Committee on Relations

with Host Country

237^th Meeting (PM)

COMMITTEE ON RELATIONS WITH HOST COUNTRY CONSIDERS VISA DELAYS FOR DIPLOMATS

Among the topics considered today by the Committee on Relations with the Host Country were delays in the issuance of entry visas for diplomatic staff, property tax imposed by the City of New York on diplomatic premises, driver’s license requirements for chauffeurs and gas tax exemptions for Mission personnel.

On the issue of visas, Cuba’s representative expressed concern over the unjustified delay in responding to requests by three Cuban officials to participate in meetings at Headquarters in New York. 

She noted that, in a 25 February letter to the Committee Chairman (document A/AC.154/385), Cuba had detailed the case of Jose Rufino Menendez Hernandez, Director of the Center for Disarmament and International Security Studies in Cuba, who was not given a visa by the host country to participate in a February meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts concerning legislation regulating the conventional weapons trade until six days after the meeting had concluded. 

Cuba had also not received a reply for a visa requested by the Director General and the Assistant Director General of the Cuban Association of the United States to participate in an official meeting in New York of the Executive Committee of the World Federation of United Nations Associations late March, she said, adding that similar requests had been denied in 2006 and 2007.  She urged the host country to reconsider matters, with a view to enabling delegates to participate in meetings in New York and to ensuring the smooth functioning of diplomatic work.  She also asked for an update on the implementation of a new security programme for diplomatic missions. 

Similarly, Syria’s representative said two members of its three-member delegation could not participate in a workshop on Government equipment, held at Headquarters in mid-February because they could not obtain the required entry visas.  He expressed hope that those incidents would not be repeated as they would negatively impact delegations and they indicated the host country’s failure to comply with relevant agreements.

In response, the United States representative assured all Committee members and observers that the host country took the issue of visa delays very seriously.  In the past six months, the United States Mission had decided that, as the administrative procedures in Washington to process the growing number of visa applications was taking too long, it would address the issue more formally than in the past.  Instead of trying to solve the problem by telephone or e-mail, the United States Mission sent several action telegrams detailing the problems raised by the Cuban Mission in particular, as well as those of other missions. 

Further, the United States Mission and other United Nations officials had met on Monday with the Visa Department Officer of the United States State Department to inform them of the problem and urge strong steps to correct it in Washington, he said.  As most of the Cuban Mission’s complaints related to visas applied for in Havana and not New York, he asked that the Cuban Mission inform the United States Mission of visa applications made in Havana so the United States could track them. 

Responding to Syria’s concerns, he said that the United States Mission had not been informed about the application of delegates attending the February workshop.  He urged all missions experiencing visa problems to call the United States Mission so that it could take action and ensure resolution.  

Cuba’s representative thanked the United States representative for those measures and expressed hope that such problems would be resolved in the future.

Turning to other matters, India’s representative brought up the issue of property taxes imposed by the City of New York on diplomatic premises.  In a February 2008 judgement, the New York District Court had held that the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations supported the City of New York’s position that the residential exemption from taxes was limited only to the “residence of the Head of Mission”.  India had filed a notice of appeal with the Court of Appeals against that order, and he had formally asked the Committee Chairman on 14 March to convene a meeting on the matter.  He also intended to hold bilateral discussions with the host country and would urge it to resolve the problem in accordance with international law, in order to bring the property tax matter in line with the Headquarters Agreement.

Mongolia’s representative said that in the spring of 2003 the City of New York had filed lawsuits against Mongolia and three other nations seeking a Judgement of Foreclosure, which established the validity of tax liens due to real estate property taxes and other charges allegedly owed to the city.  In Mongolia’s case, the city had claimed that, while the residence of the Permanent Representative and all offices in the Mission’s building were fully tax exempt, the part of the building that housed staff members was subjected to real estate taxes.  The United States District Court had ruled in favour of the city, but Mongolia had resisted payment based on its sovereign immunity. 

Housing diplomats of mission premises was a widely held practice by diplomatic posts worldwide, she added.  The taxation of mission premises was not supported by international law and custom, and it was contrary to the concept of reciprocity that governed much of international law.  Like other nations, Mongolia did not levy taxes on the premises of other country’s missions in Mongolia, including the United States Mission.  The United States itself exempted from property taxes entire multi-apartment buildings used exclusively to house embassy personnel and their families in Washington, not just portions of those premises.  The United Nations Permanent Missions deserved similar treatment.

Libya’s representative also took the floor to address concerns similar to those stated by the representatives of Mongolia and India.

Regarding property taxes, Marjorie Tiven, New York City Commissioner for the United Nations and Consular Corps, said the city had always, and continued to have, a policy of respect for international law.  Recent court decisions had ruled that the taxation of mission housing and commercial activity were considered within international law and did not change any bilateral agreements on exemptions currently in existence.  Sometimes Governments were asked to verify how property was being used.  In terms of recent litigation about property taxes, she said that, after a long series of negotiations, the city had filed lawsuits in 2002 and had asked the court to rule on the taxable nature of property used by a court or a bank.  Earlier this year, the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York ruled that staff housing for missions and commercial activity was taxable and it entered into a judgement for monies owed by debtor countries. 

The United States representative added that the issue of property taxes for staff members was important and much more complicated than many Member States realized.  The United States had taken extensive notes on all the interventions made during today’s meeting and would refer them to officials in Washington. 

On other matters, Ecuador’s representative pointed to three cases in the past six months in which the bank accounts of Ecuadorian officials at JP Morgan Chase had been either restricted or blocked by the bank or the United States State Department for alleged money laundering.  On 3 March, an account of Ecuador’s Permanent Representative had been blocked without notification by order of the United States State Department.  While the bank had lifted that block on 17 March, United States authorities had insisted that Ecuador’s alternative representative sign a document renouncing any subsequent claim to the matter, an abuse with which Ecuador had refused to comply.  Despite three correspondences on the matter to the United States State Department, to date, Ecuador had not received a response nor had the frozen bank funds been released.  Ecuadorian officials kept just enough money in those accounts to cover monthly expenses and therefore their accounts did not justify suspicions of money laundering.  She requested an explanation of that matter and whether other Government accounts were protected from such violations. 

In response, the United States representative said Ecuador’s Permanent Representative had brought that matter to his attention a week before leaving the United States and had said that another diplomat had had a similar problem several years ago.  The recent case took a week to resolve, with United States officials informing the bank in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that had authorized the freeze on the account that such a move was contrary to the Vienna Convention. 

Concerning driver’s licenses, Poland’s representative said that, in January, the United States State Department began requiring that chauffeurs obtain a driver’s license from the State of New York.  But Poland’s chauffeurs did have the social security number required to obtain the New York license.

The United States representative said that driver’s licenses were the purview of the Office of Foreign Missions, whose representatives were present in the room and had begun looking into the matter. 

Turning to the issue of gas tax exemption, China’s representative said that, over the past three months, several of her colleagues had accumulated gas tax receipts and expected reimbursement.  Many staff members had been required to pay parking fees at JFK airport, which ranged from $4 to $6.  She asked if the host country had negotiated with the relevant authorities in order to provide an acceptable answer to that situation.

The Russian Federation’s representative said his Mission had experienced similar problems to those presented by the representatives of Poland and China.  Mission vehicles had received parking fee fines for the past three years.  He called for better coordination between United States federal and municipal authorities to resolve that matter.  

Trinidad and Tobago’s representative echoed those claims.

In response, the United States representative said that federal laws concerning that and other matters could only be upheld when they superseded state laws.  The Vienna Convention would prevail over state law.  The United States House Ways and Means Committee had decided that the diplomatic tax exemption would be reinstated in New York, he said, expressing hope that the matter would therefore be resolved.  He also noted that all three international airports in the New York area had been informed of the new parking policy dated 21 April governing diplomatic immunity from parking fees.

Committee Chairman Andreas Mavroyiannis of Cyprus said the Committee would meet again in July.

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