ARTICLE XII

Privileges and Immunities

1.The Centre and officials of the Secretariat shall enjoy, in the territory of China, privileges and immunities in accordance with the provisions of Article XIII to XIX. The privileges and immunities provided by this Article and Articles XIII to XIX shall not apply to Associates of the Centre and staff of Associates of the Centre.

2.For the furtherance of the purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding, the Centre may conclude, with one or more Members other than China, agreements on privileges and immunities which shall be approved by the Joint Council.

3.In case of establishment of affiliated centres, the privileges and immunities enjoyed by the affiliated centres, the scope of persons who shall enjoy privileges and immunities, and the privileges and immunities they shall enjoy shall be decided separately by the Joint Council in consultation with the host countries of the affiliated centres before their establishment.

ARTICLE XIII

Privileges and Immunities on Property, Funds and Assets

1.The Centre, its property and assets shall enjoy immunity from proceedings in the courts except in so far as in any particular case it has expressly waived its immunity. It is, however, understood that no waiver of immunity shall imply waiver of immunity in respect of the execution of judgement, for which a separate waiver shall be necessary.

2.The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply in case of civil proceedings related to disputes arising out of contracts and out of damage caused by a vehicle.

3.The archives of the Centre and in general all official papers and documents belonging to it or held by it shall be inviolable. The private papers of the officials of the ASEAN-China Centre shall be held in a place entirely separate from the place where the official papers and documents are held.

4.To facilitate its operation:

a) the Centre may open or hold accounts in RMB or any other freely convertible currency; and

b) the Centre may freely transfer its funds or currency from or to China, or within the territory of China, and convert any currency held by it into any other currency, in accordance with the relevant foreign exchange management regulations of China. China shall, in accordance with its relevant laws and regulations, give facilities and assistance to the Centre in transferring funds and operating accounts.

5.In exercising the right as provided for in paragraph 3 above, the Centre shall comply with the formalities laid down in national laws of China and shall pay due regard to any representations made by China in so far as it is considered that effect can be given to such representations without detriment to the interest of the Centre.

6.The Centre, its assets, income and other property shall be:

a) exempt from all direct taxes except those which are, in fact, no more than charges for public utility services; and

b) in accordance with relevant regulations of China, exempt from customs duties within the directly necessary quantities approved by the Chinese Customs in respect of articles imported or exported by the Centre for its official use; without the approval of relevant Chinese government agencies, the articles imported under such exemption shall not be transferred, sold or disposed of in any other means in China during the period of custom supervision, and according to the rules, the approved transfer, sale and other disposal of the articles shall go through the procedure of paying taxes or tax exemption at the Customs.

7.While the Centre shall not, as a general rule, claim exemption from excise duties and from taxes on the sale of movable and immovable property which form part of the price to be paid, nevertheless when the Centre is making important purchases directly for official use of property on which such duties and taxes have been charged or are chargeable, China shall, whenever possible, make appropriate administrative arrangements for the remission or return of the amount of duty or tax.