[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 3 (Monday, January 28, 2008)]
[Pages 98-99]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Romania-United States Extradition 
Treaty and Protocols on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters

January 22, 2008

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 Extradition Treaty between the 
United States of America and Romania (the ``Extradition Treaty'' or the 
``Treaty'') and the Protocol to the Treaty between the United States of 
America and Romania on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (the 
``Protocol''), both signed at Bucharest on September 10, 2007. I also 
transmit, for the information of the Senate, the reports of the 
Department of State with respect to the Extradition Treaty and Protocol.
    The Extradition Treaty would replace the outdated Extradition Treaty 
between the United States and Romania, signed in Bucharest on July 23, 
1924, and the Supplementary Extradition Treaty, signed in Bucharest on 
November 10, 1936. The Protocol amends the Treaty Between the United 
States of America and Romania on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal 
Matters, signed in Washington on May 26, 1999 (the ``1999 Mutual Legal 
Assistance Treaty''). Both the Extradition Treaty and the Protocol also 
fulfill the requirements for bilateral instruments (between the United 
States and each European Union (EU) Member State) that are contained in 
the Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements between the 
United States and the EU currently before the Senate.
    The Extradition Treaty follows generally the form and content of 
other extradition treaties recently concluded by the United States. It 
would replace an outmoded list of extraditable offenses with a modern 
``dual criminality'' approach, which would enable extradition for such 
offenses as money laundering and other newer offenses not appearing on 
the list. The Treaty also contains a modernized ``political offense'' 
clause, and it provides that neither Party shall refuse extradition 
based on the citizenship of the person sought. Finally, the new Treaty 
incorporates

[[Page 99]]

a series of procedural improvements to streamline and speed the 
extradition process. The Protocol primarily serves to amend the 1999 
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in areas required pursuant to the U.S.-EU 
Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement, specifically: mutual legal assistance 
to administrative authorities; expedited transmission of requests; use 
limitations; identification of bank information; joint investigative 
teams; and video conferencing.
    I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration 
to the Extradition Treaty and the Protocol, along with the U.S.-EU 
Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements and the other related 
bilateral instruments between the United States and European Union 
Member States.
                                                George W. Bush
The White House,
January 22, 2008.

Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 23.