Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere

The Organization shall have legal personality. It shall, in particular, have the capacity to contract, to acquire and dispose of immovable and movable property and to institute legal proceedings (Article 1).

Within the scope of its official activities, the Organization shall have immunity from jurisdiction and execution except:
(a) To the extent that the Director-General of the Organization, or the person act ing in his stead pursuant to article VI of the Convention, waives such immunity in a particular case; (b) In respect of a civil action by a third party for damage arising from an accident caused by a motor vehicle belonging to or operated on behalf of the Organization or in respect of a motor traffic offense involving such a vehicle; (c) In respect of the enforcement of an arbitration award made under either article 23 or article 24 of this Protocol; (d) In respect of an attachment for debt of the wages of a member of the Organization’s staff, provided that such attachment is the result of a judicial decision which is final and enforceable in accordance with the rules in force in the territory of execution; (e) In respect of a counter-claim directly corrected with the principal claim set up by the Organization (Article 4).

The Organization shall be required to include in all written contracts to which it is a party, other than contracts concluded in accordance with staff regulations, an arbitration clause whereby any dispute concerning the interpretation or execution of the contract may, at the-request of either party, be submitted to private arbitration (Article 23).

The Organization shall co-operate at all times with the competent authorities of the States Parties to this Protocol in order to facilitate the proper administration of justice, to ensure the observance of police, public health and
labour regulations or other similar legislation and to prevent any abuse of the immunities provided for in this Protocol (Article 5).

Persons in the service of the Organization shall enjoy immunity from any legal action, even after the termination of their functions, in respect of acts performed by them, including words spoken or written, in the exercise of their functions and within the limits of their authority. This immunity shall not apply in the case of motor traffic offenses commit ted by the persons referred to in paragraph 1 or of damage caused by motor vehicles belonging to or driven by them. The Director-General of the Organization or the person acting in his stead shall enjoy during his term of office the privileges and immunities to which diplomatic agents of comparable rank are entitled under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 18 April 1961 (Articles 15 and 16). The Director-General shall have the right and the duty to waive immunity when they consider that it is impeding the nor mal course of justice and can be waived without prejudice to the purposes for which it was accorded (Article 21).