The Commonwealth Secretariat Act 1966 (c. 10) 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

that established the legal character of the Secretariat of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

. The act granted the Secretariat full

legal immunity Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. S ...

. It was applied retroactively to 1 July 1965, when the Secretariat was constituted. Until the International Organisations Act 2005, 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