MEMBER STATES TO CONSIDER DRAFT PROTOCOL ON JOINT INVESTIGATION TEAMS

At the upcoming Sixth Meeting of the Working Group on Legal Cooperation in Criminal Matters of the REMJA, to be held May 15 – 16, 2014 in Brasilia, Brazil, a proposed Protocol on Joint Investigation Teams to Supplement the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters 1992 will be presented before national authorities on international legal cooperation. 

This proposal was drafted by the Delegation of Chile and sent to the delegations of Brazil, Guatemala, Jamaica, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay for consultation, in accordance with the recommendations adopted at the Ninth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or Other Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas held in Quito, Ecuador and the Fifth Meeting of the aforementioned Working Group that was held in Paraguay, both occurring in 2012.  

In preparing this document, the Delegation of Chile took into account various international instruments on the topic, as well as relevant national legislation, and included what it considers the essential elements needed to govern this matter. In this respect, the proposed Protocol aims at facilitating the creation of joint criminal investigations in two or more States in order to better tackle certain crimes such as illegal drug trafficking, corruption, and money laundering, among others, which require joint and coordinated action of the officials responsible for criminal investigation and prosecution. 

At this Sixth meeting, along with this proposal, the Working Group will also consider a proposed Protocol to the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters relative to the Use of New Communication Technologies and Hearings by Videoconference, and an Inter-American Legal Instrument on Extradition.

For more information on the Sixth Meeting of the Working Group, please visit the website of the OAS Hemispheric Network on Criminal Matters, located at:  www.oas.org/juridico/mla/index.html