International Organisations (Immunities and Privileges) Act

(CHAPTER 145)

(Original Enactment: Ordinance 19 of 1948)

REVISED EDITION 2013

(31st October 2013)

An Act to make provisions as to the immunities, privileges and capacities of international organisations of which the Government and foreign governments are members; to confer immunities and privileges on the staff of such organisations and representatives of member governments and in respect of premises and documents of such organisations; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[28th July 1948]

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the International Organisations (Immunities and Privileges) Act.

Privileges, immunities and capacities of certain international organisations and their staff

2.—(1) This section shall apply to any organisation declared by an order of the President to be an organisation of which the Government and the government or governments of one or more foreign sovereign Powers are members.

(2) The President may by order —

(a)

provide that any organisation to which this section applies (referred to in this Act as the organisation) shall, to such extent as may be specified in the order, have the immunities and privileges set out in Part I of the Schedule, and shall also have the legal capacities of a body corporate;

(b)

confer upon —

(i)	any persons who are representatives (whether of governments or not) on any organ of the organisation or are members of any committee of the organisation or of an organ thereof;
(ii)	such number of officers of the organisation as may be specified in the order, being the holders of such high offices in the organisation as may be so specified; and
(iii)	such persons employed on missions on behalf of the organisation as may be so specified,

to such extent as may be specified in the order, the immunities and privileges set out in Part II of the Schedule; and

(c)

confer upon such other classes of officers and employees of the organisation as may be specified in the order, to such extent as may be so specified, the immunities and privileges set out in Part III of the Schedule,

and Part IV of the Schedule shall have effect for the purpose of extending to the staff of such representatives and members as are mentioned in paragraph (b)(i) and to the families of officers of the organisation any immunities and privileges conferred on the representatives, members or officers under paragraph (b), except in so far as the operation of Part IV is excluded by the order conferring the immunities and privileges:

Provided that the order shall be so framed as to secure that there are not conferred on any person any immunities or privileges greater in extent than those which, at the time of the making of the order, are required to be conferred on that person in order to give effect to any international agreement in that behalf.

(3) Where immunities and privileges are conferred on any persons by an order made under subsection (2), the President —

(a)	shall compile a list of the persons entitled to immunities and privileges conferred under subsection (2)(b), and may compile a list of the persons entitled to immunities and privileges conferred under subsection (2)(c);
(b)	shall cause any list compiled under this subsection to be published in the Gazette; and
(c)	whenever any person ceases or begins to be entitled to the immunities and privileges to which any such list relates, shall amend the list and cause a notice of the amendment or, if he thinks fit, an amended list to be published in the Gazette.

(4) Every list or notice published under subsection (3) shall state the date from which the list or amendment takes or took effect; and the fact that any person is or was included or not included at any time among the persons entitled to the immunities and privileges in question may, if a list of those persons has been so published, be conclusively proved by producing the Gazette containing the list or, as the case may be, the last list taking effect before that time, together with the Gazettes (if any) containing notices of the amendments taking effect before that time, and by showing that the name of that person is or was at that time included or not included in that list.

Diplomatic immunities of representatives attending international conferences

3.—(1) Where a conference is held in Singapore and is attended by the representatives of the Government and the government or governments of one or more foreign sovereign Powers and it appears to the President that doubts may arise as to the extent to which the representatives of the foreign Powers and members of their official staff are entitled to diplomatic immunities, he may —

(a)	compile a list of the persons aforesaid who are entitled to such immunities, and cause that list to be published in the Gazette; and
(b)	whenever it appears to the President that any person ceases or begins to be entitled to such immunities, amend the list and cause a notice of amendment or, if he thinks fit, an amended list, to be published in the Gazette,

and every representative of a foreign Power who is for the time being included in the list shall, for the purpose of any law and rule of law or custom relating to the immunities of an envoy of a foreign Power accredited to the President, and of the retinue of such an envoy, be treated as if he were such an envoy, and such of the members of his official staff as are for the time being included in the list shall be treated for that purpose as if they were his retinue.

(2) Every list or notice published under subsection (1) in relation to any conference shall include a statement of the date from which the list or amendment takes or took effect; and the fact that any person is or was included or not included at any time among the persons entitled to diplomatic immunities as representatives attending the conference or as members of the official staff of any such representative may, if a list of those persons has been so published, be conclusively proved by producing the Gazette containing the list or, as the case may be, the list taking effect before that time, together with the Gazettes (if any) containing notices of the amendments taking effect before that time, and by showing that the name of that person is or was at that time included or not included in that list.

Defences

4. Where a person is charged with an offence for contravening section 3(1) in relation to an unauthorised advertisement, it is a defence for the person charged to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that —

(a)	the person was acting in the course of a business of delivering, transmitting or broadcasting communications (in whatever form or by whatever means) or making data available, and the nature of the business is such that persons undertaking it have no control over the nature or content of the communications or data; or
(b)	the person did not know and had no reason to believe that the advertisement was of a type described in section 3(1). [9/2016]

Offences by owner and occupier

5. Any person being the owner or occupier of any premises to which the public or any section of the public has access, on payment or otherwise, who knowingly permits or suffers such premises or any part thereof to be kept or used for the publication of any advertisement in contravention of section 3(1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

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