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24 FEBRUARY 2017. - An Act to approve the Convention between the Government of Belgium and the Government of Macedonia concerning police cooperation, made in Brussels on 21 November 2013 (1)(2)

PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The House of Representatives adopted and sanctioned the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 74 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Convention between the Government of Belgium and the Government of Macedonia on police cooperation, held in Brussels on 21 November 2013, will come out with its full and full effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 24 February 2017.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
D. REYNDERS
Minister of Security and Interior,
J. JAMBON
Minister of Justice,
K. GEENS
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
K. GEENS
____
Note
(1) House of Representatives (www.lachambre.be):
Documents: 54-2223.
Full report: 20/01/2017.
(2) Effective date: 01/07/2017.

CONVENTION BELGE GOVERNMENT AND MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT RELATING TO POLICY COOPERATION
THE BELGE GOVERNMENT
AND
MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT
The Contracting Parties,
Based on the concern to promote relations of friendship and cooperation between the two States, and in particular to take into account the common will to strengthen police cooperation between them;
Based on the desire to strengthen this police cooperation within the framework of the international commitments undertaken by the Contracting Parties in respect of fundamental rights and freedoms, including the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed on 4 November 1950, as well as the Council of Europe Convention No. 108 of 28 January 1981 for the protection of persons with regard to the automated processing of personal data;
Considering that the fight against terrorism-related crime within the meaning of the European Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism of 1977 is a necessity for the defence of democratic values and institutions;
Recognizing that international organized crime poses a serious threat to the socio-economic development of the Contracting Parties, and that recent developments in international organized crime can endanger their institutional functioning;
Considering that the fight against trafficking in human beings and the suppression of illegal entry and exits of the territory of the Contracting Parties and illegal immigration, as well as the elimination of organized channels participating in these illegal acts, are a concern of the Contracting Parties;
Considering that the illegal production and trade of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances constitute a danger to the health and safety of citizens;
Considering that the only harmonization of legislation is not sufficient to combat the phenomenon of illegal immigration with sufficient efficiency;
Considering that the need for effective and effective international police cooperation in the field of organized crime and illegal immigration, including through the exchange and processing of information and good practices, is essential to combat and prevent such criminal activities;
Considering that the fulfilment of this cooperation requires a series of appropriate measures and close collaboration between the Contracting Parties;
ONT RESOLU de conclusion de cette convention:
Definitions
Article 1^er
For the purposes of this Convention:
(a) "Trafficking of human beings", recruitment, transportation, transfer, accommodation or reception of persons, threat of recourse or use of force or other forms of coercion, by kidnapping, fraud, deception, abuse of authority or a situation of vulnerability, or by the offer or acceptance of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person who has authority over another for the purposes of exploitation.
The exploitation includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or organ removal.
(b) "Sexual exploration of children", the criminal offences referred to in article 34 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989, including the production, sale, distribution or other forms of trafficking in pornographic material involving children and the detention of personal purposes of such material.
(c) "Technical Assistance", the logistical support provided to police and immigration services.
(d) "Criminality related to nuclear and radioactive materials", criminal offences as listed in Article 7, § 1^erthe United Nations Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, signed at Vienna and New York on 3 March 1980.
(e) "Money laundering", offences as listed in Article 6, § 1^er-3, the Council of Europe Convention on the Laundering, Screening, Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds of Crime, signed in Strasbourg on 8 November 1990.
(f) "organized crime", any offence of transnational organized crime as provided for in article 2 of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, signed on 12 December 2000.
(g) "Personal data", any information concerning an identified or identifiable natural person (data subject); is deemed to be identifiable a person who may be identified, directly or indirectly, particularly by reference to an identification number or to one or more specific elements, specific to his or her physical, physiological, psychic, economic, cultural or social identity.
(h) "Treatment of personal data", any operation or set of operations carried out or not using automated processes, and applied to personal data, such as collection, registration, organization, conservation, adaptation or modification, extraction, consultation, use, transmission, dissemination or any other form of disposal, termination or interconnection.
(i) "Twomen", any substance, whether of natural or synthetic origin, contained in Tables I and II of the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, made in New York on 30 March 1961, as well as any subsequent convention that will broaden the list of narcotic drugs and be applied in the States of the Contracting Parties.
(j) "Politropic substances", any substance, whether of natural or synthetic origin, or any natural product of Table I, II, III or IV of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 21 February 1971, as well as any subsequent Convention that will broaden the list of narcotic drugs and be applied in the States of the Contracting Parties.
(k) "Illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances", the cultivation, manufacture or trafficking of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances under the provisions of the Convention of 30 March 1961 on Narcotic Drugs, the Convention of 21 February 1971 on Psychotropic Substances or the United Nations Convention of 20 December 1988 on the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
(l) "Cybercriminality", any cybercrime offence as provided for in the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, signed on 23 November 2001 in Budapest.
(m) "Urgeant request", an application made by a Contracting Party where the transition through normal and formal administrative procedure to national focal points that are competent for international cooperation may interfere or jeopardize the research action.
Areas of cooperation
Article 2
1. Each Contracting Party undertakes to grant to the other Party, in accordance with national legislation and under the conditions set out in this Convention, the widest cooperation with regard to police cooperation, in accordance with the conditions laid down in this Convention.
2. Contracting Parties shall cooperate in the prevention, repression and prosecution of serious offences involving organized crime, in particular:
- offences against the life, health and physical integrity of persons;
- offences related to the illegal production and trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, precursors and equipment;
- illegal immigration;
- trafficking in human beings including smuggling of migrants;
- trafficking in human beings;
- child prostitution, trafficking and sexual exploitation;
- extortion;
- theft, illegal production, trafficking and illegal trade in weapons, ammunition, explosives, radioactive substances, nuclear materials and other dangerous substances;
- falsifications (fabrication, counterfeiting, processing and distribution) of means of payment, cheques and securities;
- the falsification and use of any falsified official document;
- Crime in the field of economic and financial activities;
- fraud on European funds;
- corruption;
- offences against property, including theft, trafficking in works of art and antiques;
- theft, illegal trade and traffic of motor vehicles and the falsification and use of falsified vehicle documents;
- money laundering and other proceeds of crime;
- illegal games of chance;
- cybercrime;
- terrorism and the financing of its activities;
- serious and organized fraud to the value added tax and income tax;
- fraud, misappropriation of funds, deception and fraud;
- fraudulent bankruptcy offences;
- social fraud and serious and organized insurance.
3. Forms of serious organized crime that are not defined in Article 1^er are appreciated by the competent national authorities according to the national legislation of the State to which they belong.
Coordination and support
Article 3
Collaboration between Contracting Parties will also include:
- searching for missing persons and helping to identify unidentified bodies;
- the search on the territory of a Contracting Party of stolen, disappeared, diverted or misplaced objects in the territory of the other Party.
Forms of cooperation
Article 4
The Contracting Parties shall cooperate in the areas specified in Articles 2 and 3 by:
- the exchange of information, in particular the modus operandi, concerning areas within the competence of the police and immigration services;
- exchange of equipment;
- technical and specialized assistance, expertise and the provision of specialized technical equipment;
- the exchange of experiences;
- professional training assistance;
- assistance in the preparation of requests for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters;
in accordance with the following provisions.
Exchange of information
Article 5
The Contracting Parties will assist and ensure close and ongoing cooperation. They will, inter alia, exchange all relevant and important information.
This cooperation may take the form of permanent contact through designated liaison officers.
Right to exchange information
Article 6
1. The Contracting Parties undertake to ensure that their police services, in accordance with national law and within the limits of their competence, provide assistance for the prevention and search for punitive facts, provided that national law does not stipulate that the application or execution is reserved for judicial authorities.
2. In these particular cases, each Contracting Party may, in accordance with its national law and without being invited to do so, communicate to the Contracting Party concerned information that may be important to the Contracting Party concerned for the purpose of preventing and punishing offences as referred to in Article 2 of this Convention, or for the prevention of threats to public order and security.
Use of information
Article 7
Any information provided by the requested Contracting Party may not be used by the requesting Contracting Party in order to demonstrate the facts incriminated only after a request for mutual legal assistance in accordance with the applicable international provisions.
Assistance requests
Article 8
1. Requests for assistance and responses to these requests must be exchanged between the competent central bodies responsible, by each Contracting Party, for international police cooperation and immigration.
Where the request cannot be made in a timely manner by the above-mentioned channel, it may, exceptionally and in an emergency only, be addressed by the competent authority of the requesting Contracting Party directly to the competent authority of the requested Party and may respond directly to it. In such exceptional cases, the competent authority of the Contracting Party shall notify, as soon as possible, the central body responsible for international police cooperation, in the required Contracting Party of its direct request and shall motivate the emergency.
2. The competent ministers of the Contracting Parties shall designate the central bodies which shall be responsible for international cooperation and define the modalities of mutual assistance.
Information classification level
Article 9
The requesting competent authority shall guarantee the degree of confidentiality that the required competent authority of the other Party has assigned to the information. Security levels are those used by INTERPOL.
Liaison Officers
Article 10
1. Contracting Parties may detach, for a specified or indeterminate duration, liaison officers from a Contracting Party to the other Contracting Party.
2. The purpose of the detachment of liaison officers for a specified or indeterminate period is to promote and accelerate cooperation between Contracting Parties, including by providing assistance:
(a) in the form of information exchanges for the purposes of both preventive and repressive fight against crime;
(b) in the execution of requests for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters;
(c) for the purpose of carrying out missions of the authorities responsible for the monitoring of external borders and immigration;
(d) for the purpose of carrying out the missions of the authorities responsible for the prevention of threats to public order.
3. Liaison officers have an advisory and assistance mission. They are not competent for the autonomous execution of police measures. They provide information and carry out their missions in accordance with the instructions given to them by the Contracting Party of origin and by the Contracting Party to which they are seconded. They regularly report to the central police cooperation body in the Contracting Party to which they are seconded.
4. Contracting Parties may agree that liaison officers of a Contracting Party seconded to third States shall also represent the interests of the other Contracting Party.
Protection of personal data
Article 11
1. Pursuant to this Convention, the processing of personal data shall be subject to the national legislation of each Contracting Party and shall operate in accordance with the conditions and principles in force concerning the protection of personal data.
2. With regard to the processing of personal data pursuant to this Convention, Contracting Parties undertake to achieve a level of protection of personal data that complies with the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention of 28 January 1981 for the protection of persons with respect to the automated processing of personal data and Recommendation R (87) 15 of 17 September 1987 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to regulate the use of personal data.
3. With regard to the processing of personal data transmitted under this Convention, the following provisions apply:
(a) the data may only be used by the recipient Contracting Party for the purposes for which this Convention provides for the processing of such data and under the conditions determined by the Contracting Party providing them; the use of data for other purposes is only possible after the prior authorization of the Contracting Party which transmits the data and in accordance with the legislation of the Contracting Party to which it is intended;
(b) data may be used only by the judicial and police authorities, the services and bodies that perform a task or perform a function for the purposes referred to in this Convention and in particular articles 2 and 3. Contracting Parties shall communicate the list of users;
(c) the recipient Contracting Party shall be required to effectively protect personal data from any unauthorized access to such data or against any unauthorized modification or communication of such data;
(d) personal data obtained will be deleted, destroyed or corrected when:
• evidence is provided that the data is incorrect or
• the competent body for their transfer reports that the data was collected or provided in contradiction with the law or
• data were no longer required for the execution of the mission for which they were transferred, unless an explicit authorization was issued for the use of this data for other purposes;
(e) in the event of the transfer of personal data, the Contracting Party in charge of the transfer of data shall inform the other Contracting Party of the retention period in accordance with the national legislation of the State or international law. Regardless of the retention period, personal data cannot be retained longer than necessary within the framework of the objectives set. The Contracting Party in charge of the transfer shall be informed of the deletion of the data submitted to the transmission, as well as the reasons for the deletion. In the event of termination of this Convention, all data submitted to the transmission shall be destroyed or deleted;
(f) the Contracting Party that transmits the data shall ensure the accuracy and completeness of the data. Each Contracting Party shall ensure that the personal data transmitted is not retained longer than necessary. If it finds either on its own initiative or on the basis of a request from the data subject, that incorrect data or that should not have been transmitted have been provided, the recipient Contracting Party(s) must be informed without delay; the latter or the latter are required to correct or destroy the data, or to mention that the data is incorrect or should not have been transmitted;
(g) the person whose data are or will be submitted to the transmission may request that the personal data transmitted and the purpose of their processing be informed in the event that it is in accordance with the national legislation of both Contracting Parties and international law;
(h) a Contracting Party may not invoke the fact that another Contracting Party has transmitted incorrect data to discharge its responsibility under its national law with respect to an injured person;
(i) the transmission and receipt of personal data shall be recorded. Contracting Parties shall communicate the list of authorities or services authorized to consult the registration;
(j) access to data is governed by the national law of the Contracting Party to which the data subject submits its application. The communication of the data to the applicant is only possible after receiving the authorization of the Contracting Party that originates the data;
(k) the data may only be used by the Contracting Party to whom it has provided and in accordance with the conditions defined by that Contracting Party.
4. For transmission, the following provisions apply:
(a) data may only be transmitted to the police and immigration authorities; data cannot be transmitted to other bodies that pursue the same objectives as these services and authorities and operate within the same framework as after obtaining the authorization of the Contracting Party that provided them;
(b) upon request, the recipient Contracting Party shall inform the Contracting Party which shall transmit the data of its use and the results obtained on the basis of the data transmitted;
5. Contracting Parties undertake to undertake all necessary steps to avoid any damage caused by third parties following the sending, receiving or using of the data.
6. Each Contracting Party may at any time consider non-compliance with the provisions of this Article by the Contracting Party to whom it is intended to justify the urgent suspension of the application of this Convention and, where appropriate, request an automatic termination of the Convention.
7. Each Contracting Party shall designate a supervisory authority, in accordance with national law, to exercise independent control over the processing of personal data carried out on the basis of this Convention and to verify whether such treatments are not infringinging on the rights of the person concerned. These supervisory authorities are also competent to analyse the difficulties in the application or interpretation of this Convention relating to the processing of personal data. Such supervisory authorities may agree to cooperate in the missions recognized by this Convention.
Transmission of personal data
Article 12
If personal data are transmitted through a liaison officer referred to in Article 10, the provisions of this Convention shall apply only when that liaison officer transmits such data to the Contracting Party to which he or she has been detached.
Exception
Article 13
Each Party shall refuse assistance when it comes to political or military offences or where such assistance is contrary to the legal provisions in force in its territory.
Each of the Parties may refuse assistance or subject it to specified conditions when it comes to offences related to political or military offences or where the realization of assistance could threaten the sovereignty, security, public order or other essential interests of the State.
Other forms of cooperation
Article 14
1. The Contracting Parties agree to provide mutual assistance in the field of vocational training and technical assistance for problems related to the operation of the police.
2. The Contracting Parties agree to exchange their practical experiences in all areas referred to in this Convention.
3. The modalities of mutual assistance are regulated by arrangements between the competent ministers of the Contracting Parties.
Concertation
Article 15
1. The competent Ministers of Contracting Parties may establish permanent or occasional working groups to examine common problems concerning the detection and prevention of the areas of crime referred to in Article 2 and the areas of cooperation referred to in Article 3 and to develop proposals to improve, if necessary, the practical and technical aspects of cooperation between Contracting Parties.
2. The costs associated with the implementation of cooperation shall be borne by both Contracting Parties, unless otherwise provided by the representatives of the Parties, duly authorized.
3. The competent Ministers of Contracting Parties may establish an assessment committee that will report to the competent Ministers every three years.
Settlement of disputes
Article 16
Any dispute arising from the interpretation or application of this Convention shall be resolved by a joint consultative commission.
The Joint Advisory Committee is composed of representatives of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice. It shall meet periodically at the request of either Contracting Party to facilitate the settlement of disputes that may arise from the interpretation or application of this Convention.
Report with other Agreements
Article 17
The provisions of this Convention shall apply only if they are consistent with the national law of the Contracting Parties and with the bilateral and multilateral agreements binding them.
Entry into force and denunciation
Article 18
The Contracting Parties shall, in writing and through diplomatic channels, notify each other of the fulfilment of the formalities required by their national legislation for the implementation of this Convention.
This Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date of receipt of the last notification.
This Convention shall be concluded for an unlimited period of time. Each Contracting Party has the right to denounce it by means of a diplomatic written notification to the other Party. The denunciation shall take effect 6 months after the date of receipt of the notification relating to the denunciation.
Amendments
Article 19
Each Contracting Party may send to the other Party any proposals to amend this Convention. The Contracting Parties shall, by mutual agreement and in writing, stop the amendments to this Convention.
This Convention may be amended and supplemented jointly and in writing by the Contracting Parties. Amendments and additions shall enter into force in accordance with the procedure described in Article 18, paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Convention.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, duly authorized to do so, have affixed their signature at the bottom of this Convention.
DONE in Brussels on 21 November 2013 in two original copies, in French, Dutch, Macedonian and English, the four texts being equally authentic. The English text will prevail in the event of a discrepancy of interpretation.