Key Benefits:
President of the Republic,
On the report of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs,
Considering articles 52 to 55 of the Constitution;
Vu la Act No. 2009-711 of 18 June 2009 authorizing the approval of the agreement between the Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Republic of Croatia on cooperation in matters of internal security;
Vu le Decree No. 53-192 of 14 March 1953 amended on the ratification and publication of international commitments undertaken by France;
Vu le Decree No. 69-446 of 2 May 1969 publishing the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, signed in New York on 30 March 1961;
Vu le Decree No. 75-1076 of 4 November 1975 publishing the Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, concluded at Geneva on 25 March 1972;
Vu le Decree No. 77-41 of 11 January 1977 Publication of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, held in Vienna on 21 February 1971;
Vu le Decree No. 91-271 of 8 March 1991 which publishes the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (as an annex), adopted at Vienna on 19 December 1988 and signed by France on 13 February 1989,
Decrete:
The agreement between the Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Republic of Croatia on cooperation in matters of internal security, signed in Paris on 10 October 2007, will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
The Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs are responsible for the execution of this decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
A C C O R D
BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC AND GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA RELATING TO INLAND SECURITY
The Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Republic of Croatia, hereinafter referred to as the Parties,
Desirous of contributing to the development of their bilateral relations,
Mus by the will to actively contribute to the fight against crime in all its forms,
Wishing to increase efficiency in combating illicit trafficking and irregular migration,
The following agreed:
Article 1
Parties shall conduct technical and operational cooperation in the field of internal security and mutually assist in the following areas:
1. Combating organized crime.
2. Combating illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their chemical precursors.
3. The fight against trafficking in human beings, including children for adoption or pornographic use, and against illicit trafficking in organs, tissues, cells or blood.
4. Combating economic and financial offences, including money-laundering.
5. The fight against terrorism.
6. The fight against trafficking in weapons, ammunition, explosives and nuclear materials, chemical compounds and bacteriological products.
7. The fight against falsehood and counterfeiting.
8. The fight against trafficking in stolen cultural property and art objects.
9. The fight against irregular immigration and documentary fraud.
10. air, sea and land transportation security.
11. The technical and scientific police.
12. Maintaining public order.
13. Personnel management and training.
14. Combating stolen vehicles.
Parties may, by mutual agreement, expand areas of cooperation without exceeding the scope of this Agreement.
Article 2
1. All activities under this Agreement relating to domestic security cooperation shall be carried out by each Party in strict compliance with its national legislation.
2. Seizure of a request for information under this Agreement, each Party may reject it if it considers that, under its national legislation, its acceptance would affect the human rights of the individual.
3. Seizure of a request for both technical and operational cooperation under this Agreement, each Party may reject it if it considers that its acceptance would affect the sovereignty, security, public order, the rules of organization and operation of the judicial authority or other essential interests of its State.
4. When, pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article, one Party rejects a request for cooperation, it shall notify the other Party in writing.
Article 3
Parties shall cooperate in the prevention and discovery of punishable acts in the various forms of international crime. For the purposes of this cooperation:
1. Parties shall provide information on persons suspected of participating in the various forms of international crime, the relationship between such persons, the structure, functioning and methods of criminal organizations, the circumstances of the crimes committed in this context, and the legal provisions infringed and the measures taken, to the extent necessary for the prevention of such offences.
2. Each Party shall take, at the request of the other Party, police measures if they appear necessary for the purposes of this Agreement.
3. Parties shall cooperate in the form of coordinated police measures and mutual assistance in personnel and equipment on the basis of complementary arrangements signed by the competent authorities.
4. Parties shall provide information on methods and new forms of international crime. In this context, each Party may make samples, objects and information available to the other Party at its request.
5. Parties exchange the results of their research in forensics and criminology and mutually reinforce their investigative methods and ways to combat international crime.
6. Parties shall exchange specialists with the aim of acquiring high-level professional knowledge and studying modern means, methods and techniques for combating international crime used by the other Party.
7. Subject to the prerogatives of the judicial authorities, the Parties shall cooperate to provide assistance and protection to witnesses if the life, health or property of the witnesses or their relatives are endangered because of the importance of the information available to them in criminal proceedings.
Article 4
To prevent the illicit cultivation, extraction, production and marketing of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors, the two Parties shall take coordinated measures and exchange:
1. Information relating to persons involved in the production and illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, the methods used by them, their caches and their means of transport, the places of origin, transit, acquisition and destination of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and their precursors, as well as any particular details relating to such offences, which may contribute to preventing, preventing and assisting in detecting the facts covered by the Convention
2. Operational information on the flow of illicit international trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and resulting money-laundering.
3. Results of forensic and criminology analyses conducted by them in the areas of illicit drug trafficking, psychotropic substances and their abuse.
4. Samples of narcotics, psychotropic substances and precursors that may be abused, or technical information on the samples taken.
5. Results of experiments with the control of the lawful trade in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, as well as operational information related to it.
Article 5
As part of the fight against terrorism, Parties shall exchange information on:
- the acts of terrorism planned or committed, the modes of execution and the technical means used for the execution of such acts;
- groups of terrorists and members of those groups that provide, commit or have committed terrorist acts in the territory of the State of one of the Parties and infringe on the interests of the other Party.
Article 6
In each of the areas listed in Articles 1 and 2 of this Agreement, technical cooperation shall be as follows:
1. General and specialized training.
2. Exchange of information and professional experience.
3. Technical advice.
4. The exchange of specialized documentation.
5. As necessary, the reciprocal reception of officials and experts.
Article 7
Technical cooperation, which may be implemented in the areas mentioned in this Agreement, is subject to prior exchanges of diplomatic correspondence between Parties. As appropriate, technical arrangements between jurisdictions specify and accept the modalities for concrete implementation of actions.
Article 8
The implementation of this cooperation is the subject of annual programming. This programming highlights the contribution of each Party, within its budgetary resources.
The requesting Party shall provide any delegation of the requested Party with the assistance of an interpreter.
Article 9
Ministers of the Interior of the Parties shall be responsible for the successful implementation of this Agreement.
To that end, they refer to agencies responsible for the implementation of the various areas of cooperation. This designation is communicated to the other Party through diplomatic channels.
Article 10
In order to ensure their protection, the nominal data provided to the other Party as part of the cooperation established by this Agreement shall be subject to the following conditions:
1. The recipient Party of nominative data may only use them for the purposes and conditions defined by the issuing Party, including the deadlines for the completion of such data to be destroyed.
2. The recipient Party of nominative data shall inform the issuing Party, at its request, of the use and results obtained.
3. Name data are transmitted to the only competent authorities for the activity to which these data are required; the transmission of this information to others is only possible after the written consent of the issuing Party.
4. The issuing Party shall guarantee the accuracy of the information provided after ensuring that the communication is necessary and appropriate to the intended purpose. If it is established that inaccurate or non-communicable data have been provided, the issuing Party shall promptly inform the receiving Party, which corrects inaccurate data or destroys non-communicable data.
5. Any person justifying his or her identity has the right to question the competent authorities in order to determine whether they have any nominal information about it and, where appropriate, to obtain such information.
6. Name data must be destroyed as soon as they no longer have use for the recipient Party. The receiving Party shall promptly inform the issuing Party of the destruction of the data provided by specifying the reasons for such destruction.
7. In the event of denunciation of this Agreement or its non-reconduction, all nominal data shall be destroyed.
8. Each Party shall maintain a record of the reported data and their destruction.
9. The Parties shall guarantee the protection of the nominal data provided to them against unauthorized access, modification and publication.
Article 11
1. Each Party shall guarantee the confidential treatment of the information described as such by the other Party.
2. The samples, objects and information provided under this Agreement shall not be transmitted to a third State without the written prior consent of the Party that provided them.
Article 12
Each Party shall notify the other by diplomatic means and in written form of the completion of the procedures required under its domestic law for the entry into force of this Agreement, which shall take effect on the first day of the second month following the receipt of the second notification.
Each Party may denounce the Agreement by written notification to the other Party through diplomatic channels with a three-month notice. This denunciation takes effect three months after the date of receipt of the notification. It does not affect the actions under way, unless the two Parties agree otherwise.
Amendments to this Agreement may be adopted in the same forms as this text.
In faith, the representatives of both Parties, duly authorized to do so, have signed this Agreement and affixed it to it.
Done in Paris on 10 October 2007, in two originals, each in French and Croatian languages, both texts being equally authentic.
For the Government
of the French Republic:
Michèle Alliot-Marie,
Minister of Interior,
from overseas
and territorial authorities
For the Government
of the Republic of Croatia:
Ivica Kirin,
Minister of Interior
Done in Paris, October 8, 2009.
Nicolas Sarkozy
By the President of the Republic:
The Prime Minister,
François Fillon
Minister for Foreign Affairs
and European,
Bernard Kouchner
