Treaty Series Recueil des Traites - United Nations Treaty Collection ...

Dear Sir,
Volume 2223, 1-39525
[EXCHANGE OF NOTES -- tCHANGE DE NOTES]
[ENGLISH TEXT - TEXTE ANGLAIS]
I
Mexico City, 1 July 2002
On the occasion of the signing of the Agreement between the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights and the Government of the United Mexican States Concerning
the Establishment of an Office in Mexico, I have the honour to refer to the discussions
held between representatives of the Government of the United Mexican States and
representatives of the United Nations concerning the interpretation and implementation of
certain provisions of the Agreement, and to confirm the following understandings:
The Parties recognize that in the interpretation and application of the Agreement, effect
shall be given, when appropriate, to the reservation entered into by Mexico at the time of
its accession to the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations,
on 26 November 1962.
The said reservation provides, in part, that the United Nations and its organs shall not
be entitled to acquire immovable property in Mexican territory, in view of the property regulations
laid down by the Political Constitution in the United Mexican States. It is, therefore
the understanding of the Parties that the legal capacity of the Office to purchase immovable
property under Article III of the Agreement, does not imply the right to exercise such legal
capacity for as long as the present reservation and the relevant Constitutional provisions remain
in effect.
It is the understanding of the Parties that any fees, tolls or duties which constitute direct
taxes, shall not be imposed upon the Office in accordance with Article VII, paragraph 1 of
the Agreement. It is further the understanding of the Parties that value-added tax constitutes
a form of indirect tax and thus falls within the scope of Article VII, paragraph 2 of the
Agreement and the procedure for the return of taxes provided for thereunder.
It is the understanding of the Parties that officials of the Office referred to in Article
IX, paragraph 2 of the Agreement who are not Mexican nationals, shall be entitled, upon
the authorization of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, to a duty-free import of one
motor vehicle for their personal use, or to acquire a vehicle in Mexico every three years
with a refund of the value-added tax, provided that the customs value of the vehicle does
not exceed the equivalent in national currency of thirty thousand United States dollars or
sixty thousand dollars in the case of one motor vehicle imported or acquired for the private
use of the Head of the Office. Such officials shall be entitled to dispose of, free of import
duties, any such vehicle, with the authorization of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit,
three years after the date on which the refund of value-added tax was authorized. The
formalities for the import and disposal of such vehicles free of duty shall be determined in
the laws and regulations of the United Mexican States.