Key Benefits:
453 OF 1998
(August 4)
Official Journal No. 43,360, dated August 11, 1998
By means of which the "Convention of mutual judicial assistance in criminal matters between the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Government of the French Republic" is approved, made in the city of Paris, twenty-one (21) of March from one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven (1997).
COLOMBIA CONGRESS
Having regard to the text of the "Convention of mutual judicial assistance in criminal matters between the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Government of the French Republic", made in Paris on 21 March of one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven (1997), which to the letter says:
(To be transcribed. Photocopy of the full text of the International Instrument mentioned, duly authenticated by the Head of the Legal Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is attached.
" AGREEMENT ON MUTUAL JUDICIAL ASSISTANCE IN CRIMINAL MATTERS BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
FRENCH REPUBLIC
The Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Government of the French Republic;
Aware of the deep historical links that unite the two nations;
Eager to translate these links into legal instruments of cooperation in all fields of common interest and, in particular, in the field of judicial cooperation;
Convinced of the need to join forces in the fight against crime in all its manifestations;
Wanting for such a regular purpose of common agreement relations regarding the judicial operation in criminal matters in respect of their due constitutional principles;
The following provisions have been agreed:
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
1. Both Parties undertake to provide each other, in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement and with their relevant internal legislation, with the widest possible judicial assistance in any proceedings related to criminal matters. repression, at the time the assistance is requested, jurisdiction of the judicial authorities of the Requesting Party.
2. This Convention shall not apply to the execution of arrest warrants or sentences of conviction, except in the case of a final seizure under the terms of Article 13.4, or to military offences which do not constitute a common offence.
1. Each Party shall designate a Central Authority responsible for submitting and receiving the applications constituting the subject matter of this Agreement.
2. To this end the Central Authorities shall communicate directly to each other and shall forward the request to their competent authorities.
3. The Central Authorities shall be designated at the time of signature of this Agreement by Exchange of Diplomatic Notes.
1. The competent authorities shall be the judicial authorities for Colombia and France.
2. Any modification affecting the designation of these authorities shall be brought to the attention of the other Party by a Diplomatic Note.
1. Legal assistance may be refused:
(a) If the application refers to crimes considered by the Redeemed Party as political crimes or as crimes related to political crimes;
(b) If the Redeemed Party considers that the execution of the application is such that it may affect the sovereignty, security or public order or other essential interests of its country;
(c) If the request is for the purpose of searches or searches, or a precautionary measure, and that the facts that originated the application are not considered as crimes under the legislation of the Required Party.
2. The assistance shall be refused where the application is for a final confiscation measure and the facts that give rise to the application are not considered as a crime under the legislation of the Redeemed Party.
REQUESTS FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE.
1. The Requested Party shall, in the manner provided for in its legislation, implement requests for judicial assistance relating to criminal matters emanating from the competent authorities of the Requesting Party, and which are intended to comply with acts of instruction, communicating files, documents or test elements. The Requesting Party may request the Requested Party to reinstate the victim in cases where it is appropriate, without prejudice to the rights of third parties, to all goods or securities liable to arise from a crime.
2. Where the Requesting Party wishes witnesses or experts to declare under oath, it shall expressly request it, and the Requested Party shall take such action if the law of its country does not object.
3. The Required Party may only transmit authenticated copies or photocopies of the files or documents requested. However, if the Requesting Party expressly requests the referral of the originals, the request shall be complied with, as far as possible.
ARTICLE 6o. When the Requesting Party expressly requests it, the Required Party will inform you of the date and place of the request for assistance. The authorities of the Requesting Party and the persons authorised by them may assist in this compliance if the Required Party permits. This presence does not amount to authorising the exercise of functions that are reserved to the authorities of the Redeemed Party.
1. Evidence as well as the originals of the files and documents submitted in compliance with a request for legal assistance shall be retained by the Requesting Party, unless the Requested Party requests its return.
2. The requested party may defer the referral of the evidence, files or documents for which the referral is requested, where they are necessary for an ongoing criminal procedure.
1. If the Requesting Party so requests expressly, the Requested Party shall keep the request for legal assistance under the conditions laid down in its legislation. If it is unable to execute the application without its confidential nature being affected, the Central Authority of the Requested Party shall inform the Central Authority of the Requesting Party, who shall decide, if appropriate, to continue with the execution of the request.
2. The Central Authority of the Required Party may request that the information or evidence communicated in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement remain under reserve or be used only in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement. modalities or conditions which it provides, the Requesting Party shall maintain the reservation of the evidence and information provided by the Redeemed Party, unless its lifting is necessary for the investigation or procedures described in the request.
3. The Requesting Party may not disclose or use an information or a test element communicated, for purposes other than those specified or specified in the request, without prior agreement of the Central Authority of the Required Party.
PROSECUTION OF LEGAL ACTS AND DECISIONS,
HEARING OF WITNESSES AND EXPERTS.
1. The Requested Party shall communicate the legal acts and decisions referred for this purpose by the Requesting Party.
This filing may be effected by simple transmission of the act or court decision to the addressee. If the Requesting Party expressly requests it, the Requested Party shall conduct the proceedings in one of the forms provided for in its legislation for similar cases or in a special manner compatible with that legislation.
2. The filing shall be credited by means of a receipt dated and signed by the recipient, or by means of a statement from the Redeemed Party stating the fact, the date and the form of delivery.
Any of those documents shall be immediately transmitted to the Requesting Party. At the request of the latter, the Required Party shall specify whether the proceedings are carried out in accordance with its legislation. If this could not be done, the Requested Party shall immediately inform the Requesting Party of the reasons.
3. The summons to appear shall be transmitted to the Redeemed Party no later than forty (40) days before the date fixed for such appearance. In case of urgency, the Central Authority of the Redeemed Party may waive this deadline at the request of the Central Authority of the Requesting Party.
4. The witness or expert who will not comply with a summons to appear on the territory of the Requesting Party shall not be subject, even if such summons contains an order, to any penalty or coercive measure unless he subsequently enters through his or her own will to the territory of the Requesting Party and is cited in due form.
5. The costs of travel and stay to be reimbursed to witnesses or experts by the Requesting Party shall be calculated from the place of residence, and shall be recognized according to values at least equal to those provided for by the Party. the tariffs and regulations in force in the country where the hearing will take place.
1. If the Requesting Party considers that the personal appearance of a witness or expert before its judicial authorities is particularly necessary, it shall mention it in the request for referral of the summons and the Redeemed Party shall invite that witness or that expert to appear.
The Required Party will make known the witness or expert's response to the Requesting Party.
2. In the case provided for in paragraph 1., the request or the citation must mention the approximate amount of the compensation, as well as the travel expenses and stay to be reimbursed.
3. If an application is submitted to you for that purpose, the Required Party may grant an advance to the witness or expert. This shall be mentioned in the summons and the Requesting Party shall reimburse it.
1. Any person detained whose personal appearance as a witness is requested by the Requesting Party, shall be transferred temporarily to the territory where the hearing will take place, in which the testimony is received, on condition of its forwarding in the period indicated by the Redeemed Party and subject to the provisions of Article 12, to the extent that they are applicable.
Transfer may be denied:
a) If the arrested person does not consent;
b) If their presence is necessary in an ongoing criminal proceedings in the territory of the Redeemed Party;
c) If such transfer could prolong their detention, or
(d) If other overriding considerations object to their transfer to the territory of the Requesting Party.
2. A Party may authorise transit through its territory of persons detained by a third State, whose personal appearance for the purpose of a hearing has been requested by the other Party.
This authorization will be agreed upon prior to an application accompanied by all necessary documents.
3. The transferred person must be held in the territory of the Requesting Party or, if necessary, in the territory of the Party to which the transit was requested, unless the Requested Party requests his release during the temporary transfer.
4. Each Party may refuse to grant the transit of its nationals.
1. Witnesses or experts of any nationality, who, on the basis of a summons, appear before the judicial authorities of the Requesting Party, may not be prosecuted, detained or subjected to any other restriction of their personal freedom in the territory of that Party by facts or convictions prior to its departure from the territory of the Required Party.
2. A person, whatever his nationality, is summoned to appear before the judicial authorities of the Requesting Party in order to answer for facts which are the subject of a process against him, and which he voluntarily submits, prosecuted, detained or subjected to any other restriction of their personal freedom by facts or convictions prior to their departure from the territory of the Reloved Party, other than those specified in such a summons.
3. The security provided for in this Article shall cease when the witness or expert or the person called to appear has had the opportunity to leave the territory of the Requesting Party for 15 consecutive days once his presence no longer exists. was required by the judicial authorities, had remained in that territory, or had entered the territory again after having abandoned it.
DELITO PRODUCTS.
1. The Requesting Party may request, investigate, seize or definitively seize the goods or objects arising from a criminal offence in its legislation which may be found in the territory of the Required Party.
2. The Requested Party shall inform the Requesting Party of the outcome of its investigations.
3. The Required Party shall take all necessary measures authorized by its legislation to prevent such goods or objects from being subject to a transaction or to be transferred or transferred before the competent authority of the Requesting Party. has taken a final decision on this matter.
4. Upon request for forfeiture, such request shall be complied with in accordance with the legislation of the Required Party.
5. Goods or objects arising from a crime shall be the property of the Redear Party, except as otherwise agreed between the Parties.
CRIMINAL HISTORY.
ARTICLE 14. The Central Authorities shall communicate to each other, by way of express order, the final sentences of a criminal record of a person, as permitted by their legislation.
PROCEDURE.
1. Requests for assistance shall contain the following information:
a) The Competent Authority from which the request emanates;
b) Object and reason for the request;
(c) As far as possible, the identity and nationality of the person concerned;
d) The name and address of the recipient if applicable;
e) Date of the request;
f) Exposition of the facts and their typing.
2. Where appropriate, applications shall contain any other information which may facilitate their execution, such as, inter alia, a list of the questions to be asked in the case of hearing or questioning; a description as precise as possible of the goods to be investigated and/or to be definitively seized as well as their location if known.
1. Requests for legal assistance and the supporting documents shall be addressed by the Central Authority of the Requesting Party to the Central Authority of the Requested Party and shall be returned with the elements relating to its execution by the same route.
2. In case of urgency, the Central Authority of the Requesting Party may bring forward to the Central Authority of the Requested Party, requests for assistance by fax or by any means of which the written record is recorded; the original shall be sent to the brevity possible. Applications shall be returned accompanied by the elements necessary for their implementation by the route provided for in paragraph 1.
ARTICLE 17. The request for assistance and the attachments will be accompanied by a translation into the language of the Requested State.
ARTICLE 18. The elements and documents transmitted pursuant to this Agreement shall be exempt from all legalization formalities.
ARTICLE 19. All refusals of judicial assistance shall be founded and communicated to the Requesting Party.
1. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 9or. (5) the implementation of requests for assistance shall not give rise to reimbursement of any expenditure, other than that caused by the intervention of experts in the territory of the Redeemed Party and by the transfer of persons detained in application of article 11.
2. Where substantial or extraordinary expenditure is required or arising for the implementation of the application, the Parties shall consult each other in order to determine the terms and conditions under which the application will be complied with, as well as the manner in which the application is made. shall bear the costs.
PROCESSING REQUESTS.
1. A Party may request the other Party, through the Central Authorities, to initiate criminal proceedings in its territory for facts liable to constitute a crime of jurisdiction for the latter.
2. The Required Party shall make known the processing given to that request and shall transmit, if applicable, a copy of the decision.
3. The provisions of Article 17 shall apply to the applications referred to in paragraph 1.
COMMUNICATION OF CONVICTIONS.
ARTICLE 22. The Central Authority of a Party shall communicate annually to the Central Authority of the other Party the decisions of conviction delivered by its competent authorities against of nationals of the other Party, and at the request, the grounds of the sentence.
FINAL PROVISIONS.
1. The Parties shall notify each other of compliance with the required constitutional procedures as regards the entry into force of this Agreement, which shall take place on the first day of the second month following the date of receipt of the Agreement. last notification.
2. The Parties may at any time denounce this Agreement by written notification to the other Party on the Diplomatic Way, the denunciation shall take effect from the first day of the third month following the date of receipt of the such notification and will not affect ongoing requests.
In faith of which, the representatives of the two governments, duly authorized, subscribe to this Agreement.
Done in Paris, on March 21, 1997 in two copies in Spanish and French, both texts being equally authentic.
Unreadable signature.
By the Government of the Republic of Colombia,
Unreadable signature. "
By the Government of the French Republic,
The undersigned Head of the Legal Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia,
NOTES:
That the present reproduction is photocopy taken from the original text of the "Convention of mutual judicial assistance in criminal matters between the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Government of the French Republic", made in Paris on the twenty-first day (21) March of a thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven (1997), which rests in the archives of the Legal Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dada in the city of Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C., at seventeen (17) days of the month of July of a thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven (1997).
HECTOR ADOLFO SYNTURA VARELA.
the Chief Legal Officer,
EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF PUBLIC POWER
REPUBLIC OF THE REPUBLIC
Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C., June 4, 1997.
Approved. Submit to the consideration of the honorable National Congress for the constitutional effects.
(Fdo.) ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO
(Fdo.) MARIA EMMA MEJIA VELEZ.
The Foreign Minister,
DECRETA:
ARTICLE 1o. Approve the "Convention of mutual judicial assistance in criminal matters between the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Government of the French Republic", made in Paris on 21 March of a thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven (1997).
ARTICLE 2o. In accordance with the provisions of Article 1o. of Law 7a. In 1944, the "Convention of mutual judicial assistance in criminal matters between the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Government of the French Republic", made in Paris on 21 March of a thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven (1997), which by Article 1 of this law shall be adopted, shall bind the country from the date on which the international link with respect to it is perfected.
ARTICLE 3o. This law governs from the date of its publication.
AMYLKAR ACOSTA MEDINA
The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic,
PEDRO PUMAREJO VEGA.
The Secretary General of the honorable Senate of the Republic,
CARLOS SQUIRLA BALLESTEROS.
The President of the honorable House of Representatives,
DIEGO VIVAS TAFUR.
The Secretary General of the honorable House of Representatives,
COLOMBIA-NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
COMMUNICATE AND PUBLISH.
Execute a review of the Constitutional Court in accordance with Article 241-10 of the Political Constitution.
Dada en Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C., 4 August 1998.
ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO
CAMILO REYES RODRIGUEZ.
The Foreign Minister,
ALMABEATRIZ RENGIFO LOPEZ
The Minister of Justice and Law,
