all official purposes.
2 The HCNM has the right to use codes and send official correspondence and other official messages and receive by courier or in sealed bags, subject to the same privileges and immunities as for diplomatic purposes. couriers and handbags, as set out in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Protocols (Trb. 1962, 101 and 159).
3 As regards communication for official purposes, the HCNM shall enjoy a treatment no less favourable than that accorded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands to other international organisations.
4 All messages sent to the HCNM and sent by the HCNM, regardless of the manner of dispatch, are inviolable.
Any goods which the HCNM has, in the course of the fulfillment of its official functions under legally valid title, wherever they are and whoever holds them are free from search, revindication, criminal and criminal justice. Civil-law confiscation, confiscation, impropriity, and claim.
The archives are inviolable.
Within the framework of the fulfilment of its official functions, the HCNM shall enjoy immunity of all forms of jurisdiction, except in the case of:
a. express surrender done by the chairmanship of the OSCE of immunity in a particular case;
b. A third-party civil action for damage resulting from an accident caused by a vehicle owned or operated on behalf of the HCNM, if the damage is not feasible on an insurance;
c. a civil action related to an death or personal injury caused by an act or negligence by the HCNM or one of its officers.
1 Within the framework of the fulfilment of its official functions, the HCNM and its property shall be exempt from all direct taxes levied at national, provincial or local level.
2 Within the framework of the fulfilment of its official functions, the HCNM shall be exempt from the levy of:
(a) import duties;
b. Motor vehicle tax;
c. Taxation of motor cars and motorcycles (BPM);
d. Sales tax on goods and services involving significant expenditure or relating to a continuous performance;
e. Excise duties on the price of alcoholic beverages and motor fuels;
f. regulatory energy tax;
g. Transfer tax;
h. Insurance tax.
3 The exemptions in paragraph 2 (d), (e), (f), (g) and (h) may be granted in the form of a return, in accordance with the provisions of, or under the terms of, the provisions of statutory regulation.
4 Goods acquired or imported under this Article may not be sold, disposed of, donated or otherwise disposed of, other than in accordance with the rules and restrictions imposed by Our Minister of Finance.
The HCNM is not subject to any financial controls, arrangements, notification requirements in relation to financial transactions, or moratoria of any kind, and may, within the framework of the fulfillment of its official functions, be freely:
a. To purchase, hold and dispose of any currency of any kind along the permitted channels;
b. Hold accounts in any currency;
c. buy, own and dispose of funds, securities and gold along the permitted channels;
d. transfer his funds, securities, gold and currencies to or from the Netherlands, from or to any other country, or within the Netherlands, and exchange any currency in any other currency;
e. to raise funds at any point he considers appropriate, except that the HCNM with regard to the recruitment of funds within the Netherlands must obtain the permission of Our Minister of Finance.
1 Officials of the HCNM shall enjoy, in order to ensure the independent fulfilment of their official functions, the following privileges and immunities:
a. immunity from arrest or liberty-taking and of inspection or seizure of their official baggage, unless there is a serious suspicion of committing a criminal offence for which a provisional detention is permitted. In the event of such a situation, the High Commissioner will be informed immediately by or on behalf of our Minister. Investigations shall take place only in the presence of the relevant officer of the HCNM or of a person authorized to represent him;
(b) immunity of any jurisdiction in respect of the words or words spoken or written by them in the performance of their official functions;
(c) exemption from income and income tax on salaries and emoluments directly paid to them and on their employment with the OSCE; income thus released shall not be taken into account for the purposes of determining the amount of the income tax. the tax on income from other sources;
d. Exemption with regard to themselves and the dependants of the members of the family of entry restrictions and the registration of aliens;
e. the same protection and repatriation activities in respect of themselves and the dependants of the members of the family who are dependent on international crises for members of the same level of staff of the Netherlands. diplomatic consignments;
f. free importation of one person's vehicle for personal use, provided that no 10 years have elapsed since the start of employment in the Netherlands; officials holding Dutch citizenship or permanently residing in the Netherlands are exempted from this exemption.
2 The High Commissioner shall enjoy the same privileges and immunities as shall be accorded to the Head of a diplomatic mission in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations established on 18 April 1961, and Protocols (Trb. 1962, 101 and 159).
3 The officials of the HCNM with rank P5 and above enjoy the same privileges and immunities as shall be granted to a diplomatic official in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic status established on 18 April 1961. Movement and protocols in this connection.
4 OSCE officials and experts shall enjoy the following privileges and immunities to the extent necessary for the effective exercise of their official duties, including travel made in that framework and their stay in the buildings or in the areas of HCNM:
a. immunity of any jurisdiction with respect to the words or actions taken in the performance of their official duties by them, or acts performed, which shall also remain valid when the officials of the OSCE or the OSCE experts no longer operate as such, travel within the framework of their official duties or are located in the premises or in the premises of HCNM;
b. inviolability of all documents, documents and other official material;
(c) immunity from arrest or liberty-taking and of inspection or seizure of their official baggage, unless there is a serious suspicion of committing a criminal offence for which a provisional detention is permitted;
d. the right to use codes and documents, correspondence or other official material for the purposes of any communication with the HCNM or with the OSCE, or to receive or receive documents, correspondence or other official material, by courier or in sealed bags;
e. the same protection and repatriation activities as those applicable to international crises for members with comparable rank of personnel from diplomatic missions established in the Netherlands;
f. Exemption from entry restrictions or registration requirements for aliens, as well as, to the extent required, free provision of visas.
5 Immunity of any jurisdiction does not extend to:
a. Offences involving a motor vehicle committed by an officer of the HCNM, an official of the OSCE or an expert;
b. A third-party civilian action for damage resulting from an accident caused by a motor vehicle owned or operated by or operated on behalf of a HCNM official, an OSCE official or a member of the State. expert.
1 The OSCE Secretary-General waits the immunity of the relevant officers of the HCNM, the OSCE and experts in circumstances in which the Secretary-General considers that this immunity should be the legal order of the OSCE. impede, and in all cases where a distance can be done, without infrinating the purpose for which such immunity was granted.
2 With respect to the High Commissioner, the decision to waive immunity provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be taken by the Chair of the OSCE.
3 The HCNM and the OSCE shall cooperate at all times with the competent authorities of the Netherlands in order to facilitate the proper administration of justice and by taking advantage of the privileges and immunities granted under the provisions of this Act by to prevent officials of the HCNM and of the OSCE.
1 In the event that the OSCE has its own social security system similar to the Dutch system, or participates in a social security system comparable to the Dutch system, the HCNM, its officials and its staff are other workers to whom the scheme referred to above is exempted from the provisions of the Netherlands social security provisions, except where the staff and other workers subject to the scheme referred to above are paid in the Netherlands any work other than that referred to in the provisions referred to above.
2 The first paragraph of this Article shall apply mutatis mutandis to members of the family who are members of the household of persons referred to in the first paragraph, unless they are employed in the Netherlands by an employer other than the OSCE, and self-employed or receive benefits under the Dutch social security scheme.
1 To members of the family who are members of the household of HCNM staff members are allowed to pursue employment for the duration of employment of the HCNM officials referred to in this Article.
2 Persons who do work as referred to in the first paragraph shall not enjoy immunity in respect of criminal, civil or administrative jurisdiction in the context of that work.
3 As regards the employed person referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, Dutch law shall apply. In addition, persons who perform work as referred to in that Article shall be covered by the Dutch Social Security.
The HCNM shall immediately inform our Minister of:
a. the appointment of the High Commissioner and other officials of the HCNM, their arrival and final departure or the termination of their functions at the HCNM;
b. the arrival and permanent departure of members of the family belonging to the household of the persons referred to in subparagraph (a) and, where applicable, the fact that a person no longer forms part of the household;
c. the arrival and final departure of operator staff of persons referred to in subparagraph (a) and, where applicable, the termination of the service relationship between them and the persons referred to in subparagraph (a).
Our Minister provides identity cards with a photograph of the holder:
the High Commissioner;
other officers of the HCNM;
family members of staff of the HCNM who are members of the household of such officers, in so far as they are not members of the family of officials with Dutch citizenship or permanent residence in the Netherlands;
Personnel of staff of HCNM officials.
This identity card provides evidence of the identity of the holder in respect of all the competent authorities of the Netherlands.
On a general measure of governance, in addition to this law privileges and immunities may be granted to the HCNM and to the in Articles 10 to 13 The persons referred to above shall be granted where appropriate, for the purpose of corresponding treatment as other bodies or parts of international organisations established in the Netherlands, are subject to such treatment.
This Law shall enter into force on a date to be determined by Royal Decree.
This law is cited as: HCNM Law.
Burdens and orders that it will be placed in the Official Gazette, and that all ministries, authorities, colleges and officials who so concern will keep their hands on the precise execution.
Given at The Hague, 31 October 2002
Beatrix
The Minister for Foreign Affairs,
J. G. de Hoop Scheffer
Published on 5 December 2002The Minister of Justice,
J. P. H. Donner
