Decree of the Minister for Foreign Affairs No. 90 / 1985 Coll.
Decree of the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the Treaty between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Republic of Austria on Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters
Valid
Effective from 01.10.1985
90
DECLARATION
Minister for Foreign Affairs
of 26 August 1985
on the Treaty between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Republic of Austria on legal assistance in criminal matters
On 18 November 1982, the Treaty between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Republic of Austria on legal assistance in criminal matters was signed in Vienna.
The Treaty was approved by the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and ratified by the President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The instruments of ratification were exchanged in Prague on 11 July 1985.
The Treaty shall enter into force on 1 October 1985 pursuant to Article 21 (2) thereof.
The Czech version of the Treaty is hereby published at the same time.
Minister:
Ing. Chupek v. r.
TREATY
between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Republic of Austria on legal assistance in criminal matters
President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and Federal President of the Republic of Austria,
led by efforts to deepen and facilitate legal relations and legal relations between the two States,
and led by the wish to fully and fully implement the provisions of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe,
have agreed to conclude this contract.
To that end, they appointed their agents:
President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Ing. Bohuslav Chubek,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Federal President of the Republic of Austria
Dr. Willibald Pahra,
Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria,
who, following the exchange of their full powers, found in good and proper form, have agreed on the following:
The Contracting States undertake to provide each other, at the request of a court or prosecution under the provisions of this Treaty, with legal assistance in criminal proceedings.
In matters covered by this Treaty, written contact shall take place between the Prosecutor General of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Minister of Justice of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Minister of Justice of the Slovak Socialist Republic, on the one hand, and the Federal Minister of Justice of the Republic of Austria, on the other. Diplomatic travel is not excluded.
(1) Legal assistance shall include, in particular, the questioning of the accused persons and witnesses, the measures of expert opinions, examination, inspection, detention of cases, the transmission of files, documents or other items required for criminal proceedings, the service of documents and the transmission of criminal records.
(2) Legal aid shall also be granted:
(a) in matters of conditional conviction or release from prison or protection measure;
(b) in matters of grace,
(c) in matters concerning the abolition of convictions and criminal records,
(d) the service of calls for action or the payment of criminal penalties and costs;
(e) matters relating to the recovery of proceedings.
(3) Legal aid for the execution of judgments and other decisions is not granted.
(1) Translations of applications submitted under this Treaty and the supporting documents attached shall not be attached subject to paragraph 2.
(2) The documents to be served shall be accompanied by a translation into the language of the requested State, drawn up and certified by an official interpreter established in one of the Contracting States. Verification of the signature of the interpreter is not necessary.
(3) If the document to be served is not accompanied by a translation into the language of the requested State, the requested court shall be confined to arranging for service by transmission of the document to the consignee, if he is willing to accept it.
(1) Legal aid shall not be granted if:
(a) the act to which the request relates is not a criminal offence under the law of the requested State;
(b) the processing of an application could constitute an intervention in the sovereignty of the requested State, threaten its security, oppose the principles of its legal order or violate other essential interests of the requested State;
(c) it is sought for an act which, in the view of the requested State, is a criminal offence of a political nature in respect of which, in view of all the circumstances of the case, in particular the manner in which it is committed, the means used or intended, or the severity of the consequences or possible consequences do not outweigh the criminal nature;
(d) the act to which the request relates is, in the view of the requested State, a military offence;
(e) in the view of the requested State, the act to which the request relates consists solely in the infringement of the provisions relating to taxes and levies, monopoly or foreign exchange or to the rules governing the management of goods or foreign trade.
(2) However, legal aid shall be granted where acts of criminal offence consist solely of infringements of the import, export and transit rules applicable to customs duties or other import or export levies. Legal assistance in such cases shall be granted irrespective of whether the customs legislation of the same kind applies in the requested State.
(3) Information to be sent to the courts and prosecutors of the requesting State in the context of the provision of legal assistance in customs proceedings may only be used in this proceeding and in customs proceedings and other charges directly related to criminal proceedings.
(1) A request for legal aid shall be made in writing and shall include:
(a) the designation of the applicant and requested authorities;
(b) a description of the criminal case, a short description of the offence, indicating the place and the time when it was committed;
(c) legal assessment of the offence;
(d) where possible, precise details of the accused person, his citizenship and his place of residence or residence;
(e) the name and address of any lawyer,
(f) the subject-matter of the request and, where appropriate, any other information necessary for its execution.
(2) Requests for legal aid shall be signed by the competent judge or prosecutor and shall be accompanied by the official seal of the requesting authority. The application does not need to be verified.
(3) A copy or a certified copy (copy) of the order of the applicant authority shall be attached to the request for a search of the persons or rooms or for securing the cases.
(1) The rights of the requested State shall apply when processing requests for legal aid. However, where this is compatible with the principles of the law of the requested State on proceedings, its different rules on proceedings may be applied at the request of the requesting State.
(2) If the requested authority is not competent to handle the request, it shall forward it to the competent authority and inform the requesting authority accordingly.
(3) If the address of the person to whom legal aid is to be carried out is not given precisely or if it appears wrong, the requested authority shall, as far as possible, identify the correct address.
(4) The requested authority shall, upon request, inform the requesting authority in due time of the location and time of the processing of the request for legal aid. Such notification shall be made in immediate contact with the requesting authority.
(5) Persons involved in criminal proceedings and their legal advisors, as well as representatives of the authorities involved in criminal proceedings, may, if necessary in accordance with the nature of the case for processing a request for legal aid, be present in the implementation of legal aid operations in the requested State. They may initiate supplementary questions. Article 10 shall apply mutatis mutandis to such persons.
(6) The presence of representatives of the authorities of the requesting State referred to in paragraph 5 in legal aid operations in the requested State requires the approval of the Prosecutor General of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic or the Minister of Justice of the Czech Socialist Republic or Minister of Justice of the Slovak Socialist Republic in the Republic of Austria.
(7) Where legal assistance is not provided in whole or in part or where there are obstacles to the processing of the application, the applicant authority shall be informed thereof, stating the reasons for the request.
The service shall be demonstrated either by a certificate of service, which shall bear the date and signature of the person delivering it, as well as by the signature of the consignee, or by a certificate of the requested authority from which the service is clearly carried out, its form and duration. If the document to be served is sent in two copies, it may be endorsed on the second copy.
(1) Where it appears necessary for a person residing in one of the Contracting States to appear in person in a court of the other Contracting State for questioning as a defendant, witness or expert, the summons shall be served by the competent authority of the requested State.
(2) The summons shall not contain a threat to the use of coercive devices in case a person does not appear. If the person summoned disobeys the summons, the measures provided for by law as a result of failure to appear shall not be ordered.
(3) Where a witness or expert is summoned, the summons shall indicate the extent to which he is entitled to reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs, compensation for the missed time and expert, in addition to the payment for performance. The requesting State shall pay the requested witness or expert upon request an advance payment to cover the costs of the journey and stay.
(1) A person summoned as a defendant, witness or expert who has received a summons to the court of a Contracting State in the territory of one of the Contracting States and has followed that summons shall not be prosecuted or taken into custody in the territory of that Contracting State, or otherwise subject to restrictions on his or her liberty for an act committed prior to its entry into its territory or for any other earlier reason.
(2) However, the prosecution, arrest or other restriction of the person summoned shall be permitted:
(a) for an act which is the subject of a subpoena of a person as accused; or
(b) if the person called upon after the court has been informed that his presence is no longer necessary, he shall remain in the territory of the requesting State for more than 15 days even though he was able to leave that territory; or
(c) if, after leaving the territory of the requesting State, it returns voluntarily or is legally returned.
(1) Where a witness to be summoned is present in the requested State at the request of a court or prosecutor in custody or in the execution of a custodial sentence, he shall, if he so agrees, be transmitted to the requesting State, on request, for questioning, unless urgent reasons prevent this.
(2) The witness is further held in custody in the requesting State and shall be referred back to the requested State immediately after questioning.
The costs incurred in the handling of the application shall be borne by the requested State, with the exception of those incurred in taking up the expert or transferring the person in custody or in the execution of the sentence of imprisonment.
(1) The Contracting States shall inform each other at least once a year of any convictions by criminal courts concerning nationals of the second Contracting State and entered in their criminal record. These criminal records are exchanged between the Prosecutor General of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Federal Minister of Interior of the Republic of Austria. In the same way, the Contracting States shall provide each other, on request, with additional information on the conviction which is the basis of an extract from the criminal record.
(2) The Contracting States shall provide each other, in accordance with national law, upon request with an extract from the criminal record of persons against whom criminal proceedings are opened in the requesting State. Statements may be used only for the purposes of this criminal procedure. The requested State shall not be obliged to provide information on its national citizens.
(1) The Contracting State shall, at the request of the second Contracting State, send files, documents or other items which may serve as evidence for criminal proceedings in the requesting State. Documents and other items shall be sent even if they are subject to security or forfeiture in the requested State.
(2) Files or documents shall be sent in the original only in justified cases. In all other cases, copies (copies) shall be sent which need not be returned.
(3) The requested State may delay the files, documents or other items required for criminal proceedings in that State for the duration of that procedure.
(4) The rights of the requested State or third parties to the documents or articles sent shall remain unaffected. The files, documents or articles sent shall be returned to the requested State as soon as possible unless they have been surrendered.
(5) The provisions concerning the import and export of articles and foreign exchange shall not apply to the dispatch of files, documents or other objects referred to in this Article.
The authorities referred to in Article 2 shall, upon request, provide each other with information on their criminal law and legislation on criminal proceedings and the enforcement of penalties.
(1) If a national of one Contracting State has committed a criminal offence in the territory of the other Contracting State, which is a criminal offence in both Contracting States, the State may ask the other Contracting State to take over the prosecution for that offence. The competent authorities of the requested State shall conduct criminal proceedings under the law of that State.
(2) The competent authorities of the State of the crime scene shall examine on a case-by-case basis whether the submission of an application pursuant to paragraph 1 is desirable in order to establish the truth, for other reasons relevant to criminal proceedings, for reasons relating to the imposition or enforcement of the sentence or for the resocialisation of the accused.
(3) In order to assess the offences committed by the courts in transport, the traffic rules in force at the scene of the crime are based in the requested State.
The courts and prosecutors of the requesting State shall take the necessary measures to enable the requested State to exercise its jurisdiction in criminal matters in the light of the request for prosecution.
(1) The request to take over a criminal prosecution must contain an indication of the facts and, if possible, precise details of the accused person, his nationality and his place of residence or residence. The application shall be accompanied by:
(a) the original or certified copy (copy) of the files as well as the factual evidence;
(b) the provisions on the facts and the penalties applicable to an act under the law in force at the scene of the crime and, in addition, the traffic rules applicable to their assessment,
(c) the statement of the injured party required to initiate criminal proceedings.
(2) Article 14 (4) and (5) shall apply when sending files and supporting evidence.
(3) The application necessary for the initiation of criminal proceedings or equivalent authorisation given in the requesting State shall also be effective in the requested State; requests or authorisations which are only required under the law of the requested State may be made retrospectively to the authority of that State responsible for prosecution within two months of receipt of the criminal notice.
The courts and prosecutors of the requesting State shall, on a provisional basis, waive the measures relating to prosecution in respect of the offence for which a request for criminal prosecution has been made. It shall definitively waive such measures if the defendant has been in the requested State:
1. Exonerated definitively, or where the proceedings against it have been brought to an end, because the offence has not been established or because the offence is not a criminal offence;
2. Legally convicted and the sentence was fully executed or, if the sentence had not been executed, was remitted.
The requested State shall inform the requesting State of the measures taken and the outcome of the procedure. Where a final decision has been given in this proceeding, a copy or a certified copy (copy) shall be sent.
(1) This Treaty is subject to ratification. The instruments of ratification will be exchanged in Prague.
(2) The Treaty will enter into force on the first day of the third month following the month in which the instruments of ratification were exchanged.
(3) The Treaty remains in force for an indefinite period, unless one of the Contracting States denies the Treaty in writing by diplomatic means; in this case, the contract shall cease to be valid one year after its termination.
To prove it, the agents of both Contracting States signed this contract and sealed it.
Done at Vienna, 18 November 1982, in duplicate, each in the Czech and German languages, the two texts being equally authentic.
For the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic:
Ing. Bohuslav Chubek v. r.
The President
Dr Willibald Pahr v. r.
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Regulation Information
| Citation | Decree of the Minister for Foreign Affairs No. 90 / 1985 Coll., on the Treaty between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Republic of Austria on Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters |
|---|---|
| Regulation Type | - |
| Author | - |
| Collection | Code of Laws |
| Date of Promulgation | 31.10.1985 |
|---|---|
| Effective from | 01.10.1985 |
| Effective until | - |
| Status | Valid |
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
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