Lord Wallace of Saltaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures are followed when a citizen of a foreign state claims diplomatic immunity as the representative of a third state.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Article 8(3) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 permits third country diplomats to be appointed to a diplomatic mission with the consent of the receiving State. Such appointments are rare, but the UK does accept them. If a third country national resident in the UK claimed to be a diplomat, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) would first check that the person’s name was on its database of foreign diplomats and their families. As necessary, the FCO would also confirm with the relevant diplomatic mission that the individual was a member of the mission’s staff.