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Law Approving The Agreement Between The Government Of The Kingdom Of Belgium And The Government Of The Republic Of Hungary Relating To Police Cooperation And Cooperation In The Fight Against Transnational Organized Crime, Done At Brussels

Original Language Title: Loi portant assentiment à la Convention entre le Gouvernement du Royaume de Belgique et le Gouvernement de la République de Hongrie relative à la coopération policière et à la coopération en matière de lutte contre la criminalité organisée, faite à Bruxel

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27 MAI 2002. - An Act to approve the Convention between the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on police cooperation and cooperation in combating organized crime, made in Brussels on 4 November 1998 (1) (2)



ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Convention between the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on police cooperation and cooperation in the fight against organized crime, held in Brussels on 4 November 1998, will be fully effective.
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, 27 May 2002.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
L. MICHEL
The Minister of the Interior,
A. DUQUESNE
Minister of Justice,
Mr. VERWILGHEN
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
Mr. VERWILGHEN
____
Notes
(1) Session 2001-2002.
Senate.
Documents. - Bill tabled on 19 October 2001, No. 2-930/1. - Report made on behalf of the commission, no. 2-930/2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of January 24, 2002. - Vote, meeting of 31 January 2002.
Room.
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 50-1619/1. - Report made on behalf of the commission, no. 50-1619/2. - Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent, No. 50-1619/3.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of March 27, 2002. - Vote, meeting of 28 March 2002.
(2) This Convention comes into force on 1er September 2002
Convention between the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on police cooperation and cooperation in combating organized crime
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BELGIUM ROYAUME
and
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE HUNGARY REPUBLIC
the Contracting Parties,
Based on the desire to promote bilateral relations;
Inspired by the desire to strengthen their cooperation in accordance with the international commitments undertaken by the Contracting Parties, including the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols and the Council of Europe Convention of 28 January 1981 for the Protection of Persons with regard to the automated processing of personal data,
Considering 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, including money-laundering, jeopardize their institutional functioning;
Determined to coordinate their actions against organized crime;
Considering that the fight against trafficking in human beings and against the sexual exploitation of children, including article 34 of the 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, is a concern of the Contracting Parties that consider combating the acts mentioned as a common task;
Considering that the suppression of illegal entry and exit from the territory of States and illegal migration, as well as the elimination of organized channels participating in these illegal acts, are a concern of the Governments and parliaments of the Contracting Parties;
Considering that the illicit production and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, as defined by the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of New York on 30 March 1961 and the Protocol of 25 March 1972 amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of Vienna on 21 February 1971 and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of Vienna on 20 December 1988, constitute a danger to citizens
Considering that crime related to nuclear and radioactive materials as defined in Article 7, § 1 of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, signed in Vienna and New York on 3 March 1980, is also a danger to the health and safety of citizens;
Considering that the fight against terrorism-related crime within the meaning of the European Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism of 27 January 1977 is a necessity for the defence of democratic values and institutions;
Considering that the only harmonization of relevant legislation is not sufficient to combat the phenomena of crime under this Convention with sufficient efficiency;
Considering that effective bilateral cooperation, including through the exchange and processing of information, is essential to combat and prevent such criminal activities.
Considering that such cooperation requires a series of appropriate measures and close cooperation between the Contracting Parties.
Determined to conclude this Convention:
ARTICLE 1
Areas of cooperation
1. In accordance with their national law, each Contracting Party undertakes to grant to the other Party, under the rules and conditions set out in this Convention, the broadest cooperation in the areas of combating organized crime, including human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children.
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, Contracting Parties shall cooperate primarily in the prevention, prosecution and punishment of, inter alia, serious offences:
- offences against life, physical integrity and human health;
- offences related to the illicit production and trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors;
- illegal migration;
- procuring, trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of children;
- blackmail, including extortion of funds for protection purposes;
- theft, illegal trade and illicit trafficking of arms, ammunition, explosives;
- theft, illegal trade and illicit trafficking of radioactive, nuclear and other dangerous substances;
- falsifications of money, securities and documents;
- money laundering;
- offences against property, in particular theft, illicit trafficking in works of art, historical objects or cultural property;
- theft and illicit traffic of motor vehicles.
3. The collaboration of 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, missing or diverted objects on the territory of the other.
ARTICLE 2
Means of cooperation
The Contracting Parties shall cooperate, in accordance with their national law, in the areas specified in Article 1 of this Convention as follows:
(a) the exchange of information, including data relating to persons involved in organized crime, the relationship between the perpetrators, the structure of organizations and criminal groups, the typical behaviours of the perpetrators and criminal groups, the statements of fact and, in particular, the date and place of the offence, the method used, the buildings under attack, the particular circumstances and the legal provisions of the offence;
(b) assistance for the purpose of combating punishable acts referred to in Article 1, provided that the national law of the requested Contracting Party does not reserve the application or execution to the judicial authorities and that the application or execution does not involve the application of coercive measures by the requested Contracting Party;
(c) the preparation of requests for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
ARTICLE 3
The exchange of information
1. The Contracting Parties shall ensure close and permanent cooperation. They will, inter alia, exchange all relevant and important information.
2. This cooperation may take the form of a permanent contact by means of liaison officers or assistants, below referred to as liaison officers, to be designated by the competent Minister(s) for that purpose in each Contracting Party.
ARTICLE 4
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 assisting in the prevention and suppression of offences referred to in Article 1 of this Convention or for the prevention of other threats to public order and security.
ARTICLE 5
Any information, evidence provided by a Contracting Party under this Convention may not be used by the other Contracting Party in any proceedings within the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities only after a request for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters in accordance with the applicable international provisions.
ARTICLE 6
1. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties, as defined in Article 12 of this Convention, shall cooperate, in accordance with their national law and within the framework of their powers and competences, in an operational manner. Requests for assistance and responses to these requests and any other information are provided in writing.
2. Where the request cannot be made in a timely manner through the central bodies referred to in Article 12, it may, exceptionally and in an emergency only, be addressed directly by the competent local authority of the requesting Contracting Party directly to the competent local authority of the requested Party and the requested Party may respond directly to it. In these exceptional cases, the territorially competent local requesting authority must notify, as soon as possible, the central body responsible, in the required Contracting Party, for international cooperation, its direct request and to motivate its urgency.
3. The exchange referred to in paragraph two may take place verbally provided that it is confirmed in writing as soon as possible.
4. An application is deemed to be an agent in cases where the passage through due process to central bodies may interfere with or impair the research action.
ARTICLE 7
1. Each Contracting Party shall guarantee the protection of the technical information and means transmitted by the other Contracting Party to the extent that they are classified as confidential by the national law of the issuing Contracting Party and shall bear the relevant reference.
2. The information, material or technical means transmitted under this Convention shall not be transmitted to a third party without the prior written consent of the Contracting Party which provided them.
ARTICLE 8
1. Contracting Parties may assign, for a fixed or indeterminate duration, liaison officers of a Contracting Party to the other Contracting Party.
2. The purpose of these liaison officers is to accelerate cooperation between the Contracting Parties and to ensure continued assistance:
a. in the form of exchange of information for the purposes of both preventive and repressive struggle against organized crime;
b. in the execution of requests for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters;
c. for the purpose of carrying out the 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 assigned. They regularly report to the central police cooperation body of the Contracting Party to which they are assigned.
4. The competent Ministers of Contracting Parties may agree that liaison officers of a Contracting Party assigned to third States shall also represent the interests of the other Contracting Party.
5. Liaison officers assigned to carry out this Convention, to the extent that they are not a member of the diplomatic corps, may, on the basis of a mutually agreed arrangement between the Contracting Parties, enjoy the same rights, obligations, privileges and immunities as members of the diplomatic corps.
ARTICLE 9
Protection of personal data
1. Pursuant to this Convention, the processing of personal data is subject to the respective national law of each Contracting Party and to the following rules:
a. with respect to the processing of personal data pursuant to this Convention, the 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
b. the data may be used by the Contracting Party to whom it is intended only for the purposes provided for in this Convention and the conditions determined by the Contracting Party providing them;
c. In accordance with paragraph 1 (b) of this article, personal data may only be communicated to the authorities for the suppression of organized crime, to the competent police bodies in the fight against drug abuse and psychotropic substances and terrorism. They may only be transmitted to other authorities after the prior agreement of the Party that provided them. Parties will communicate the list of such users;
d. the Contracting Party that communicates the data is required to ensure the accuracy of the data, to ensure the necessity and adequacy of that communication to the intended objective. 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, it shall promptly inform the Contracting Party concerned; the data must be corrected or destroyed;
e. 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. If the recipient contracting party is required to be repaired due to the use of incorrect data transmitted, the Contracting Party that has forwarded the data shall pay in full the amounts paid in compensation by the recipient Contracting Party;
f. the transmission, receipt, deletion and destruction of personal data shall be recorded by each Contracting Party. Contracting Parties shall communicate the list of authorities or services authorized to consult the registration;
g. the authorization of access to data is governed by the national law of the Contracting Party to which the data subject is addressed. The data may only be submitted after prior agreement of the Contracting Party which is the source of the data;
h. at the time of data communication, the Contracting Party which provides them shall, in accordance with its national law, indicate the deadlines for data destruction. Regardless of these deadlines, data relating to the data subject must be destroyed as soon as they are no longer required. The Contracting Party shall be informed promptly of the destruction of data and the reasons for their destruction. At the expiry of this Convention, all data shall be destroyed.
i. Contracting Parties are responsible for ensuring effective data protection against unauthorized access, modification and publication, as well as accidental or voluntary loss or destruction.
2. 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 in violation of 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.
These supervisory authorities may agree to cooperate in the missions recognized by this Convention.
3. If personal data are transmitted through a liaison officer referred to in Article 8, the provisions of this Convention shall also be applied.
ARTICLE 10
Refusal of assistance
1. Each Contracting Party shall refuse assistance in the event of political or military offences or in cases where such assistance is contrary to the legal provisions in force in its territory.
2. Each of the Contracting Parties may partially or entirely refuse assistance or subject it to conditions in respect of offences related to political or military offences or where the realization of assistance may threaten or violate sovereignty, security, public order or other essential interests of the State.
ARTICLE 11
Other areas of cooperation
1. The Contracting Parties agree to agree on mutual assistance in the field of vocational training and technical assistance for problems related to the operation of the services responsible for the application of this Convention.
2. The Contracting Parties agree to share their practical experiences in all areas referred to in this Convention, including experiences in substance abuse.
3. The information, data, material or technical means transferred under this Convention shall not be transferred to a third Party without the written approval of the Contracting Party which has assigned them.
ARTICLE 12
Central organs
1. The competent central bodies for the implementation of this Convention shall:
For the Republic of Hungary:
- Ministry of the Interior;
- the National Police Commissioner;
- the National Border Guard Command;
- Ministry of Finance;
- National Customs and Finance Guard;
- the Office of the Minister without a Portfolio for Civil Security Services;
- considering the illegal production and trafficking of narcotic drugs, the Ministry of Health;
For the Kingdom of Belgium:
- General Police Service.
2. The competent Minister(s) of each Contracting Party shall inform, through diplomatic channels, the other Contracting Party of any changes made in the central bodies involved in cooperation under this Convention.
3. The terms and conditions of mutual assistance and other rules of the implementation of this Convention may be settled by arrangements between the competent Ministers of the Contracting Parties.
ARTICLE 13
Concertation
1. The competent ministers of the Contracting Parties shall establish a Joint Commission composed of representatives of the two Contracting Parties. They shall communicate the names of persons appointed to the Joint Commission and the bodies responsible for the implementation of this Convention.
2. The Joint Commission shall promote and evaluate regularly the cooperation governed by this Convention. It will meet once every two years alternately in the Republic of Hungary and the Kingdom of Belgium. Each Contracting Party may propose extraordinary meetings.
3. If necessary, the Joint Commission may establish subcommissions or use experts to develop a specific task of cooperation.
ARTICLE 14
The costs incurred during the performance of this Convention shall be borne by each Contracting Party, unless otherwise provided by the representatives of the Contracting Parties, duly authorized.
ARTICLE 15
Settlement of disputes
1. The resolution of any dispute arising from the interpretation or application of this Convention shall be within the competence of the Joint Commission established by Article 13.
2. Any dispute unresolved by the joint commission shall be dealt with by diplomatic means.
ARTICLE 16
Final provisions
1. This Convention shall enter into force when the Contracting Parties shall, in writing and through diplomatic channels, notify each other of the fulfilment of the national legal formalities required for the entry into force of this Convention.
2. This Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the third month following the date of receipt of the last notification.
3. This Convention shall be concluded for an indefinite period. It may be denounced at any time by each of the two Contracting Parties by means of a written notification sent by diplomatic means to the other Contracting Party. The denunciation shall take effect six months after the receipt of the notification by the other Contracting Party.
4. Each Contracting Party may send to the other Contracting Party any proposals to amend this Convention. The Contracting Parties agree to the amendments to this Convention.
In faith, the undersigned, duly authorized to do so, have affixed their signatures to the bottom of this Convention.
Made in Brussels on 4 November 1998 in two original copies, in each of the French, Dutch and Hungarian languages, the three texts being equally authentic.
For the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium:
For the Government of the Republic of Hungary: