Back

International Legal Assistance and Cooperation

Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the central authority for communication with other countries regarding the providing of international legal assistance in criminal and civil matters. International legal assistance includes the complete communication of the judicial bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina with judicial bodies abroad.

 

International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters

International legal assistance in criminal matters includes:

  • All actions of the authorized body of the foreign country undertaken upon the request of the domestic authorized body and vice versa;
  • Procedures of extradition, transfer of the convicted persons, transfer of the criminal procedure from one country to another;
  • Other procedures established by special International Conventions and Agreements.

International Legal Assistance in Civil Matters

The civil matters, in the sense of providing international legal assistance, includes family and other legal matters and relations. According to the Convention on the Recovery of the Alimony Abroad and Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction the Ministry conducts complete communication between the judicial bodies in BiH and abroad.

International Agreements and Conventions

International legal assistance and cooperation is based on the International Multilateral and Bilateral Agreements which are obligatory for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ministry of Justice of BiH conducts the complete procedures for concluding the International Agreements in the area of providing international legal assistance as well as the procedures of accession to the International Conventions.
This especially applies to:

  •  Actions of extradition of accused and convicted persons,
  • Acting upon the requests for the transfer of execution of the foreign court decisions in criminal, civil and other matters, and
  • Acting upon the requests for international criminal-legal, civil and other legal assistance.

By accession of BiH to the European Conventions from the criminal-legal area (extradition, transfer of the convicted persons, transfer of the criminal proceedings and international legal assistance in criminal matters), the procedure of providing the international legal assistance has been significantly improved and simplified. By the Succession Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina has assumed all International Agreements from this field which were obligatory for former SFR Yugoslavia

By choosing the link International Conventions and Agreements you can have a complete overview of the list and content of Bilateral International Agreements and other international documents in the area of providing the international legal assistance which have been signed or concluded by Bosnia and Herzegovina so far, or they have been assumed according to the Succession Agreement.

Professional Trainings

As the need for the international legal assistance increases every year, the Ministry is working hard to improve the efficiency of the complete system in this field. Sector for International Assistance and Cooperation conducts practical trainings of judges and prosecutors in whole BiH. With professional publications of International Legal Assistance I and II, the education of judges and prosecutors received the highest grades for the contribution to improvement of the complete system of the international legal assistance.