[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 36 (Monday, September 8, 1997)]
[Pages 1281-1282]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Inter-American Convention on 
Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and Documentation

September 3, 1997

 To the Senate of the United States:

    With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification, I transmit herewith the Inter-American Convention on 
Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (``the Convention''), adopted at 
the twenty-second regular session of the Organization of American States 
(OAS) General Assembly meeting in Nassau, The Bahamas, on May 23, 1992, 
and the Optional Protocol Related to the Inter-American Convention on 
Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (``the Protocol''), adopted at the 
twenty-third regular session of the OAS General Assembly meeting in 
Managua, Nicaragua, on June 11, 1993. Both of these instruments were 
signed on behalf of the United States at the OAS headquarters in 
Washington on January 10, 1995. In addition, for the information of the 
Senate, I transmit the report of the Department of State with respect to 
the Convention and the Protocol.
    When ratified, the Convention and the Protocol will constitute the 
first multilateral convention between the United States and other 
members of the OAS in the field of international judicial cooperation in 
criminal matters. The provisions of the Convention and Protocol are 
explained in the report of the Department of State that accompanies this 
message.
    The Convention and Protocol will establish a treaty-based system of 
judicial assistance in criminal matters analogous to that which exists 
bilaterally between the United States and a number of countries. These 
instruments should prove to be effective tools to assist in the 
prosecution of a wide variety of modern criminals, including members of 
drug cartels, ``white-collar'' criminals, and terrorists. The Convention 
and Protocol are self-executing, and will not require implementing 
legislation.
    The Convention provides for a broad range of cooperation in criminal 
matters. Mutual assistance available under the Convention includes: (1) 
taking testimony or statements of persons; (2) providing documents, 
records, and articles of evidence; (3) serving documents; (4) locating 
or identifying persons or items; (5) transferring persons in custody for 
testimony or other purposes; (6) executing requests for searches and 
seizures; (7) assisting in forfeiture proceedings; and (8) rendering any 
other form of assistance not prohibited by the laws of the Requested 
State.
    The Protocol was negotiated and adopted at the insistence of the 
United States Government, and will permit a greater measure of 
cooperation in connection with tax offenses. I believe that the 
Convention should not be ratified by the United States without the 
Protocol. If the Convention and Protocol are ratified, the instruments 
of ratification would be deposited simultaneously.
    One significant advantage of this Convention and Protocol is that 
they provide uniform procedures and rules for cooperation in criminal 
matters by all the states that become Party. In addition, the Convention 
and Protocol would obviate the expenditure of resources that would be 
required for the United States to negotiate and bring into force 
bilateral mutual assistance treaties with certain OAS member states.
    I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration 
to the Convention and the Protocol, and that it gives its

[[Page 1282]]

advice and consent to ratification, subject to the understandings 
described in the accompanying report of the Department of State.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
September 3, 1997.

Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
September 4.