CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ THE INTERNATIONAL LAW ASPECTS OF THE NEW CZECH ACT … In § 6(2) of the Act on Foreign Service, there is one more function: “A permanent mission represents the Czech Republic and advances its interest in activities directly related to its membership in the international organization which take place outside of the framework of the international organization…”. This provision codifies current practice when, e.g. , the Permanent Missions of the Czech Republic to the UN in New York, Geneva and Vienna need to interact with other important actors, such as non-governmental organizations, the host city, commercial companies etc. In the case of the “consular posts”, the Act on Foreign Service builds upon the language of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In its § 7(1), these are further divided into: “a) the consulate-general, b) the consulate, c) the consular agency, d) the consular post headed by a honorary consular officer.” Unlike Article 1(1)(a) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Act on Foreign Service did not incorporate the vice-consulates, as this term is not used in the current Czech practice. Regarding the functions of the consular posts, § 7(2) of the Act points to the above-mentioned Convention (Article 5) and § 7(3) thereof refers to Chapter IV of the Act (§ 16-31) that is dedicated solely to the exercise of consular service. A separate provision regarding honorary consular officers was included into § 7(5) of the Act on Foreign Service, since they form an integral part of the network of the Czech “representative offices” and their importance is growing. There are currently about 200 of them working for the Czech foreign service ( vice versa in the Czech Republic, there are approximately 45 honorary consular officers representing other States). The purpose of this provision was to set basic requirements for the candidates for such a post, as these are not contained in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Instead, it depends on every State to determine its own requirements, which is confirmed by this Convention in Article 68. 8 The Act prescribes the following: “A person whose social standing in the receiving State, the knowledge of conditions in the supposed area for which the consular post will exercise its activity, the level of relations with representatives of public and private sphere, as well as whose professional knowledge and experience guarantee the due exercise of activities under paragraphs 2 and 3, can be appointed a honorary consular officer.” Czech citizenship is not required. The “special mission” appeared in § 8 of the Act on Foreign Service for the reason that the Czech Republic is a party to the Convention on Special Missions. This Convention has currently just 38 parties, 9 therefore, it does not enjoy the almost universal status of the previously mentioned two Vienna Conventions. The definition was inserted, with minor changes, from Article 1(a) of the Convention on Special Missions and reads as follows: “A special mission is a temporary mission, representing the Czech Republic, which is sent to another State with the consent of the latter for the purpose of dealing with it on specific questions or of performing in relation to it a specific task.” It should be stressed that not every special mission under the Convention will be a special mission under the Act on Foreign Service. According to the Act, it is one of the “representative offices”; therefore, 8 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Article 68: “Each State is free to decide whether it will appoint or receive honorary consular officers.” 9 United Nations Treaty Collection, available at: https://treaties.un.org.

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