Chapter 17 - Witnesses
Foreigners as
witnesses
Evidence may be taken from foreigners.
When in the jurisdiction of Australia they are liable to be summoned and to be
required to produce documents, and may be dealt with for any contempt (unless,
of course, they have diplomatic immunity as official representatives of their
countries). This applies to corporations with foreign “parents” as well as to
individuals. Australian law cannot protect them, however, in respect of the
publication of their evidence in another country, and if they give evidence
from overseas they are subject to the law of the country they are in as it may
apply to the giving of their evidence, for example, where a foreign law forbids
the communication of particular information.
The issue of a
legislative subpoena to an official of an organisation possessing diplomatic
immunity came before a US district court in 2005 (United
Nations v Parton, not reported). The court in effect
suspended the operation of the subpoena to allow the parties to reach agreement.
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