Consular Privileges and Immunities Act 1972

Subject to this section, the provisions of Articles 1, 5, 15 and 17, paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Article 31, Articles 32, 33, 35 and 39, paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 41, Articles 43 to 45 (inclusive) and 48 to 54 (inclusive), paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 55, paragraph 2 of Article 57, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 58, Articles 60 to 62 (inclusive), 66 and 67, paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Article 70 and Article 71 of the Convention have the force of law in Australia and in every external Territory.

For the purposes of those provisions as so having the force of law:

a reference in those provisions to the receiving State shall be read as a reference to Australia and, where the context so permits, as including a reference to every State of the Commonwealth and every Territory;

a reference in those provisions to a national of the receiving State shall be read as a reference to an Australian citizen;

a reference in those provisions to authorities of the receiving State shall be read as including a reference to members and special members of the Australian Federal Police, members of the police force of a State of the Commonwealth or of a Territory and persons exercising a power of entry to premises;

a reference to a grave crime shall be read as a reference to any offence punishable on a first conviction by imprisonment for a period that may extend to 5 years or by a more severe sentence;

a waiver shall be deemed to have been made by an overseas country if the waiver has been made by the head of the diplomatic mission, or by a person for the time being performing the functions of the head of the diplomatic mission, in Australia of that country, or, if there is no such mission by the head of the consular post concerned;

the reference in paragraph 2 of Article 17 to any privileges and immunities accorded by customary international law or by international agreements shall be read as a reference to any privileges and immunities conferred under the International Organisations (Privileges and Immunities) Act 1963;

Article 58 has effect as if the references in that Article to other Articles of the Convention the provisions of which do not have the force of law by virtue of subsection (1) were omitted;

Articles 50, 51, 52, 54, 62 and 67 shall be treated as granting the privileges or immunities that those Articles require to be granted;

Article 50 shall be treated as extending to career consular officers of a consular post the head of which is an honorary consular officer;

the reference in Article 57 to the privileges and immunities provided in Chapter II shall be read as a reference to the privileges and immunities provided in Section II of that Chapter;

the references in paragraph 1 of Article 50 and in Article 62 to such laws and regulations as the receiving State may adopt shall be read as including references to this Act and any law of an external Territory; and

the reference in Article 70 to the rules of international law concerning diplomatic relations shall be read as a reference to the provisions of the Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act 1967.

Nothing in subsection (1) affects the application of any law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory relating to quarantine, or prohibiting or restricting the importation into, or the exportation from, Australia or that Territory, as the case may be, of any animals, plants or goods, but this subsection does not prejudice any immunity from suit or from civil or criminal process that a person has by virtue of subsection (1).

The provisions of the Convention, in so far as they provide for the exemption from tax of any income, apply, for the purposes of the application of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 or the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, to assessments in respect of income of the year of income that commenced on 1 July 1972, and in respect of income of all subsequent years of income.

For the purposes of section 38 of the Judiciary Act 1903, a matter arising under the Convention as having the force of law by virtue of this section shall be deemed not to be a matter arising directly under a treaty.