Vol. 144, No. 7 — March 31, 2010

Registration

SOR/2010-62 March 11, 2010

FOREIGN MISSIONS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ACT

G20 Summit Privileges and Immunities Order, 2010

P.C. 2010-268 March 11, 2010

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, pursuant to section 5 (see footnote a) of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act (see footnote b), hereby makes the annexed G20 Summit Privileges and Immunities Order, 2010.

G20 SUMMIT PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES ORDER, 2010

INTERPRETATION

1. The following definitions apply in this Order.

“Convention” means the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations set out in Schedule III to the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act. (Convention)

“experts performing missions for the Organization” means governmental or intergovernmental experts who are invited by the Organization to attend the Meeting and the preparatory meetings. (experts en mission pour l’Organisation)

“Meeting” means the meeting of the Organization to be held in Toronto, Ontario from June 26 to 27, 2010. (réunion)

“Organization” means the intergovernmental conference of the 20 leading industrialized countries, also known as the G20. (Organisation)

“preparatory meetings” means the meetings of the personal representatives of the Heads of State and Government of the G20 member countries, known as sherpas, to be held in Ottawa, Ontario from March 18 to 19, 2010, in Calgary, Alberta from May 24 to 25, 2010 and in Toronto, Ontario from June 22 to 24, 2010, or any other meetings of those representatives to be held in Canada during the period beginning on March 11, 2010 and ending on June 25, 2010. (réunions préparatoires)

PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES

2. (1) During the period beginning on March 11, 2010 and ending on July 4, 2010, the Organization shall have in Canada the legal capacity of a body corporate and the privileges and immunities set out in sections 2 to 5 of Article II of the Convention.

(2) During the period beginning on March 11, 2010 and ending on July 4, 2010, representatives of states and governments that are members of or participate in the Organization shall have in Canada, to the extent required for the exercise of their functions in Canada in relation to the preparatory meetings, the privileges and immunities set out in section 11(d) of Article IV of the Convention.

(3) During the period beginning on June 15, 2010 and ending on July 4, 2010, representatives of states and governments that are members of or participate in the Organization shall have in Canada, to the extent required for the exercise of their functions in Canada in relation to the Meeting, the privileges and immunities set out in sections 11, 12 and 14 to 16 of Article IV of the Convention.

(4) During the period beginning on March 11, 2010 and ending on July 4, 2010, experts performing missions for the Organization shall have in Canada, to the extent required for the exercise of their functions in Canada in relation to the Meeting and the preparatory meetings, the privileges and immunities set out in Article VI of the Convention.

COMING INTO FORCE

3. This Order comes into force on the day on which it is registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT
ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Order.)

Issue and objectives

The G20 Summit 2010, an intergovernmental conference of the 20 leading industrialized countries, will be held in Toronto, Canada, in June 2010. In preparation for the Summit, meetings of the personal representatives of the heads of state or government of the G20 members, known as “sherpas,” will be held in March, May and June 2010.

In order to permit Canada to fulfill its obligations as host state and to allow participants to freely and independently exercise their functions in relation to these meetings, the Minister of Foreign Affairs recommends to the Governor in Council that the Order be made.

The objective of this Order is to grant privileges and immunities to the Organization, to the representatives of the member states that make up the G20, to the representatives of other countries invited to participate in the G20 and to the experts performing missions during the G20 Summit 2010 and its preparatory meetings.

Description and rationale

Privileges and immunities are granted by Order of the Governor in Council following the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, pursuant to section 5 of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act (the Act) and derive from the Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations (the UN Convention), as set out in Annex III of the Act.

The Order covers privileges and immunities for the organization of the G20 (2010), the representatives of the member states that make up the G20 and the representatives of other countries invited to participate in the G20, and the experts performing missions for the G20 (2010) organization.

Organization

The Organization is granted privileges and immunities as set out in Article II, sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the UN Convention. This means that any property and assets of the G20 organization enjoy immunity from any legal process and are immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any form of interference, whether by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action. In addition, any premises or archives are inviolable.

Representatives

In relation to the G20 Summit, the representatives of the member states of the G20, as well as those from other countries invited to participate in the G20, are conferred the privileges and immunities as set out in Article IV, sections 11, 12 and 14–16 of the UN Convention. These include immunity from personal arrest or detention and from seizure of personal baggage, immunity from legal process of every kind in respect of words spoken or written and all acts done by them in their capacity as representatives, the inviolability for all papers and documents, the right to use codes and to receive papers or correspondence by courier or in sealed bags, exemption from immigration restrictions for themselves and their spouses and the same immunities in respect of personal baggage.

In relation to the preparatory meetings, the representatives of the member states of the G20, as well as those from other countries invited to participate in the G20, are conferred the privileges and immunities as set out in Article IV, section 11(d). Representatives will be granted exemption in respect of themselves and their spouses from immigration restrictions.

Experts

In relation to the G20 Summit and the preparatory meetings, experts performing missions for the G20 organization are granted privileges and immunities as set out in Article VI of the UN Convention. These are the same immunities as conferred upon the representatives of the member states of the G20. However, the experts performing missions enjoy a “functional” level of immunity. This means that they are accorded immunities only in the exercise of official duties or functions.

Consultation

Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Department of Justice and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are supportive of the Order.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

As the purpose of the Order is to grant specific privileges and immunities, appropriate action is to be taken on a case-by-case basis. No service standard is required.

Contact

Hugh Adsett
Director
Criminal, Security and Diplomatic Law Division
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G2
Telephone: 613-995-8508
Fax: 613-944-0870

Footnote a
S.C. 2002, c. 12, s. 10

Footnote b
S.C. 1991, c. 41

NOTICE:
The format of the electronic version of this issue of the Canada Gazette was modified in order to be compatible with extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML 1.0 Strict).