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The consuls, consular officers and consular employees of the Contracting Parties who are citizens of the sending country shall not be subject to the jurisdiction of the receiving State where the performance of their official duties is concerned.

Consuls shall be entitled to affix to consulate buildings shields bearing the coat-of-arms of their country and an inscription designating the consulate, and to fly the flags of their country from the said buildings and place them on vehicles used by them (motor vehicles, launches, etc.).

1. Consuls and other consular staff shall give evidence before the judicial organs of the receiving country if requested to do so by the judicial authorities.

2. If a consul or another member of the consular staff is prevented by the exigencies of his service, by illness or for other reasons from appearing before the judicial organs, he shall make a deposition in writing.

3. Consuls and consular officers may refuse to make a deposition concerning matters connected with their official duties.

1. The official correspondence of consuls shall be inviolable and shall not be subject to examination. This shall also apply to telegraphic communications.

2. The offices of consulates shall be inviolable. The authorities of the receiving State shall not use force, in any form whatsoever, in the offices or in the private living quaters of consuls.

3. Consular archives shall be inviolable in all circumstances. Private papers shall not be kept in the consular archives.

4. In their communications with the authorities of the sending country, consuls shall be entitled to use codes and the services of diplomatic couriers. Consuls shall be charged at the same rates as diplomatic representatives for the use of ordinary means of communication.

The consuls, consular officers and consular employees and their spouses and minor children who are citizens of the sending country shall be exempt from all

No. 4609