Annex I Privileges and immunities

The Agency shall have legal personality. It shall in particular have the capacity to contract, to acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property, and to be a party to legal proceedings.

Without prejudice to Articles XXII and XXIII, the buildings and premises of the Agency shall be inviolable.

The archives of the Agency shall be inviolable.

The Agency shall have immunity from jurisdiction and execution, except

The Agency's property and assets, wherever situated, shall be immune from any form of requisition, confiscation, expropriation and sequestration. They shall also be immune from any form of administrative or provisional judicial constraint, except insofar as may be temporarily necessary in connection with the prevention and investigation of accidents involving motor vehicles belonging to, or operated on behalf of, the Agency.

Within the scope of its official activities, the Agency, its property and income shall be exempt from direct taxes.

When purchases or services of substantial value and strictly necessary for the exercise of the official activities of the Agency are made or used by or on behalf of the Agency, and when the price of such purchases or services includes taxes or duties, appropriate measures shall, whenever possible, be taken by the Member States to grant exemption from such taxes or duties or to provide for their reimbursement.

Goods imported or exported by the Agency or on its behalf, and strictly necessary for the exercise of its official activities, shall be exempt from all import and export duties and taxes and from all import or export prohibitions and restrictions.

For the purpose of Articles V and VI, the official activities of the Agency shall include its administrative activities, including its operations in connection with the social security scheme, and activities undertaken in the field of space research and technology and their space applications in pursuance of the purpose of the Agency as defined in the Convention.

The extent to which other applications of such research and technology and activities carried out under Articles V.2 and IX of the Convention may be considered part of the Agency's official activities shall be decided in each case by the Council after consultation with the competent authorities of the Member States concerned.

The provisions of Articles V and VI shall not apply to taxes and duties that are no more than charges for public utility services.

No exemption shall be granted under Articles V or VI in respect of goods purchased or imported, or services provided, for the personal benefit of the staff members of the Agency.

Goods acquired under Article V or imported under Article VI shall not be sold or given away except in accordance with conditions laid down by the Member States which have granted exemptions.

The transfer of goods and services between the Headquarters and the establishments of the Agency, and between its various establishments, or, for the purpose of implementing a programme of the Agency, between them and a national institution of a Member State, shall be free of charges or restrictions of any kind; if necessary, the Member States shall take all appropriate measures to grant exemption from or reimbursement of such charges or to lift such restrictions.

The circulation of publications and other information material sent by or to the Agency shall not be restricted in any way.

The Agency may receive and hold any kind of funds, currency, cash or securities; it may dispose of them freely for any purpose provided for in the Convention and hold accounts in any currency to the extent required to meet its obligations.

For its official communications and the transfer of all its documents, the Agency shall enjoy treatment not less favourable than that accorded by each Member State to other international organisations.

No censorship shall be applied to official communications of the Agency by whatever means of communication.

Member States shall take all appropriate measures to facilitate the entry into, stay in, or departure from their territories of staff members of the Agency.

Representatives of Member States shall, while exercising their functions and in the course of their journeys to and from the place of meeting, enjoy the following privileges and immunities:

Privileges and immunities are accorded to representatives of Member States, not for their personal advantage, but in order to ensure complete independence in the exercise of their functions in connection with the Agency. Consequently, a Member State has the duty to waive the immunity of a representative wherever retaining it would impede the course of justice and it can be waived without prejudicing the purposes for which it was accorded.

In addition to the privileges and immunities provided for in Article XVI, the Director General of the Agency and, when the office is vacant, the person appointed to act in his place, shall enjoy the privileges and immunities to which diplomatic agents of comparable rank are entitled.

The staff members of the Agency

Experts other than the staff members referred to in Article XVI, in the exercise of their functions in connection with the Agency or in carrying out missions for the Agency, shall enjoy the following privileges and immunities, to the extent that these are necessary for the exercise of their functions, including during journeys made in the exercise of their functions and in the course of such missions:

Subject to the conditions and following the procedure laid down by the Council, the Director General and the staff members of the Agency shall be subject to a tax, for the benefit of the Agency, on salaries and emoluments paid by the Agency. Such salaries and emoluments shall be exempt from national income tax; but the Member States shall retain the right to take these salaries and emoluments into account for the purpose of assessing the amount of taxation to be applied to income from other sources.

The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply to annuities and pensions paid by the Agency to its former Directors General and staff members.

Articles XVI and XVIII shall apply to all categories of staff members to which the Staff Regulations of the Agency apply. The Council shall decide the categories of experts to which Article XVII shall apply. The names, titles and addresses of the staff members and experts referred to in the present Article shall be communicated from time to time to the Member States.

In the event that it establishes its own social security scheme, the Agency, its Director General and staff members shall be exempt from all compulsory contributions to national social security bodies, subject to agreements concluded with the Member States in accordance with Article XXVIII.

The privileges and immunities provided for in this Annex are not granted to the Director General, staff members and experts of the Agency for their personal advantage. They are provided solely to ensure, in all circumstances, the unimpeded functioning of the Agency and the complete independence of the persons to whom they are accorded.

The Director General has the duty to waive any relevant immunity in all cases wherever retaining it would impede the course of justice and it can be waived without prejudicing the interests of the Agency. In the case of the Director General, the Council is competent to waive such immunity.

The Agency shall cooperate at all times with the competent authorities of Member States in order to facilitate the proper administration of justice, to ensure the observance of police regulations and regulations concerning the handling of explosives and inflammable material, public health, labour inspection or other similar national legislation, and to prevent any abuse of the privileges, immunities and facilities provided for in this Annex.

The procedure for the cooperation referred to in paragraph 1 may be laid down in the complementary agreements referred to in Article XXVIII.

Each Member State shall retain the right to take all precautionary measures in the interests of its security.

No Member State shall be obliged to accord the privileges and immunities referred to in Articles XIV, XV, XVI(b), (e) and (g) and XVII(c) to its own nationals or persons who, at the moment of taking up their duties in that Member State, are permanent residents thereof.

When concluding written contracts, other than those concluded in accordance with the Staff Regulations, the Agency shall provide for arbitration. The arbitration clause or the special arbitration agreement concluded to this end shall specify the law applicable and the country where the arbitrators sit. The arbitration procedure shall be that of that country.

The enforcement of the arbitration award shall be governed by the rules in force in the State on whose territory the award is to be executed.

Any Member State may submit to the international Arbitration Tribunal referred to in Article XVII of the Convention any dispute

The Agency shall make suitable provisions for the satisfactory settlement of disputes arising between the Agency and the Director General, staff members or experts in respect of their conditions of service.

The Agency may, on a decision of the Council, conclude with one or more Member States complementary agreements to give effect to the provisions of this Annex as regards such State or States, and other arrangements to ensure the efficient functioning of the Agency and the safeguarding of its interests.