(1)In this section “the Tribunal” means the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea established in accordance with Annex VI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
(2)Except in so far as in any particular case any privilege or immunity is waived by the Tribunal, the members of the Tribunal shall enjoy, when engaged on the business of the Tribunal, the like privileges and immunities as, in accordance with the 1961 Convention Articles, are accorded to the head of a diplomatic mission.
(3)In subsection (2)—
“the 1961 Convention Articles” means the Articles (being certain Articles of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations signed in 1961) which are set out in Schedule 1 to the M1Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964;
“head of a diplomatic mission” shall be construed in accordance with those Articles.
(4)The members of the Tribunal and the registrar of the Tribunal shall have exemption from income tax in respect of emoluments received by them as members or as the registrar.
(5)Subsection (4) shall be taken to have come into force on 15th September 1996.
(6)If in any proceedings a question arises whether a person is or is not entitled to any privilege or immunity by virtue of this section, a certificate issued by or under the authority of the Secretary of State stating any fact relating to that question shall be conclusive evidence of that fact.
(7)Subsections (1) to (5) shall cease to have effect on the coming into force of the International Tribunal for the Law of the M2Sea (Immunities and Privileges) Order 1996 (which makes provision corresponding to subsections (1) to (4) but does not come into force until the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea enters into force in respect of the United Kingdom).