Council of Europe Development Bank Act 2004

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT FOR THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE DEVELOPMENT BANK AND TO PROVIDE FOR MATTERS (INCLUDING PAYMENTS) RELATED TO THAT AGREEMENT. [27th November, 2004]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

“Agreement” means the Articles of Agreement of the Council of Europe Development Bank, the text of which is set out in Schedule 1 to this Act;

“Bank” means the Council of Europe Development Bank, which was formerly known and is referred to in the Third Protocol to the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe done at Strasbourg on 6 March 1959 as the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund, and whose name was duly changed on 1 November 1999.

2 Approval of terms of Agreement.

2.—The terms of the Agreement (which is set out in Schedule 1 to this Act) and the Third Protocol to the General Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe (which is set out in Schedule 2 to this Act) are hereby approved.

3 Financial and other provisions.

3.—(1) Payments under the Agreement in respect of subscription to the Bank, as and when such payments become appropriate to be made on behalf of the State, shall be made out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

• (2) Any moneys received on behalf of the State from the Bank shall be placed to the credit of the account of the Exchequer and shall form part of the Central Fund and be available in any manner in which that Fund is available.

• (3) The Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland shall act as a depository for the holdings in Euro and other assets of the Bank.

• (4) This section comes into operation on the day on which the State becomes a member of the Bank in accordance with the terms of the Agreement.

4 Amendment of the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Act 1967.

4.—The Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Act 1967 is amended—

• (a) in section 21—

• (i) by inserting the following after the definition of “the Agreement”:

“ ‘the Bank’ means the Council of Europe Development Bank as established by the Articles of Agreement of the Council of Europe Development Bank, the text of which is set out in Schedule 1 to the Council of Europe Development Bank Act 2004;”,

and

• (ii) by inserting the following after the definition of “the Second Protocol”:

“ ‘the Third Protocol’ means the Third Protocol to the Agreement done at Strasbourg on the 6th day of March 1959, as set out in the Fifth Schedule to this Act;”,

• (b) by inserting the following after section 21:

• (c) by inserting the following after section 24:

• (d) in Part IX of the Fifth Schedule, by inserting the text set out in Schedule 2 to this Act after the text of the Second Protocol to the General Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe.

5 Short title and collective citation.

5.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Council of Europe Development Bank Act 2004.

• (2) The Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Acts 1967 and 1976, section 4 of this Act and this subsection may be cited together as the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Acts 1967 to 2004.

SCHEDULE 1 COUNCIL OF EUROPE DEVELOPMENT BANK

SCHEDULE 2 THIRD PROTOCOL

to the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe

The governments signatory hereto, being members of the Council of Europe, signatories of the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe or Parties to the said Agreement and, at the same time, members of the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund for National Refugees and Over-population;

Having regard to the provisions of Articles 1 and 9.g of the Articles of Agreement of the aforesaid Fund;

Having regard to Article 40 of the Statute of the Council of Europe;

Desirous of defining the legal regime of the property, assets and operations of the Resettlement Fund, and the legal status of its organs and officials;

Considering that it is necessary to facilitate the realisation of the statutory purposes of the Fund by the most generous possible reduction in direct or indirect taxation affecting the operations of the Fund and borne ultimately by the beneficiaries of loans granted by the Fund;

Desirous of supplementing, in respect of the Resettlement Fund, the provisions of the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe,

Have agreed as follows:

PART I—Articles of Agreement, personality, capacity

PART II—Courts, property, assets, operations

PART III—Organs

PART IV—Officials

PART V—Application of the Agreement

PART VI—Final clauses