Scope of Immunities and Summary of Law Enforcement Measures - Bilateral Postings

This chart is intended as a guide for law enforcement, border and other authorities who require information to establish the level of immunity granted to foreign representatives. The status of accredited foreign representatives, and hence the level of immunities, is determined by the entry under "designation" and category of Acceptance/Identity Card, not by the colour or the serial letter on such documents.

Law enforcement officers seeking advice on the immunities of accredited foreign representatives can consult the Diplomatic Security Liaison Unit.

This interpretation chart is not the law; the law is contained in the Acts themselves, such as the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Actand related Orders in Council. However, this chart can generally be relied upon as reflecting DFATD's interpretation of the law to be applied on a consistent basis by its staff. The scope of immunities listed on this page is not intended for United States preclearance officers working in Canada.

Designation	Diplomatic Agent*	Admin & Tech Staff	Service Staff	Career Consular Officer	Honorary Consular Officer	Consular Employee
* Includes Members of the Administrative and Technical Staff of the United States of America, in accordance with the Administrative and Technical Staff of the Embassy of the United States and Families Privileges and Immunities Order. 1 However, a person enjoying personal inviolability such as a diplomatic agent, career consular officer or member of the administrative and technical staff, may be temporarily taken into protective custody in order to prevent the repitition or continuation of an offence, and until such time as a responsible member of the mission or post arrives to relieve the police of this responsibility. 2 Career consular officers cannot be arrested or detained pending trial unless a judicial warrant has been obtained in advance and the charges is for a "grave crime" (one for which the maximum penalty is five years or more), and issues of public safety are involved, in accordance with Art. 41(1) of the VCCR. 3 Honorary consular officers should be treated as ordinary Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents of Canada, except when clearly acting in their consular capacity. The Government of Canada’s view is that most instances of driving, including the journey to and from work, are not considered as “official acts” or “consular acts”. It follows that honorary consular officers will most likely be treated as ordinary Canadian citizens or permanent residents on matters of traffic laws. 4 Consular archives in the custody of honorary consular officers must not be searched, provided that they are kept separate from all other office records and clearly marked as consular documents. 5 Canada expects diplomatic agents and career consular officers to comply with normal security measures instituted at Canadian airports. This includes submitting their carry-on luggage through x-ray. 6 The search of baggages of any person associated with a diplomatic mission or consular post must take into account that the person may be carrying "archives", i.e. files or correspondence, and these documents must not be manually searched. If a person claims to be carrying "archives", these must be excluded from manual search. With respect to diplomatic bags, please consult the following link Circular Note NO. XDC-0144 of January 28, 2011.
Documentation issued: Category of Acceptance and Identity Card	D	J	J	C	SFED	J
National Service: Immune from national service obligations	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Legal Process & Criminal/Civil Proceedings: Can be arrested and detained	No (see note 1)1	No (see note 1)	Yes	Yes (see notes 1 and 2)2	Yes (see note 3)3	Yes
Immune from legal process, whether criminal or civil	Yes	Yes, subject to limitations under Art. 37(2) of the VCDR	Yes, in respect of acts performed in the course of official duties only	Yes, in respect of acts performed in the exercise of consular functions only	Yes, in respect of acts performed in the exercise of consular functions only	Yes, in respect of acts performed in the exercise of consular functions only
Can be compelled to give evidence as witness	No	No	Yes, unless related to official duties	No	Yes, unless related to consular duties	Yes, unless related to consular duties
Immune from jury duty	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Searches, including at Canadian Airports: Subject to personal search (everywhere except at airports)	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Subject to pre-boarding screening at airports	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Subject to office entry and search	No	No	No	No	Yes (see note 4)4	No
Subject to residential entry and search	No	No	Yes, unless part of the diplomatic mission or official residence	Yes	Yes	Yes
Subject to private motor vehicle search	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Subject to personal baggage search	No (see note 5)5	Yes (see note 6)6	Yes (see note 6)	No (see note 5)	Yes (see note 6)	Yes (see note 6)