S.I. No. 43/2011 - International Seabed Authority (Privileges and Immunities) Order 2011.

1. A State Party may, by written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, denounce this Protocol. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date of receipt of the notification, unless the notification specifies a later date.

2. The denunciation shall not in any way affect the duty of any State Party to fulfil any obligation embodied in this Protocol to which it would be subject under international law independently of this Protocol.

Article 21

Depositary

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the depositary of this Protocol.

Article 22

Authentic texts

The Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts of this Protocol are equally authentic.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto, have signed the Protocol.

OPENED FOR SIGNATURE at Kingston, from the seventeenth to the twenty-eighth day of August one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight, in a single original, in the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish languages.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Government,

25 January 2011.

BRIAN COWEN,

Taoiseach.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This order provides that privileges and immunities are afforded to the International Seabed Authority in accordance with the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Seabed Authority.

3. In addition to the privileges and immunities specified in paragraph 2, the Secretary-General or any official acting on his behalf during his absence from duty and the Director-General of the Enterprise shall be accorded in respect of themselves, their spouses and minor children the privileges and immunities, exemptions and facilities accorded to diplomatic envoys, in accordance with international law.

4. Privileges and immunities are accorded to officials, not for the personal benefit of the individuals themselves, but in order to safeguard the independent exercise of their functions in connection with the Authority. The Secretary-General has the right and the duty to waive the immunity of any official where, in the opinion of the Secretary-General, the immunity would impede the course of justice, and it can be waived without prejudice to the interests of the Authority. In case of the Secretary-General, the Assembly shall have the right to waive immunity.

5. The Authority shall cooperate at all times with the appropriate authorities of members of the Authority 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 referred to in this article.

6. Pursuant to the laws and regulations of the State concerned, the officials of the Authority shall be required to have insurance coverage against third-party risks in respect of vehicles owned or operated by them.

Article 9

Experts on mission for the Authority

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of

1

st February

, 2011.

WHEREAS it is enacted by section 42A (as amended by

section 4

of the

Diplomatic Relations and Immunities (Amendment) Act 2006

(No. 10 of 2006)) of the

Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Act 1967

(No. 8 of 1967) hereby that the Government may by order make provision to enable—

(

a

) international organisations, communities or bodies, their institutions or organs and their property, and

(

b

) persons,

to have and enjoy in the State any inviolability, exemptions, facilities, immunities, privileges or rights (other than inviolability, exemptions, facilities, immunities, privileges or rights not conferred upon, or afforded in relation to, sending states or missions under the Vienna Convention) provided for in relation to them by an international agreement to which the State or the Government is or intends to become a party;

AND WHEREAS the International Seabed Authority is such an international organisation, community or body and the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Seabed Authority adopted by the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority at Kingston, Jamaica on 27 March 1998 is such an agreement;

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