Key Benefits:
Original text
(State on 16 February 2013)
(1) The Contracting States undertake to grant, in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty, the widest measure of mutual legal assistance in any investigation or procedure relating to offences whose jurisdiction is the responsibility of the judicial authorities of The requesting State.
2. The Contracting States shall exchange and accept, by their Central Authorities, the list of competent authorities to submit requests for mutual legal assistance for the purposes of this Treaty.
The requested State shall not be able to invoke bank secrecy in order to refuse mutual legal assistance provided for in this Treaty.
4. Mutual legal assistance includes all measures taken in favour of criminal proceedings in the requesting State:
This Treaty shall not apply to the following cases:
Mutual legal assistance may be refused:
(2) The requested State may defer mutual legal assistance if the execution of the application has the effect of prejudice to criminal proceedings under way in that State.
3. Before refusing or postponing assistance in accordance with this Article, the requested State shall:
4. Any refusal of full or partial mutual legal assistance shall be justified.
For the purposes of this Treaty, the following shall not be regarded as political offences:
1. The application shall be executed in accordance with the law of the requested State.
(2) If the requesting State wishes a specific procedure to be applied in the execution of the request for assistance, the requesting State shall expressly request it and the requested State shall act upon it if its right does not preclude it.
(1) The execution of an application involving coercive measures may be refused if the facts described in the application do not correspond to the objective elements of a criminal offence under the law of the requested State, assuming that it has Was committed.
2. If double criminality is necessary in order to grant mutual legal assistance, this condition must be considered completed without taking into account whether the Contracting States place the offence in the same category, or if they qualify it with the Same terminology, provided that states repress the behaviour underlying the offence.
1. Upon the express request of the requesting State, and if the procedure referred to in the application does not appear manifestly inadmissible or inopportune according to the law of the requested State, provisional measures shall be ordered by the competent authority of the State Required to maintain an existing situation, to protect threatened legal interests or to preserve evidence.
2. Where there is a danger in the home and the information provided is sufficient to examine whether all conditions are met, these measures may also be ordered as soon as an application is announced. Such measures shall be lifted if the requesting State does not file the request for assistance within the period specified for that purpose.
If the requesting State expressly requests it, the Central Authority of the requested State shall inform it of the date and place of execution of the request. The authorities and persons concerned may attend the execution if the requested State consents.
1. Witnesses shall be heard in accordance with the law of the requested State. However, they may also refuse to testify if the law of the requesting State permits.
2. If the refusal to testify is based on the law of the requesting State, the requested State shall send it the case for decision. That decision must be reasoned.
3. The witness who invokes a right to refuse to testify may not be subject to any legal sanction on that ground in the requesting State.
The Requested State shall furnish to the Requesting State, upon request of the Requesting State, objects, documents, files or evidence.
2. The requested State may transmit only copies of the requested documents, files or evidence. If the requesting State expressly requests the surrender of the originals, the requested State shall act upon it to the maximum extent possible.
3. The requesting State shall be required to return the originals of such documents as soon as possible and at the latest at the close of the proceedings, unless the requested State waives it.
4. The rights invoked by third parties on objects, documents, files or evidence in the requested State shall not prevent their surrender to the requesting State.
On request, the requested State shall make available to the authorities of the State requesting its records of courts or inquiry-including judgments and decisions-if such documents are important for judicial proceedings.
(2) The documents, records and means of evidence shall be furnished only if they relate exclusively to a case liquidated or, if not, to the extent deemed admissible by the Central Authority of the requested State.
1. The objects and values which constitute the product or instrument of an offence committed and prosecuted by the requesting State and which have been seized by the requested State and the replacement property whose value corresponds to those goods Also be returned to the requesting State for confiscation, subject to the claims raised by a third party in good faith on these objects and values.
2. Restitution shall take place as a general rule on the final and binding decision of the requesting State.
1. The information, documents or objects obtained by way of mutual assistance may not be used in the Requesting State for the purposes of investigations or be produced as evidence in any criminal proceedings relating to an offence for which Mutual legal assistance cannot be provided.
(2) Any other use shall be subject to the prior approval of the Central Authority of the requested State. This approval is not required when:
The requested State shall, in accordance with its legislation, proceed to the notification of the pleadings and judicial decisions which will be sent to it by the requesting State for that purpose.
2. Such notification may be effected by simple transmission of the act or decision to the addressee. If the requesting State expressly requests it, the requested State will make the notification in one of the forms provided for in its legislation for the analogous meanings or in a special form compatible with that legislation.
The proof of the notification shall be by means of a receipt dated and signed by the addressee or of a declaration of the requested State attesting to the fact, form and date of the notification. Any of these documents shall be immediately transmitted to the requesting State. Upon request of the latter, the requested State shall specify whether the notification has been made in accordance with its law. If the notification has not been made, the requested State shall immediately inform the requesting State of the ground.
(4) The request for the notification of a subpoena to a person prosecuted in the Requested State shall be sent to the Central Authority of that State no later than forty-five days before the date fixed for appearance.
If the requesting State considers that the personal appearance of a witness or an expert before his judicial authorities is necessary, he shall make reference to it in the request for notification of the citation.
2. The addressee shall be invited by the Requested State to reply to the quotation. The requested State shall, without delay, communicate the reply of the addressee to the requesting State.
3. The addressee of the summons who accepts to appear in the Requesting State may require that State to make an advance for travel and subsistence expenses.
The allowances to be paid, as well as the travel and subsistence expenses to be reimbursed to the witness or expert by the requesting State, shall be calculated from the place of residence and shall be granted at rates at least equal to those provided for by the Tariffs and regulations in force in the country where the hearing is to take place.
The witness or expert who has not referred to a subpoena whose notification has been requested shall not be subject, even though that quotation contains injunctions, to no sanction or measure of constraint, unless he is Shall thereafter voluntarily return to the territory of the requesting State and shall not be regularly referred to therein.
1. No witness or expert, of any nationality, who, following a quotation, will appear before the judicial authorities of the requesting State shall not be prosecuted, detained or subjected to any other restriction of his or her personal freedom In the territory of that State for acts or convictions prior to its departure from the territory of the requested State.
2. No person, of any nationality, quoted before the judicial authorities of the requesting State in order to respond to the facts for which it is the subject of prosecution, shall not be prosecuted, detained or otherwise subjected to any other Restriction of individual liberty for facts or convictions prior to departure from the territory of the requested State and not subject to the citation.
3. The protection provided for in this Article shall cease when the person who has done so, having had the opportunity to leave the territory of the Requesting State for thirty consecutive days, after his presence is no longer required, shall nevertheless be Remained in that territory or returned to it after leaving it.
1. The person who appears in the requesting State following a quotation cannot be compelled to testify or to produce evidence, where the right of either of the Contracting States allows him or her to refuse.
2. Art. 9, para. 2 and 3, and 13, paras. 1, apply by analogy.
1. Any person detained, whose personal appearance as a witness or for the purposes of confrontation is requested by the requesting State, shall be temporarily postponed to the territory where the hearing is to take place, subject to his dismissal in The time limit specified by the requested State and subject to the provisions of Art. 18, to the extent that they may apply.
2. Remission may be refused:
(3) If the penalty imposed on the person furnished under that article has been placed in the Requesting State, the Requested State shall order its liberty, in which case its situation shall be governed by the provisions of Art. 15 and the immunities provided for in Art. 18 will be granted.
4. The person surrendered shall remain in custody in the territory of the requesting State, unless the requested State requests his release.
5. The time during which the person will be held outside the requested State shall be taken into account in relation to his pre-trial detention and sentence.
1. If a person who is in the territory of the requested State is to be heard as a witness or expert by the judicial authorities of the requesting State, the requesting State may request, if it is inappropriate or impossible for the person to hear Appear in person on its territory, whether the hearing is held by video conference, in accordance with subs. 2 to 7 of this article.
2. The requested State consents to the hearing by video conference provided that the use of this method is not contrary to the fundamental principles of its right and provided that it has the technical means to carry out the hearing. If the requested State does not have the technical means for a video conference, the requesting State may make them available to the requested State with the consent of the latter.
3. Requests for hearing by video conference shall contain, in addition to the information indicated in Art. 25, the reason why it is inappropriate or impossible for the witness or expert to be present in person at the hearing, the name of the judicial authority and the persons who will proceed to the hearing.
4. The judicial authority of the requested State shall summon the person concerned in accordance with the forms provided for in its legislation.
5. The following rules apply to the video conference hearing:
6. Without prejudice to all the measures agreed on the protection of persons, the judicial authority of the requested State shall, at the end of the hearing, establish a record of the date and place of the hearing, the identity of the Person to be heard, the identities and qualifications of all the other persons of the Requested State who took part in the hearing, any oath and the technical conditions in which the hearing took place. This document shall be transmitted by the competent authority of the requested State to the competent authority of the requesting State.
(7) Each Contracting State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that, where witnesses or experts are heard on its territory, in accordance with this Article, and refuse to give evidence when they are required to do so, or make false statements Rules, its legislation applies as it would apply if the hearing took place in the context of a national procedure.
8. Each Contracting State may, if it so wishes, also apply the provisions of this Article, where appropriate and with the agreement of its competent judicial authority, to the hearings by video conference involving the person Criminal prosecution or the suspect. In such a case, the decision to hold the video conference and the manner in which it takes place shall be the subject of an agreement between the Contracting States and shall be in accordance with their national law and the relevant international instruments. Hearings involving the person being prosecuted or the suspect may only take place if they consent to it.
1. The Requested State shall communicate, to the extent that its authorities may themselves obtain them in such cases, extracts from the criminal record or any information relating to the latter which will be requested by the requesting State for the purposes of Criminal case.
2. In cases other than those provided for in s. 1 of this Article, such request shall be given in accordance with the conditions laid down in the legislation, the regulations or the practice of the requested State.
(3) Each Contracting State shall give the other State notice of the criminal sentences and subsequent measures concerning nationals of that State and have been the subject of an entry in the criminal record.
For the purposes of this Treaty, the Central Authority is, for Switzerland, the Federal Office of Justice of the Federal Department of Justice and Police and, for Argentina, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Cult by Requests for mutual legal assistance will be submitted and received.
2. The Central Authorities of the Contracting States shall communicate directly with each other; however, diplomatic channels shall remain reserved in the event of need.
The request for assistance must be in writing. In case of urgency it may be transmitted by fax, by electronic means of communication or by the International Criminal Police Organisation, and must be confirmed by sending the original request.
1. The application shall contain the following particulars:
2. In addition, the application will contain:
(1) If the request is not in conformity with the provisions of this Treaty, the Central Authority of the requested State shall without delay inform the Central Authority of the requesting State, asking it to amend or complete it. Remains the adoption of interim measures within the meaning of s. 7.
(2) If the Central Authority of the requested State considers that the request has been made in accordance with this Treaty, it shall without delay take the necessary measures for its implementation.
3. After the execution of the request, the competent authority shall forward the request to the Central Authority of the requested State, together with the information and evidence obtained. The Central Authority shall ensure that the request has been duly executed and shall communicate the results to the Central Authority of the requesting State.
4. Le par. 3 does not prevent a partial execution of the request for mutual legal assistance.
1. Documents, records, statements or other evidence transmitted under this Treaty shall be exempt from legalization, authentication and other formalities.
2. Documents, files or statements or other evidence transmitted by the Central Authority of the Requested State shall be accepted as evidence without further formality or attestation of authenticity.
3. The letter of transmission of the Central Authority guarantees the authenticity of the documents transmitted.
1. The requests for assistance and its attachments shall be in the language of the requesting State and shall be accompanied by a translation into the language of the requested State in case of case by the Central Authority.
(2) The translation of documents prepared or obtained in the course of the execution of the application shall be the responsibility of the requesting State.
The requesting State shall, at the request of the requested State, reimburse only the following expenses incurred for the purpose of carrying out an application:
2. If it becomes apparent that the execution of the application will result in extraordinary costs, the requested State shall inform the requesting State in order to determine the conditions to which the execution of the application will be subject.
1. Within the limits of their national law, the authorities may, through the respective Central Authorities, without an application to that effect, exchange information and evidence concerning criminal matters In the course of their own investigation, where they consider that such transmission is such as to enable the receiving Contracting State to:
2. The authority which provides the information and the means of evidence may, in accordance with its national law, submit its use by the receiving authority under certain conditions. The receiving authority is required to comply with these conditions.
(1) Any denunciation by a Contracting State for the purpose of prosecution in the courts of the other State or of confiscation of property derived from an offence shall be the subject of communications between the Central Authorities.
2. The Central Authority of the Requested State shall make known the action given to that denunciation and shall transmit, where appropriate, a copy of the decision taken.
3. The provisions of s. 27 will apply to denunciations provided for in s. 1 of this article.
Transmission without application in accordance with Art. 30 and the denunciation according to Art. 31 are translated; however, their annexes are provided for translation.
(1) The provisions of this Treaty shall not affect a more extensive mutual assistance that would have been or would have been agreed between the Contracting States in other agreements or arrangements, or that would result from their domestic legislation or from a good practice Established.
2. Art. XV, XVI and XVII of the Extradition Treaty between the Swiss Confederation and the Argentine Republic of 21 November 1906 1 Shall be repealed from the entry into force of this Treaty.
1 RS 0.353.915.4
If deemed necessary, the Central Authorities shall exchange, orally or in writing, opinions concerning the application or enforcement of this Treaty in general or in a particular case.
Disputes between the Contracting States concerning the interpretation or application of the provisions of this Treaty shall be settled by diplomatic means.
(1) This Treaty shall enter into force on the sixtieth day after the date on which the Contracting States notify each other of the completion of their constitutional procedures required for that purpose.
(2) One of the two Contracting States may denounce this Treaty at any time by sending to the other State a written notice of denunciation by diplomatic means. The denunciation shall take effect six months after the date of receipt of the said notice. However, the denunciation will not affect the cases of mutual legal assistance in progress.
In witness whereof The undersigned, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Treaty.
Thus done in Buenos Aires on 10 November 2009 in duplicate, in French and in Spanish, both texts being equally authentic.
For the |
Swiss Confederation: |
|
||
|
|
RO 2013 503 ; FF 2011 559