EU Presidency Statement - Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia , the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential Candidate Countries Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Union would like, first and foremost, to express its gratitude to the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, Professor Gerhard Hafner, for the excellent manner in which he has conducted the work of the Ad Hoc Committee and for his valuable presentation of the report.

Following the February 2003 Ad Hoc Committee meeting in which the Ad Hoc Committee was able to discuss and resolve all the outstanding substantive issues, in March 2004 the Ad Hoc Committee agreed on a preamble and final clauses for a draft UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property. The European Union fully endorses the recommendations contained in the Report of the Ad Hoc Committee.

Mr. Chairman,

The agreement reached on the preamble and final clauses marks the completion of the work of the Ad Hoc Committee. For the first time, we now have a complete text of a Draft UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property. This is the successful outcome of a long process of extensive preparatory work and difficult negotiations that started in 1977, when the General Assembly recommended that the International Law Commission should take up the study of the law of jurisdictional immunities of States and their property with a view to its progressive development and codification. In this connection, we note that the Commentary prepared by the International Law Commission, the Reports of the Ad Hoc Committee, the Chairman's statement and, we believe, the resolution by which the General Assembly adopts the Draft UN Convention, will together form an important part of the travaux préparatoires of the Convention.

In the view of the EU, time has come for the General Assembly to adopt the Draft UN Convention, and to open the Convention for signature.

The European Union looks forward to working closely and in a constructive spirit with you and all other Member States represented in this room to finalise the preparation of a draft resolution on this topic.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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