OSCE Legal Personality, Round 6 ? Talks Make Progress As Russ

UNCLAS USOSCE 000363 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR L/EUR AND EUR/RPM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OSCE KTIA SUBJECT: OSCE Legal Personality, Round 6 ? Talks Make Progress As Russ Ref: A) USOSCE 331; B) State 69698 and previous ¶1. Summary: Meeting for the first time since July, on September 13-14 Article 14 -- OSCE Officials -------------- ¶2. On Wednesday, before the WG convened, Belgium called a small group ¶3. At the beginning of the WG on Thursday, the Chair, Dutch Ambassador -- Bracketed text providing general immunity from personal arrest or de -- Azerbaijan, backed by Russia, continued to insist on deleting the ex -- On para 3, and consistent with its longstanding efforts to draw dist -- There was considerable discussion on exemption from immigration rest ¶4. After the UK (supported by Sweden) reiterated its continuing objecti Article 4 -- Legal Capacity -------------- ¶5. Following the observation by the Netherlands and others that its inc Article 8 -- Tax Exemptions -------------- ¶6. Germany, under instructions from its Finance Ministry, proposed cha Articles 18 ? Entry into force and 20 -- Amendment -------------- -------------- ¶7. The US requested a statement of Secretariat views on whether the dra Article 1(j) -- Persons Performing Tasks (OSCE PA) -------------- -------------- ¶8. The WG revisited the issue of whether members and staff of the OSCE ¶9. This then led to a lengthy drafting session late Thursday night and Article 15 bis -- Waiver of Immunities -------------- ¶10. There was some discussion as to how to waive immunity for PA member Article 5 -- OSCE Premises -------------- ¶11. The US said that proposed language in Article 5, regarding waiving Article 14 bis -- Members of Field Operations -------------- ¶12. Russia wanted to delete the exemption from national service obligat Charter -------------- ¶13. Russia proposed that a footnote proposed by Russia and Belarus be ¶14. Shortly after the conclusion of this latest round, Russia, Armenia Conclusion -------------- ¶15. Once again, considerable progress was made in finalizing the text, FINLEY