Artikel XII

a) The Headquarters of EUTELSAT shall be in France;
b) Within the scope of activities authorized by the Convention, EUTELSAT and its property shall be exempt in the territory of all Parties from income and direct property taxation and from customs duties.
c) Each Party shall grant in accordance with the Protocol referred to in this paragraph the appropriate privileges, exemptions and immunities to EUTELSAT, to its officers, and to those categories of its employees specified in such Protocol, to Parties and representatives of Parties, and to persons participating in arbitration proceedings. In particular, each Party shall grant to these individuals immunity from legal process in respect of acts done or words written or spoken in the exercise of their functions and within the limits of their duties to the extent and in the cases to be provided for in the Protocol referred to in this paragraph. The Party in whose territory the Headquarters of EUTELSAT is located shall, as soon as possible, negotiate, or, as the case may be, re-negotiate with EUTELSAT a Headquarters Agreement covering privileges, exemptions and immunities. The other Parties shall also, as soon as possible, conclude a Protocol covering privileges, exemptions and immunities. The Headquarters Agreement and the Protocol shall each prescribe the conditions of its termination and shall be independent of the Convention.