Diplomatic and Consular Privileges Act, 1972

The Diplomatic and Consular Privileges Act, 1972 gives the force of Pakistani law to two major international agreements: the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963. Section 2 makes the text of both Conventions (reproduced in the First and Second Schedules) directly enforceable in Pakistan, overriding any conflicting law, and clarifies how waivers of immunity work — a waiver must come from the head of a diplomatic mission or, for consular officers, similarly senior figures.

The Schedules themselves set out the substantive protections. Under the Diplomatic Convention (First Schedule), a foreign mission's premises are inviolable and cannot be entered by Pakistani authorities without the head of mission's consent (Article 22); the mission and its head are exempt from most local taxes on mission premises (Article 23); official mission archives, correspondence, and the diplomatic bag are inviolable and cannot be opened or detained (Articles 24, 27); and a diplomatic agent personally enjoys inviolability, immunity from arrest or detention, and broad immunity from Pakistan's criminal, civil, and administrative jurisdiction, with narrow exceptions for private real estate deals, certain inheritance matters, and outside professional or commercial activity (Articles 29–31). Immunity can be waived by the sending state, but only expressly, and waiving immunity from a lawsuit doesn't automatically waive immunity from having a judgment enforced (Article 32).

The Second Schedule extends comparable, though sometimes narrower, protections to consular posts and officers, including honorary consular officers, covering archive inviolability, exemption from customs duties on official items, exemption from certain personal taxes and services, and rules for consular functions carried out through diplomatic missions.

Outside the Schedules, Section 3 lets the Federal Government reduce Pakistan-granted privileges for a foreign state's mission if that state gives Pakistan's own mission there fewer privileges than this Act provides (a reciprocity mechanism). Section 4 makes a Federal Government certificate on a person's diplomatic status conclusive evidence in any dispute. Section 5 lets the government update the Schedules to match amendments to the underlying Conventions, and Section 6 repealed the earlier 1972 Ordinance this Act replaced.