LAW ON INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN CRIMINAL MATTERS

A SEGMENT OF THE STRATEGY FOR THE REFORM OF THE JUDICIARY SYSTEM 2017-2022

Abstract

The Republic of North Macedonia and its European aspiration, as well as its current reformer
context, impose the need for a serious revision of the fundamental tools and capacity of
prevention institutions and suppression of one of the most relevant societal deviations:
transnational оrganised criminal. Following the process of harmonization of the domestic
legislation with the European one in the sphere of international cooperation in criminal matters,
the need for a new law on international cooperation in criminal matters was confirmed.
This new law is almost ready and is in the process before the adoption and implementation, and
is one of the most important laws, a relevant act in the suppression of transnational organized
crime, which is at the same time an integral part of the adopted Strategy for the reform of the
judicial sector for the period 2017-2022. What is important is that the new law regulates the
institutional forms of international cooperation for the first time and also removes the flaws that
were perceived by practitioners in the application of the current Law on International
Cooperation in Criminal Matters. The new law means simplifying procedures and increasing its
effectiveness. Тhe purpose of the new law is to improve the current situation, as well as to
increase the possibilities for a more efficient and effective fight in dealing with severe forms of
criminality, especially those with a foreign element. The new law stems from the identified need
for expanding knowledge in this area, as well as achieving a more uniform and more informed
approach to handling these types of procedures.
The new Law on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters is one of the basic tools that
regulates the conditions and procedure for international cooperation in criminal matters, together
with all relevant international instruments, ratified conventions in the field of international
judicial cooperation and international legal assistance, and their additional protocols will
contribute to the suppression of transnational organized crime.