Law No. 1.536 of 9 December 2022: reform of international judicial assistance in criminal matters

Law No. 1.536 of 9 December 2022 amending Title XI of Book IV of the Code of Criminal Procedure on international judicial assistance (published in JDM No. 8621 of 16 December 2022) is the result of bill No. 1068, submitted to the Parliament on 3 November 2022, and voted during the Public Session of 30 November 2022.

The reform aims to ensure that international mutual legal assistance, which “constitutes a major tool for the effectiveness of criminal proceedings”, can “be carried out without unreasonable hindrance, while ensuring respect for fundamental rights and freedoms”. Mutual assistance “is all the more important for small States such as the Principality of Monaco, in which many proceedings very quickly take on a cross-border, and therefore international, character” (Report of the Legislation Committee, pp. 5-6).

The term “demande d”entraide” (request for mutual assistance) replaces the term “commission rogatoire” (rogatory commission) previously used.

SUMMARY:

The reform is part of the MONEYVAL evaluation process of Monaco‘s anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, and of the compliance with the 37th Recommendation – Mutual Legal Assistance of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which Monaco operates in its capacity as a member state of the Council of Europe and as a party to the Monetary Agreement concluded with the European Union on 29 November 2011.

The law renews the general framework of judicial cooperation which in turn strengthens the Monegasque system for combating money laundering and terrorist financing:

• New articles 596-2 to 596-18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure constitute the general law of international judicial cooperation (unless otherwise provided by international convention) ;
• Articles 203 to 206 of Section IX – Letters rogatory of Title VI of Book I of the Code of Criminal Procedure are therefore repealed.

Transitional provisions govern the application in time of the new provisions, depending on whether the documents for the execution of requests for foreign judicial assistance were received by the Public Prosecutor before or after the entry into force of the Law on 17 December 2022.

This reform complements Law No 1.535 of 9 December 2022 on the seizure and confiscation of instruments and proceeds of crime, which was passed and published the same day.