Law-ref.org Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
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correspondence [Global Index]


ARTICLE-1: DEFINITIONS     [go to this ARTICLE]
... (k) "consular archives" includes all the papers, documents, correspondence, books, films, tapes and registers of the consular post, together with the ciphers and codes, the card-indexes and any article of furniture intended for their protection or safekeeping. ...


ARTICLE-35: FREEDOM OF COMMUNICATION     [go to this ARTICLE]
... 2. The official correspondence of the consular post shall be inviolable. Official correspondence means all correspondence relating to the consular post and its functions. ...
... 2. The official correspondence of the consular post shall be inviolable. Official correspondence means all correspondence relating to the consular post and its functions. ...
... 2. The official correspondence of the consular post shall be inviolable. Official correspondence means all correspondence relating to the consular post and its functions. ...
... 3. The consular bag shall be neither opened nor detained. Nevertheless, if the competent authorities of the receiving State have serious reason to believe that the bag contains something other than the correspondence, documents or articles referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article, they may request that the bag be opened in their presence by an authorized representative of the sending State. If this request is refused by the authorities of the sending State, the bag shall be returned to its place of origin. ...
... 4. The packages constituting the consular bag shall bear visible external marks of their character and may contain only official correspondence and documents or articles intended exclusively for official use. ...


ARTICLE-36: COMMUNICATION AND CONTACT WITH NATIONALS OF THE SENDING STATE     [go to this ARTICLE]
... (c) consular officers shall have the right to visit a national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention, to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation. They shall also have the right to visit any national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention in their district in pursuance of a judgment. Nevertheless, consular officers shall refrain from taking action on behalf of a national who is in prison, custody or detention if he expressly opposes such action. ...


ARTICLE-44: LIABILITY TO GIVE EVIDENCE     [go to this ARTICLE]
... 3. Members of a consular post are under no obligation to give evidence concerning matters connected with the exercise of their functions or to produce official correspondence and documents relating thereto. They are also entitled to decline to give evidence as expert witnesses with regard to the law of the sending State. ...


ARTICLE-54: OBLIGATIONS OF THIRD STATES     [go to this ARTICLE]
... 3. Third States shall accord to official correspondence and to other official communications in transit, including messages in code or cipher, the same freedom and protection as the receiving State is bound to accord under the present Convention. They shall accord to consular couriers who have been granted a visa, if a visa was necessary, and to consular bags in transit, the same inviolability and protection as the receiving State is bound to accord under the present Convention. ...


ARTICLE-61: INVIOLABILITY OF CONSULAR ARCHIVES AND DOCUMENTS     [go to this ARTICLE]
... The consular archives and documents of a consular post headed by an honorary consular officer shall be inviolable at all times and wherever they may be, provided that they are kept separate from other papers and documents and, in particular, from the private correspondence of the head of a consular post and of any person working with him, and from the materials, books or documents relating to their profession or trade. ...