Diplomatic and Other Privileges Act 1971

1971 CHAPTER 64

An Act to make further provision with respect to diplomatic and related privileges.

[27th July 1971]

Commencement Information

I1 Act wholly in force at Royal Assent.

1 Refund of customs duty on hydrocarbon oil used for diplomatic or Commonwealth Secretariat purposes. U.K.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Commissioners of Customs and Excise shall make arrangements for securing the refund of [F1 duty (whether of customs or excise) paid on imported hydrocarbon oil (within the meaning of the M1 Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979) or value added tax paid on the importation of such oil] which is—

(a) bought in the United Kingdom; and

(b) used for such a purpose that, had it been imported for that use, exemption from [F1 duty] thereon would have been required to be granted by virtue of—

(i) paragraph 1 of Article 36 or paragraph 1 of Article 37 of the Articles set out in Schedule 1 to the M2 Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964; or

(ii) section 7 of the said Act of 1964; or

(iii) paragraph 4 of the Schedule to the M3 Commonwealth Secretariat Act 1966;

but the Commissioners shall not make any payment by virtue of this subsection before such date as may be specified by directions of the Treasury.

(2) Any arrangements made under this section may impose conditions subject to which any refund is to be made.

(3) Section 3(1) of the said Act of 1964 (which relates to the withdrawal of privileges and immunities conferred by that Act) shall have effect as if the reference therein to that Act included a reference to this section.

(4) Any amount refunded under arrangements made under this section shall be defrayed out of the moneys standing to the credit of the General Account of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.

[F2 (5) In this section references to importation, in relation to value added tax, shall include references to anything charged with tax in accordance with section [F3 [F4 1(1)(c)] of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 ] [F5 (imposition of charge to value added tax on imported goods)] , and, in this section, “ imported ” shall be construed accordingly. ]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c. 2, SIF 40:1), s. 177(1), Sch. 4 para. 12

F2 S. 1(5) inserted (1.1.1993) by Finance (No. 2) Act 1992 (c. 48), s. 14(2), Sch. 3 Pt. III para. 92; S.I. 1992/3261, art. 3, Sch.

F3 Words in s. 1(5) substituted (1.9.1994) by 1994 c. 23, ss. 100(1), 101, Sch. 14 para. 5

F4 Words in s. 1(5) substituted (31.12.2020) by Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (c. 22), s. 57(3), Sch. 8 para. 104(a) (with savings and transitional provisions in S.I. 2019/105 (as amended by S.I. 2020/1495, regs. 1(2), 21), S.I. 2020/1545, Pt. 4 and 2020 c. 26, Sch. 2 para. 7(7)-(9)); S.I. 2020/1642, reg. 4(b) (with reg. 7)

F5 Words in s. 1(5) substituted (31.12.2020) by Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (c. 22), s. 57(3), Sch. 8 para. 104(b) (with savings and transitional provisions in S.I. 2019/105 (as amended by S.I. 2020/1495, regs. 1(2), 21), S.I. 2020/1545, Pt. 4 and 2020 c. 26, Sch. 2 para. 7(7)-(9)); S.I. 2020/1642, reg. 4(b) (with reg. 7)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 1(5) applied (17.12.2020 for specified purposes, 31.12.2020 in so far as not already in force) by 1994 c. 23, Sch. 9ZA para. 75(1)(e) (as inserted by Taxation (Post-transition Period) Act 2020 (c. 26), s. 11(1)(e), Sch. 2 para. 2 (with s. 3(4), Sch. 2 para. 7(7)-(10)); S.I. 2020/1642, reg. 9)

Marginal Citations

M1 1979 c. 5.

M2 1964 c. 81.

M3 1966 c. 10.

2 Power to grant privileges etc. in case of Caribbean Development Bank. U.K.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6

Textual Amendments

F6 S. 2 repealed by International Organisations Act 1981 (c. 9, SIF 68:1), s. 6, Sch.

3 Exemption from vehicle excise of senior officers of U.N. agencies. U.K.

Section 2 of the International Organisations Act 1968 (which enablescertain exemptions, privileges and reliefs specified in section 2(2)to be conferred on senior officers of a specialised agency of theUnited Nations having its headquarters or principal office in theUnited Kingdom) shall have effect as if at the end of subsection(2)(b) there were added the words— “ and the exemption comprised in paragraph 9 of that Schedule fromvehicle excise duty (that is to say, duty under section 1 of the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971, whether chargeable by virtue of thatsection or otherwise, or any corresponding duty under an enactment ofthe Parliament of Northern Ireland) ”.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C2 The text of Ss. 3, 4 and Sch. is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991

4 Privileges and immunities in connection with Commonwealth and Irishpost of a consular nature. U.K.

(1) In the M4 Consular Relations Act 1968 there shall besubstituted for section 12 the provisions set out in the Schedule tothis Act (which reproduce, with minor extensions and modifications,the present effect of the M5 Diplomatic Immunities(Commonwealth Countries and Republic of Ireland) Act 1952 as amendedby that section).

(2) Accordingly, from the coming into force of an Order in Council made byvirtue of the new section 12, there are hereby repealed—

(a) the Diplomatic Immunities (Commonwealth Countries and Republic ofIreland) Act 1952; and

(b) in section 8(1)(b) of the Consular Relations Act 1968 the words from “or section 1(2)” onwards.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C3 The text of Ss. 3, 4 and Sch. is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991

Marginal Citations

M4 1968 c. 18.

M5 1952 c. 18.

5 Short title. U.K.

This Act may be cited as the Diplomatic and other Privileges Act 1971.

Section 4.

SCHEDULE U.K. Provisions to have effect as s.12 of Consular Relations Act 1968

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C4 The text of Ss. 3, 4 and Sch. is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991

Privileges and immunities in connection with Commonwealth and Irish establishments U.K.

12 (1) Her Majesty may, in relation to any such Commonwealth representativesas are described in subsection (2) below, provide by Order in Councilfor conferring all or any of the privileges and immunities which areconferred by or may be conferred under this Act on consular posts orpersons connected with consular posts; and the reference in section8(1)(b) of this Act (refund of hydrocarbon oil duty) to an order undersection 3(1)of this Act shall extend also to an order under thissection. U.K.

(2) The Commonwealth representatives in relation to whom this sectionapplies are—

(a) persons in the service of the Government of any country within theCommonwealth (other than the United Kingdom) who hold officesappearing to Her Majesty to involve the performance of dutiessubstantially corresponding to duties which, in the case of a foreignsovereign power, would be performed by a consular officer; and

(b) any person for the time being recognised by Her Majesty’s Goverment inthe United Kingdom as the chief representative in the United Kingdomof a state or province of a country within the Commonwealth.

(3) The privileges and immunities which may be conferred under thissection shall include those which in other cases may, if an agreementso requires, be conferred by virtue of Schedule 2 to this Act.

(4) The provisions of this section shall have effect in relation topersons in the service of the Government of the Republic of Ireland asthey have an effect in relations to persons in the service of theGovernment of a country within the Commonwealth.