Pursuant to the Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act 1957, His Excellency the Governor-General, acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, hereby makes the following order.

Order

1

This order may be cited as the Diplomatic Privileges (UPU) Order 1959.

2

The Universal Postal Union (hereinafter called the Union) is hereby declared to be an organisation the members of which are the Governments of sovereign Powers.

Immunities and privileges of the Union

3

The Union shall have the legal capacities of a body corporate.

4

Except in so far as in any particular case it has expressly waived its immunity, the Union shall have immunity from suit and legal process. No waiver of immunity shall be deemed to extend to any measure of execution.

5

The Union shall have the like inviolability of official premises and official archives as is accorded in respect of the official premises and official archives of a foreign envoy.

6

The Union shall have immunity in relation to its property and assets, wherever located and by whomsoever held, from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation, or any other form of interference.

7

The Union shall have the like exemption from taxes and rates, other than taxes on the importation of goods, as is accorded to the Government of any foreign country.

8

The Union shall have exemption from taxes on the importation of goods directly imported by the Union for its official use in New Zealand or for exportation, or on the importation of any publications of the Union directly imported by it, subject to compliance with such conditions as the Minister of Customs may prescribe for the protection of the revenue.

9

The Union shall have exemption from prohibitions and restrictions on importation or exportation in the case of goods directly imported or exported by the Union for its official use and, in the case of any publications of the Union directly imported or exported by it, subject to compliance with such conditions as the Minister of Customs may prescribe for the protection of the public health, the prevention of diseases in plants and animals, and otherwise in the public interest.

10

The Union shall have the right to avail itself, for telegraphic communications sent by it and containing only matter intended for publication by the press or for broadcasting (including communications addressed to or dispatched from places outside New Zealand), of any reduced rates applicable for the corresponding service in the case of press telegrams.

Immunities and privileges of representatives of members

11

(1) Except in so far as in any particular case any immunity or privilege is waived by the member Government concerned, representatives of member Governments on any organ of the Union or at any conference convened by the Union shall enjoy—
- (a) while exercising their functions as such, and during their journey to and from the place of meeting, the like immunity from personal arrest or detention and from seizure of their personal baggage and the like inviolability for all papers and documents as are accorded to a foreign envoy:
- (b) immunity from legal process of every kind in respect of words spoken or written and all acts done by them in their capacity as such:
- (c) while exercising their functions as such, and during their journey to and from the place of meeting, the like exemption from taxes as is accorded to a foreign envoy, save that the relief allowed shall not include relief from Customs and excise duties or sales tax except in respect of goods imported as part of their personal baggage.
(2) This clause shall not confer any immunity or privilege upon any person as the representative of the Government of New Zealand or as a member of the staff of such a representative.

Immunities and privileges of high officers

12

Except in so far as in any particular case any immunity or privilege is waived by the Union, the Director of the International Bureau of the Union (or any officer acting for him during his absence from duty) shall be accorded the like immunity from suit and legal process, the like inviolability of residence, official premises, and official archives, and the like exemption from taxes and rates as are accorded to a foreign envoy.

Immunities and privileges of other officials

13

Except in so far as in any particular case any immunity or privilege is waived by the Union, all officials of the Union (other than those referred to in clause 12) shall enjoy—
- (a) immunity from suit and legal process in respect of words spoken or written and all things done or omitted to be done by them in the course of the performance of their official duties:
- (b) exemption from ordinary income tax and social security income tax in respect of emoluments received by them as officers or servants of the Union:
- (c) exemption from taxes on the importation of furniture and effects imported at the time of first taking up post in New Zealand, that exemption to be subject to compliance with such conditions as the Minister of Customs may prescribe for the protection of the revenue.

Application to Island Territories

14

This order shall be in force in the Cook Islands, Tokelau, and Western Samoa.

Clause 14: amended, on 9 December 1976, pursuant to section 3(8) of the Tokelau Amendment Act 1976 (1976 No 122).

15

This order is hereby declared to be a reserved enactment for the purposes of sections 39 and 70 of the Cook Islands Amendment Act 1957 and of section 32 of the Samoa Amendment Act 1957.

T J Sherrard,
Clerk of the Executive Council.

Issued under the authority of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989.

Date of notification in Gazette: 2 April 1959.

1General
2Status of reprints
3How reprints are prepared
4Changes made under section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989
5List of amendments incorporated in this reprint (most recent first)

Notes

1 General

This is a reprint of the Diplomatic Privileges (UPU) Order 1959. The reprint incorporates all the amendments to the order as at 9 December 1976, as specified in the list of amendments at the end of these notes.

Relevant provisions of any amending enactments that contain transitional, savings, or application provisions that cannot be compiled in the reprint are also included, after the principal enactment, in chronological order. For more information, see http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/reprints/ .

2 Status of reprints

Under section 16D of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989, reprints are presumed to correctly state, as at the date of the reprint, the law enacted by the principal enactment and by the amendments to that enactment. This presumption applies even though editorial changes authorised by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 have been made in the reprint.

This presumption may be rebutted by producing the official volumes of statutes or statutory regulations in which the principal enactment and its amendments are contained.

3 How reprints are prepared

A number of editorial conventions are followed in the preparation of reprints. For example, the enacting words are not included in Acts, and provisions that are repealed or revoked are omitted. For a detailed list of the editorial conventions, see http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/editorial-conventions/ or Part 8 of the Tables of New Zealand Acts and Ordinances and Statutory Regulations and Deemed Regulations in Force.

4 Changes made under section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989

Section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 authorises the making of editorial changes in a reprint as set out in sections 17D and 17E of that Act so that, to the extent permitted, the format and style of the reprinted enactment is consistent with current legislative drafting practice. Changes that would alter the effect of the legislation are not permitted.

A new format of legislation was introduced on 1 January 2000. Changes to legislative drafting style have also been made since 1997, and are ongoing. To the extent permitted by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989, all legislation reprinted after 1 January 2000 is in the new format for legislation and reflects current drafting practice at the time of the reprint.

In outline, the editorial changes made in reprints under the authority of section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 are set out below, and they have been applied, where relevant, in the preparation of this reprint:
- •omission of unnecessary referential words (such as “of this section” and “of this Act”)
- •typeface and type size (Times Roman, generally in 11.5 point)
- •layout of provisions, including:
  - •indentation
  - •position of section headings (eg, the number and heading now appear above the section)
- •format of definitions (eg, the defined term now appears in bold type, without quotation marks)
- •format of dates (eg, a date formerly expressed as “the 1st day of January 1999” is now expressed as “1 January 1999”)
- •position of the date of assent (it now appears on the front page of each Act)
- •punctuation (eg, colons are not used after definitions)
- •Parts numbered with roman numerals are replaced with arabic numerals, and all cross-references are changed accordingly
- •case and appearance of letters and words, including:
  - •format of headings (eg, headings where each word formerly appeared with an initial capital letter followed by small capital letters are amended so that the heading appears in bold, with only the first word (and any proper nouns) appearing with an initial capital letter)
  - •small capital letters in section and subsection references are now capital letters
- •schedules are renumbered (eg, Schedule 1 replaces First Schedule), and all cross-references are changed accordingly
- •running heads (the information that appears at the top of each page)
- •format of two-column schedules of consequential amendments, and schedules of repeals (eg, they are rearranged into alphabetical order, rather than chronological).

5 List of amendments incorporated in this reprint (most recent first)

Tokelau Amendment Act 1976 (1976 No 122): clause 3(8)