CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ THE INTERNATIONAL LAW ASPECTS OF THE NEW CZECH ACT … any bilateral treaties with these entities (other States not regarding them as a State have a similar practice 15 ). This pragmatic option – taking into account the special status of these entities – prevailed, and the outcome in § 9 of the Act on Foreign Service reads thus as follows: “(1) The liaison office or bureau is established as a rule in order to ensure the relations of the Czech Republic with authorities or representatives of an entity that, according to the international law, is not a State. (2) The liaison office or bureau fulfills, within the scope stipulated by the Minister, the functions similar to those of a diplomatic mission.” The determination whether a certain entity is a State and diplomatic relations should be established, or is not a State and a special regime under § 9 of the Act should be applied, will be done by the Foreign Ministry (which, in Czech practice, proposes to the Government to recognize other States de iure ). It can be presumed that this process will not be based solely on international legal analysis applying the criteria of the Montevideo Convention, but that the political considerations may also play a role. As stated in the second paragraph, the functions of “liaison office or bureau” are per analogiam “those of a diplomatic mission”, i.e. , listed in Article 3 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. In addition, the Foreign Minister has the power to adjust these functions through his or her decisions based on a specific situation. The Scope and Limits of Consular Protection Every year thousands of Czechs – who are known to be enthusiastic, but often reckless backpackers, mountaineers and skiers – travel abroad to experience new adventures and find themselves in all sorts of trouble. In a few extreme cases, they have even taken the Foreign Ministry and its “representative offices” as a travel agency that is supposed to provide funds and accommodation when their travelling has not gone according to their plans. In sum, the Czech consular officers are now busy as never before. Before the adoption of the Act on Foreign Service, however, there had been no law that would regulate the scope and limits of consular protection. At that time, the only legal framework available was the Competence Act, containing in its § 6(3)(b) the laconic sentence that the Foreign Ministry “ensures the protection of rights and interests of the Czech Republic and its citizens abroad”, plus the rules codified in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. This Convention, however, deals with two types of relations only. First, with those between the consular post of the sending State and the authorities of the receiving State, e.g. , in Article 5 of the Convention listing the consular functions, and second, those between a national of the sending State and the authorities of the receiving State, e.g. , in Article 36 of the Convention on communication and contact with nationals of the sending State. In relation to this provision of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the International Court of Justice confirmed in the famous LaGrand case that it creates individual rights. 16 15 AUST, A., Modern Treaty Law and Practice , Cambridge 2007, pp. 61-62. 16 This case involved two German nationals (Karl and Walter LaGrand) who committed a murder during a bank robbery in Arizona in 1982 and were sentenced to death without being informed of their right to request the U.S. authorities to inform the German consular post and were executed in 1999. See the LaGrand Case, Germany vs. the United States of America, Judgment of June 27, 2001, I.C.J. Reports 2001, p. 494, paragraph 77. 5.

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