Mutual legal assistance agreements (GLATs) generally allow for the exchange of evidence and information in criminal and related matters. In cases of money laundering, they can be extremely useful for obtaining banking and financial records from our subcontractors. The MLTs negotiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice to facilitate cooperation in criminal matters are in force with the following countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominica, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Kingdom of the Netherlands (including Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and St. Petersburg). Maarten), Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom (including the Isle of Man, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands), Uruguay and Venezuela. In addition, on 1 February 2010, 27 INSTRUMENTS/Agreements/Protocols between the United States and the EU entered into force, either as a complement to existing MATs or by creating new mutual legal assistance relationships between the United States and each EU member. The United States has signed mutual legal assistance agreements but has not yet entered into force with Algeria, Bermuda and Colombia. The United States negotiates other MLTs with countries around the world. The United States has also signed and ratified the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance of the Organization of American States, the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the 1988 United Nations Drug Convention. Inter-American Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad (14 Int`l Legal Materials 328 (1975) and Additional Protocol 24 Int`l Legal Materials 472 (1985). The United States has not signed either document or submitted it to the Senate for deliberation and approval for ratification. See also: Low, “International Judicial Assistance Among the American States: Inter-American Conventions,” 18 Int`l Law. 705 (1984).
Asia-Africa Consultative Committee on Legal Affairs, Draft Bilateral Agreements on Mutual Assistance in the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters, 25 ILM 920-934, No. 4 (July 1986), together with Explanatory Notes 934-956. The United States is not a party to this Agreement. In general, executive arrangements were limited to drug cases and were a first step towards agreement on a more comprehensive mutual legal assistance agreement. For more information, please contact the Office of International Affairs, the Criminal Division, the Department of Justice, or the Office of the Legal Counsel for Law Enforcement and Intelligence, Department of State. Mutual legal assistance in mutual legal assistance in criminal matters (MLAT) treaties is relatively new. They are aimed at improving the effectiveness of mutual legal assistance and at regulating and facilitating its procedures. Each country designates a central authority, usually the two ministries of justice, for direct communication.
Contracts include the power to summon witnesses, compel the production of documents and other authentic evidence, issue search warrants, and serve the case. In general, the remedies offered by treaties are only available to prosecutors. As a general rule, the defence must resort to methods of preservation of evidence in criminal matters under the law of the host country, which generally include requests for mutual legal assistance. See “Questions” below. A mutual legal assistance agreement (MLAT) is an agreement between two or more countries for the purpose of collecting and exchanging information for the purpose of enforcing public or criminal law. A request for mutual legal assistance is often used to formally question a suspect in criminal proceedings if the suspect resides in a foreign country. Modern states have developed mechanisms to request and obtain evidence for criminal investigations and prosecutions. Where evidence or other forms of mutual legal assistance, such as the testimony of witnesses or the service of documents, are required by a foreign sovereign, States may seek to cooperate informally through their respective police services or resort to what are generally referred to as “requests for mutual legal assistance”. [1] The practice of mutual legal assistance has evolved from the community system of requests for mutual legal assistance, although it is now much more common for States to address requests for mutual legal assistance directly to the designated central authority in each State. In current practice, such requests can still be made on the basis of reciprocity, but also on the basis of bilateral and multilateral treaties that oblige countries to provide assistance. Such assistance may take the form of investigation and identification of persons, places and things, transfer of pre-trial detention and assistance in immobilizing the instruments of criminal activity.
With respect to the latter, the MTat between the United States and Caribbean countries does not cover U.S. tax evasion and is therefore ineffective when applied to Caribbean countries that normally act as offshore “tax havens.” [Citation needed] In addition to MLATs, the United States has a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLAA) with China as well as an MLAA between the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States. The United States has also concluded some executive agreements on cooperation on drug confiscation, including: an agreement with the United Kingdom that provides assistance in confiscation and asset-sharing in drug cases; an agreement on the confiscation of cooperation and asset-sharing agreements with the Kingdom of the Netherlands; and a drug confiscation agreement with Singapore. The United States has asset-sharing agreements with Canada, the Cayman Islands (which have been extended to Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands), Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico and Monaco. Many leaflets on legal assistance are also available on the Internet via the home page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of Consular Affairs at the URL: travel.state.gov under “Legal Assistance” or via the main homepage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under www.state.gov/ under “Travel”. See also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of the Legal Adviser in Private International Law (L/PIL) for information on the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and the OAS at the Association of Private International Law. See also the homepages of several of our embassies linked to the Consular Affairs home page. For example, the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters is an agreement to facilitate the conclusion of bilateral agreements on tax information between more than 90 Contracting States. Assistance may be refused by both countries (in accordance with the details of the agreement) for political or security reasons, or if the offence in question is not equally punishable in both countries. Some contracts may encourage legal aid for nationals of other countries.
Most contract requests are made in accordance with a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLAT), which has the force of law. This procedure is generally faster and more reliable than requests for mutual legal assistance. Consult with the Bureau of International Affairs (BAI) to determine if the U.S. has an MLAT with the country from which the evidence is being sought. The MLAT defines the obligation to assist, the scope of support and the content of the request. It may also contain evidentiary provisions that differ from the Federal Rules of Evidence. However, MLATs are not the only treaties that provide for mutual legal assistance: some extradition treaties and many tax treaties contain such provisions. Many countries are able to provide a wide range of mutual legal assistance to other countries through their ministries of justice, even in the absence of a treaty, through joint investigations between the law enforcement authorities of the two countries, requests for urgency, requests for mutual legal assistance, etc. However, in some developing countries, national laws may in fact create obstacles to effective cooperation between law enforcement authorities and mutual legal assistance. [1] The Office of U.S. Citizen Services has general information pamphlets on international legal assistance, many of which are available on the Internet through our automated fax system or through our Consular Affairs home page.
These topics include country-specific information on the delivery of the procedure and the taking of evidence abroad. Organization of American States (OAS): www.oas.org/ under public information/documents/treaties to the Council of www.oas.org/en/sla/dil/treaties_agreements.asp Europe (WCC): www.coe.int/en/web/portal under www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/ texts/treaties; Mutual legal assistance contracts ready to be signed or about to be successfully concluded: The e-mail address cannot be subscribed. Please try again. Knapp, Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties as a Way to Pierce Bank Secrecy, 20 J. of Int`l L. 405, 434 (1988). QUESTIONS: For more information about the mutual legal assistance or other non-MLAT proceedings, please contact the relevant geographic department of the Office of U.S. Citizen Services and Crisis Management at (888) 407-4747. . .
