14 DE ABRIL DE 1994

505

The employees of the Group's Secretariat shall be entitled to the following privileges:

a) Judicial immunity regarding activities while performing functions during the exercise of their duties, including declarations and documents;

b) Inviolability of official documents;

c) Exemption, extended to spouses and members of the family dependent on them, from all restrictive immigration measures, including visa requirements and registration formalities, during immigration control;

d) The same facilities in respect to exchange as the ones given to members of the diplomatic missions of comparable rank, except when employees have Portuguese nationality or have permanent residence in Portugal;

e) Exemption from taxes on income and complementary remuneration to be paid by the Group. However, the Government shall take into consideration the value of these remunerations in order to estimate the taxation to apply relatively to income derived from other sources;

f) As they assume their functions in Portugal, the employees shall be exempt from importation duties, VAT, special consumer tax, except for duties destined for the payment of services, relative to the importation of furniture and other personal goods they own or shall acquire within three months of changing their residence. The alienation of imported goods that are exempt from importation duties cannot be done before one year and are subject to Community regulations on this matter;

g) The right to import temporarily an automobile for personal use, while working in Portugal, exempt from importation duties, VAT and automobile tax. The Secretary-General may import, under the same conditions, a second automobile to be used by his family. The temporary importation request shall be presented to the customs authorities within 6 months from the beginning of functions.

2) The conditions of work of these employees shall be solely governed by the provisions of the Staff Rules and Regulations of the International Copper Study Group. No staff member can claim additional rights than those defined on the said Staff Rules and Regulations.

Article XVU Experts

The article xv, paragraphs a), b) and c), shall apply to experts, who are not members of the Group's Secretariat, during the exercise of duties or while on a mission for the Group.

Article XVU!

Notification of appointment and identity cards

1) The Group shall inform the Government of the beginning and cessation of the activities of any employee or expert, and it shall regularly send to the Government a list

of all employees and experts in activity, indicating whether they are citizens of Portuguese nationality or foreign citizens with permament residence in Portugal.

2) The Government shall issue an identity card with the possessor's photograph to all employees and experts. This document shall prove their identity before all official authorities and should therefore be accepted. The Group shall give back the identity card as soon as its possessor ends his activities

Article XIX

Objective of privileges and Immunities and their renouncement

1) The privileges and immunities conferred in this Agreement to the representatives, Secretariat employees and experts are granted to assure, under every circumstance, the normal activities of the Group, as well as the independence of those to whom they are conferred.

2) The Secretary-General has the right and duty to renounce the immunities, except his own, when considering that such immunities are obstructing the course of justice, and if that is possible without prejudicing the Group. The Group may suspend the Secretary-General's immunities.

Article XX

Cooperation between the Group and the Government

The Group shall cooperate with the competent authorities in order to prevent the abuse of the privileges, immunities and facilities conferred by this Agreement. The right of the Government to take all preventive measures to provide national security shall not be prejudiced by the provisions of this Agreement.

Settlement of conflicts

Article XXI Arbitration

The contracts signed by the Group with any singular person with permanent residence or a corporation with offices in Portugal, that have a formal character, shall include an arbitration clause so that conflicts resulting from interpretation or implementation difficulties can be submitted by all parties for arbitration, except when contracts are subjected to their own regulations.

Article XXU

Submission to the International Arbitration Court

When required by the Government, the Group has to submit to the International Arbitration Court all disputes that:

a) Result from damages caused by the Group;

b) Involve other civil liability;

c) Involve an employee or an expert from the Group that has requested judicial immunity in compliance with this Agreement when his immunity has not been renounced.