The Commonwealth Secretariat Act 1966 was an act of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

that established the legal character of the Secretariat of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

. The act granted the Secretariat full legal immunity. It was applied retroactively to 1 July 1965, when the Secretariat was constituted. Until the

International Organisations Act 2005 The International Organisations Act 2005 (c 20) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to enable the United Kingdom to fulfil a number of international commitments. Section 1 - Commonwealth Secretariat This section re ...

, the act did not grant employees of the Secretariat exemption from paying

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

, but this was granted with the passage of the later act.

External links

* Commonwealth Secretariat History of the Commonwealth of Nations United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1966 {{UK-statute-stub