Vienna Convention on Consular Relations

 

Article 1

DEFINITIONS

1. For the purposes of the present Convention, the following expressions
shall have the meanings hereunder assigned to them:

(a) “consular post”means any consulate-general, consulate,
vice-consulate or consular agency;
(b) “consular district”means the area assigned to a consular post for
the exercise of consular functions;
(c) “head of consular post”means the person charged with the duty of
acting in that capacity;
(d) “consular officer”means any person, including the head of a consular
post, entrusted in that capacity with the exercise of consular
functions;
(e) “consular employee”means any person employed in the administrative
or technical service of a consular post;
(f) “member of the service staff”means any person employed in the
domestic service of a consular post;
(g) “members of the consular post”means consular officers, consular
employees and members of the service staff;
(h) “members of the consular staff”means consular officers, other than
the head of a consular post, consular employees and members of the
service staff;
(i) “member of the private staff”means a person who is employed
exclusively in the private service of a member of the consular post;

(j) “consular premises”means the buildings or parts of buildings and the
land ancillary thereto, irrespective of ownership, used exclusively
for the purposes of the consular post;
(k) “consular archives”includes all the papers, documents,
correspondence, books, films, tapes and registers of the consular
post, together with the ciphers and codes, the card-indexes and any
article of furniture intended for their protection or safekeeping.

2. Consular officers are of two categories, namely career consular officers
and honorary consular officers. The provisions of Chapter II of the present
Convention apply to consular posts headed by career consular officers; the
provisions of Chapter III govern consular posts headed by honorary consular
officers.

3. The particular status of members of the consular posts who are nationals
or permanent residents of the receiving State is governed by Article 71 of
the present Convention.

CHAPTER I

CONSULAR RELATIONS IN GENERAL

Section I
ESTABLISHMENT AND CONDUCT OF CONSULAR RELATIONS

Article 2

ESTABLISHMENT OF CONSULAR RELATIONS

1. The establishment of consular relations between States takes place by
mutual consent.

2. The consent given to the establishment of diplomatic relations between
two States implies, unless otherwise stated, consent to the establishment
of consular relations.

3. The severance of diplomatic relations shall not ipso facto involve the
severance of consular relations.

Article 3

EXERCISE OF CONSULAR FUNCTIONS

Consular functions are exercised by consular posts. They are also exercised
by diplomatic missions in accordance with the provisions of the present
Convention.

Article 4

ESTABLISHMENT OF A CONSULAR POST

1. A consular post may be established in the territory of the receiving
State only with that State’s consent.

2. The seat of the consular post, its classification and the consular
district shall be established by the sending State and shall be subject to
the approval of the receiving State.

3. Subsequent changes in the seat of the consular post, its classification
or the consular district may be made by the sending State only with the
consent of the receiving State.

4. The consent of the receiving State shall also be required if a
consulate-general or a consulate desires to open a vice-consulate or a
consular agency in a locality other than that in which it is itself
established.

5. The prior express consent of the receiving State shall also be required
for the opening of an office forming part of an existing consular post
elsewhere than at the seat thereof.

Article 5

CONSULAR FUNCTIONS

Consular functions consist in:

(a) protecting in the receiving State the interests of the sending State
and of its nationals, both individuals and bodies corporate, within
the limits permitted by international law;
(b) furthering the development of commercial, economic, cultural and
scientific relations between the sending State and the receiving
State and otherwise promoting friendly relations between them in
accordance with the provisions of the present Convention;
(c) ascertaining by all lawful means conditions and developments in the
commercial, economic, cultural and scientific life of the receiving
State, reporting thereon to the Government of the sending State and
giving information to persons interested;
(d) issuing passports and travel documents to nationals of the sending
State, and visas or appropriate documents to persons wishing to
travel to the sending State;
(e) helping and assisting nationals, both individuals and bodies
corporate, of the sending State;
(f) acting as notary and civil registrar and in capacities of a similar
kind, and performing certain functions of an administrative nature,
provided that there is nothing contrary thereto in the laws and
regulations of the receiving State;
(g) safeguarding the interests of nationals, both individuals and bodies
corporate, of the sending State in cases of succession mortis causa
in the territory of the receiving State, in accordance with the laws
and regulations of the receiving State;
(h) safeguarding, within the limits imposed by the laws and regulations
of the receiving State, the interests of minors and other persons
lacking full capacity who are nationals of the sending State,
particularly where any guardianship or trusteeship is required with
respect to such persons;
(i) subject to the practices and procedures obtaining in the receiving
State, representing or arranging appropriate representation for
nationals of the sending State before the tribunals and other
authorities of the receiving State, for the purpose of obtaining, in
accordance with the laws and regulations of the receiving State,
provisional measures for the preservation of the rights and interests
of these nationals, where, because of absence or any other reason,
such nationals are unable at the proper time to assume the defence of
their rights and interests;
(j) transmitting judicial and extrajudicial documents or executing
letters rogatory or commissions to take evidence for the courts of
the sending State in accordance with international agreements in
force or, in the absence of such international agreements, in any
other manner compatible with the laws and regulations of the
receiving State;
(k) exercising rights of supervision and inspection provided for in the
laws and regulations of the sending State in respect of vessels
having the nationality of the sending State, and of aircraft
registered in that State, and in respect of their crews;
(l) extending assistance to vessels and aircraft mentioned in
sub-paragraph (k) of this Article and to their crews, taking
statements regarding the voyage of a vessel, examining and stamping
the ship’s papers, and,without prejudice to the powers of the
authorities of the receiving State, conducting investigations into
any incidents which occurred during the voyage, and settling disputes
of any kind between the master, the officers and the seamen in so far
as this may be authorized by the laws and regulations of the sending
State;
(m) performing any other functions entrusted to a consular post by the
sending State which are not prohibited by the laws and regulations of
the receiving State or to which no objection is taken by the
receiving State or which are referred to in the international
agreements in force between the sending State and the receiving
State.

Article 6

EXERCISE OF CONSULAR FUNCTIONS OUTSIDE THE CONSULAR DISTRICT

A consular officer may, in special circumstances, with the consent of the
receiving State, exercise his functions outside his consular district.

Article 7

EXERCISE OF CONSULAR FUNCTIONS IN A THIRD STATE

The sending State may, after notifying the States concerned, entrust a
consular post established in a particular State with the exercise of
consular functions in another State, unless there is express objection by
one of the States concerned.

Article 8

EXERCISE OF CONSULAR FUNCTIONS ON BEHALF OF A THIRD STATE

Upon appropriate notification to the receiving State, a consular post of
the sending State may, unless the receiving State objects, exercise
consular functions in the receiving State on behalf of a third State.

Article 9

CLASSES OF HEADS OF CONSULAR POSTS

1. Heads of consular posts are divided into four classes, namely:
(a) consuls-general;
(b) consuls;
(c) vice-consuls;
(d) consular agents.

2. Paragraph 1 of this Article in no way restricts the right of any of the
Contracting Parties to fix the designation of consular officers other than
the heads of consular posts.

Article 10

APPOINTMENT AND ADMISSION OF HEADS OF CONSULAR POSTS

1. Heads of consular posts are appointed by the sending State and are
admitted to the exercise of their functions by the receiving State.

2. Subject to the provisions of the present Convention, the formalities for
the appointment and for the admission of the head of a consular post are
determined by the laws, regulations and usages of the sending State and of
the receiving State respectively.

Article 11

THE CONSULAR COMMISSION OR NOTIFICATION OF APPOINTMENT

1. The head of a consular post shall be provided by the sending State with
a document, in the form of a commission or similar instrument, made out for
each appointment, certifying his capacity and showing, as a general rule,
his full name, his category and class, the consular district and the seat
of the consular post.

2. The sending State shall transmit the commission or similar instrument
through the diplomatic or other appropriate channel to the Government of
the State in whose territory the head of a consular post is to exercise his
functions.

3. If the receiving State agrees, the sending State may, instead of a
commission or similar instrument, send to the receiving State a
notification containing the particulars required by paragraph 1 of this
Article.

 

Author: international