CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

PETR VÁLEK CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ d) ascertains and reports to the competent State bodies of the Czech Republic on situation and conditions in the receiving State, including the issues related to the matters of the European Union, e) advances the objectives of the foreign and security policy of the Czech Republic, f ) promotes the relationship between the Czech Republic and the receiving State and development of economic, cultural, scientific and other relations, g) in the case stated in § 10 para. 2 fulfills also the functions of a permanent mission.” The letters a), b), c), d) and f ) merely restate the language of Article 3 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Letter e) on Czech foreign and security policy just mentions one of the political tasks of the Czech foreign service and has no practical legal meaning. Letter g) on the parallel functions of permanent mission reflects the wording of Article 5(3) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 5 and is quite useful as it enables using budget resources effectively. To provide examples, the Czech Ambassador in The Hague serves also as the permanent representative to the OPCW, the Czech Ambassador in Paris as the permanent representative to the UNESCO and the Czech Ambassador in Rome as the permanent representative to FAO. The functions of a “permanent mission” are set out in § 6 of the Act on Foreign Service. In this case, no treaty in force on the status of permanent missions to international organizations was available. The only basis that could be found was the 1975 Vienna Convention on the Representation of States in their Relations with International Organizations of a Universal Character which was ratified by Czechoslovakia in 1976 (the Czech Republic confirmed its succession to this Convention). Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the Convention has not entered into force yet, as it has not reached the required number of 35 deposited instruments of ratification or accession (the current number of parties is 34). 6 The reason for this might be, according to M. Shaw, the “high level of immunities it provides for on the basis of a controversial analogy with diplomatic agents and missions”. 7 According to the Act, based on such analogy: “A permanent mission fulfills in relation to an international organization to which it is established the functions of a diplomatic mission; in particular it: a) represents the Czech Republic in the international organization, b) advances and protects the interests of the Czech Republic in the international organization, c) negotiates with the bodies and representatives of the international organization, d) negotiates with the representatives of member States who represent individual member States in the international organization, e) reports to the competent State bodies of the Czech Republic on activity of and the situation in the international organization, f ) promotes the relationship and development of relations between the Czech Republic and the international organization.” 5 “A head of mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission may act as representative of the sending State to any international organization.”

6 United Nations Treaty Collection, available at: https://treaties.un.org. 7 SHAW, M., International Law , Sixth Edition, Cambridge 2011, p. 776.

570