Structure of the presentation I. Complexity of the SEE regional environment 1. Legal Frame – multilateral level 2. Strategies, Programs And Policies – political level 3. Institutional Framework – organizational, expert level II. The need to enhance, simplify and speed the judicial cooperation in criminal matters in SEE region – is there a need for a legal regional instrument for judicial cooperation? III. How to establish the regional network within the regional and international context IV. Expected results of the regional judicial network

NATIONALLAWOR INTERNATONAL CONVENTIONS MULTILATERALAGREEMENTS UNITED NATIONS EUROPEAN UNION COUNCIL OF EUROPE PCC-SEESELEC BILATERAL AGREEMENTS OR RECIROCITY International Tribunals & CourtsJurisprudence CourtsJurisprudence South East Europe LEGAL ENVIRONMENT

SEE LEGAL FRAMEWORK  Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe  Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe signed in Vienna 2006  8 States Ratified - Members: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania and as for 10 October 2011, Austria ratified the PCC SEE Convention  PCC-SEE Secretariat in Ljubljana provides a comprehensive set of rules and standards designed to guide and enhance common activities regarding police cooperation  Full implementation of the Convention signify preparedness to implement the requirements of the EU Acquis Communautaire in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice

SEE LEGAL FRAMEWORK  Convention of the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC - the former SECI Centre)  Convention of the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC - the former SECI Centre) was signed on December 9, 2009 in Bucharest by 13 Member States: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hellenic Republic, Hungary, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey  Operational - police and customs liaison officers  Ratified by 10 countries, entered into force on 7 October  SELEC objective: support for Member States and enhance coordination in preventing and combating crime, including serious and organized crime, where such crime involves an element of trans-border activity.

SEE LEGAL FRAMEWORK - SEE LEGAL FRAMEWORK - SELEC tasks:  Investigations and crime prevention  Exchange of information, criminal intelligence and requests for operational assistance  Notify and inform the National Focal Points of connections between suspects, criminals or crimes  Collect, collate, analyze, process and disseminate information and criminal intelligence  Provide strategic analysis and to produce threat assessments  Establish, operate and maintain a computerized information system  Act as a depositary of good practice in law enforcement methods and techniques

SEE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK two regional strategic instruments 2011 – 2013  At the SEE regional level, there are two regional strategic instruments covering 2011 – 2013:  RCC Strategy and Work Program  RCC Strategy and Work Program endorsed by SEECP Heads of State and Government in June 2010 in Istanbul.  Regional Strategic Document and its Action Plan  Regional Strategic Document and its Action Plan endorsed by the SEECP Ministers of Justice and Interior, in March 2011, in Becici: integrates all the regional priorities – EU Strategies and Programs, UNODC, OSCE,

REGIONAL INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK  SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR COMBATING TRANS-BORDER CRIME (SELEC) B UCHAREST – POLICE AND CUSTOM LIAISON OFFICERS OPERATIONS, PROJECTS IMPLEMENTATION  Strengthening SELEC’s operational role, legal statute, continuity, relations with Europol, participation in ILECU’S  SELEC role in the envisaged regional network – regional instrument for judicial cooperation

REGIONAL INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK  S ECRETARIAT OF S OUTH E AST E UROPE P OLICE C OOPERATION C ONVENTION – L JUBLJANA - GUIDELINES, MANUALS, BEST PRACTICES  S ECRETARIAT OF S OUTH E AST E UROPE P OLICE C OOPERATION C ONVENTION – L JUBLJANA - creating a framework for bilateral or SEE–wide cross-border police cooperation, bringing them more in line with European practices - GUIDELINES, MANUALS, BEST PRACTICES  Implementation of the Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe – Vienna Convention 2006.Fostering judicial cooperation among SEE countries police services

REGIONAL INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK  INTERNATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT COORDINATION UNITS - ILECUs  National  Network of ILECUs Head  2009 the 2 nd Meeting of the Committee of Ministers on Interior - stated that ILECUs represent the implementation of the Article 4, paragraph 3 regarding the establishment of the National Central Units.  2009 OCTA-SEE recognized by the PCC-SEE Committee of Ministers as the implementation of Article 7 of the Convention.  Operations Manual  JITs Light-pre Jits

REGIONAL INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK  S OUTH E AST E UROPEAN P ROSECUTORS A DVISORY G ROUP (SEEPAG)  SELEC PARTNER, EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION, PARTICIPATION IN O PERATIONS  SELEC PARTNER, EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION, PARTICIPATION IN O PERATIONS - a practical network of public prosecutors complementing the law enforcement mechanism and handling regional organised crime cases  WB PROSECUTORS` NETWORK  PROSECUTORS` NETWORK IS SUB-REGIONAL-WESTERN BALKANS COUNTRIES ORGANIZATION

SEEPAG WB Prosecutors’ Network SEEPAG WB Prosecutors’ Network  2003 Belgrade Declaration, 2005 General Guidelines  12 countries  Purpose: facilitating judicial cooperation in fighting serious forms of crime between the states, as well as providing assistance to the SECI Center operations.  Prosecutorial Focal Points (PFP)  SECI Centre Support – 2008 Letter of Intent  2005 MoU amended in 2010  6 countries  Purpose: regional cooperation in repressing, investigating, prosecuting organized crime as well as combating corruption  National Contact Points identical with PFP  EU Commission, Council of Europe – 1 st Project

Gaps within regional judicial cooperation at multilateral level identified so far  Coherent judicial cooperation has to balance police and law enforcement regional cooperation  The following relations should be clearly defined  SEEPAG and WBPN have to be clarified and the overlapping eliminate, their role and legal status in an envisaged regional judicial network  SEEPAG legal status should be upgraded towards SELEC and PCC – SEE  SEEPAG and WBPN with ILECUs  EU judicial agencies and the regional ones.

Need for coherent- simplified regional judicial cooperation  Is there a need to enhance, strengthen, simplify and speed judicial cooperation in criminal matters in SEE region? Answer …..  Is there a need to take action in order to improve cooperation on the gathering, obtaining and admissibility of evidence in criminal matters and, if so, to identify the preferred way to proceed? Answer ….

Philosophy behind the questions – EU accession and beyond  Are the countries of the region ready to adopt a multilateral legal instrument as the first measure applying the principle of mutual recognition to foreign judicial decisions and judgments in criminal matters, which has been a key development in the creation of a European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice.  Are the countries of the region ready to go further, with Regional Evidence Warrant (EEW) on obtaining objects, documents and data for use in criminal proceedings another step to replace the existing regime of mutual legal assistance (MLA) within the mutual recognition (MR) principle as the process in ongoing in EU

Factual argument:There is a regional specificity of crime phenomenon in SEE  Organized crime and corruption are perennial presences in the national-regional political and social climate, publicly recognized and criticized  Due to the generalized corruption and the anaemic level of public sector integrity, is difficult to distinct between those who have to defend the legal order and the perpetrators who violate the law and fraud the public money  Rule of law and judiciary independence are under pressure

The Network Architecture How to built the regional network within the regional and international context:  Using and upgrading the existing regional frame - SEEPAG and/or WB Prosecutors’ Network + SELEC and/or PCC-SEE  Creating a special ized regional mechanism for cooperation among law enforcement agencies, judges and prosecutors  Establishing a new network of judicial contact points  Applying mutatis mutandis EJN model, guidelines and rules  Hybridization process

The Network Functionality  Network’s relations with EU MS and EU judicial bodies EUROJUST - EJN  Network’s relations with regional and international structures  National contact points relations with third countries  Regarding the E-Justice, an important element is to establish electronic communication in connection with the exchange of information, rogatory letters and documents organized in a manner similar to the European Judicial Network - EJN

Adoption of a regional legal instrument  The applicable law and some fundamental principles of the network  Any Judicial Network shall be made up, taking into account the constitutional rules, legal traditions and internal structure of each Member State,  Composition -the central authorities responsible for international judicial cooperation and the judicial or other competent authorities with specifi responsibilities within the context of international cooperation

RCC views  A possible regional solution and tool to enhance law enforcement judges and prosecutors cooperation consist in further building, completing and improving the existing regional networks such as SEE Prosecutor’s Advisory and the Western Balkans Prosecutors' Network. In this respect the European Commission and RCC strategic objectives coincide:  IPA-MB Sectoral Plan on Justice Freedom and Security: ‘ In order to avoid duplication and unnecessary cost, the best use of existing judicial and law enforcement tools and networks has to be considered instead of creating new ones. Functional, thematic cross border networks of law enforcement authorities shall be reinforced to more effectively combat serious crime and prevent terrorism.’

RCC views  Improving the judiciary and prosecutorial cooperation in fighting organised crime and dangerous forms of criminality implies also the establishment of basic procedural and rule of law links with the new regional treaty based organizations such as, the South East Europe (SEE) Police Convention and Southeast Europe Law Enforcement Centre for combating trans-border crime - SELEC.  Under the rule of law, meaning under the prosecutors and courts judicial scrutiny, has to enter the new created network of International Law Enforcement Coordination Units – ILECU’s.

Regional judicial cooperation - expected results  Mutual cooperation, mutual recognition, mutual legal assistance and trust  Use the existing regional mechanisms and networks such as: SELEC, South East European Prosecutors Advisory Group (SEEPAG) WB Prosecutor’s Network, SEPCA, PCC-SEE Secretariat, ILECU’s  Direct contacts and cooperation institutional and individual  Develop uniform mechanisms of communication procedures, exchange of information and intelligence and to transfer proceedings  E-Justice  Diminish the length of the proceedings – abbreviated criminal proceedings  Protection of personal data and privacy