Part 3 87 unconnected with the case or a prosecutor. The UN has defined the reasonable period as not exceeding a matter of days,96 while the Council of Europe has specified that such a delay should last up to a maximum of 48 hours, including for terrorism-related crimes.97 9899 When counter-terrorism investigations involve foreign citizens, an additional set of requirements is applicable under relevant international law.98 In particular: • local authorities must inform detained foreigners without delay of their right to have their consulate notified of their detention and their right to communicate with their consulate; • at the request of the detainee, the authorities must then notify the consular post of the arrest without delay and permit consular access to the detained national; and • consulates have the right to be promptly informed of the detention at the national’s request, to communicate, correspond and visit with their detained nationals, to arrange for their nationals’ legal representation, and to provide other appropriate assistance with the detainee’s consent. Special attention needs to be given to refugees who are likely to be reluctant to have their consulate informed of their whereabouts. Therefore, instead of informing consular officials in such cases, the police should inform a “representative of the competent international organization”.99 96 Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, op. cit., note 1, Principles 15 and 16(4). 97 “Report to the Spanish Government on the visit to Spain carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 1 to 12 April 1991”, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, 5 March 1996, CPT/Inf (96) 9, Appendix II, <http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/ esp/1996–09-inf-eng-1.pdf>; and “Report to the Spanish Government on the visit to Spain carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 10 to 22 April 1994”, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, 5 March 1996, CPT/Inf (96) 9 [Part 2], para. 60, <http://www. cpt.coe.int/documents/esp/1996–09-inf-eng-2.pdf>. 98 United Nations, Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Vienna, 24 April 1963, Article 36, <http://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20596/volume-596-I-8638-English.pdf>; this convention applies to any type of crime; United Nations General Assembly, International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, New York, 15 December 1997, Article 7, <http://treaties.un.org/doc/db/Terrorism/english-18–9.pdf>; United Nations General Assembly, International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, New York, 9 December 1999, Article 9, <http://treaties.un.org/doc/db/Terrorism/ english-18–11.pdf>. 99 Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, op. cit., note 1, Principle 16(2). “Competent international organizations” may include for example, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or the Red Cross/ Red Crescent.