[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 3 (Monday, January 28, 2008)]
[Pages 99-100]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Republic of Bulgaria-United 
States Extradition Treaty and Agreement 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 
Government of the United States of America and the Government of the 
Republic of Bulgaria (the ``Extradition Treaty'' or

[[Page 100]]

the ``Treaty'') and the Agreement on Certain Aspects of Mutual Legal 
Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Government of the United 
States of America and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria (the 
``MLA Agreement''), both signed at Sofia on September 19, 2007. I also 
transmit, for the information of the Senate, the report of the 
Department of State with respect to the Extradition Treaty and the MLA 
Agreement.
    The new Extradition Treaty would replace the outdated Extradition 
Treaty between the United States and Bulgaria, signed in Sofia on March 
19, 1924, and the Supplementary Extradition Treaty, signed in Washington 
on June 8, 1934. The MLA Agreement is the first agreement between the 
two countries on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. Both the 
Extradition Treaty and the MLA Agreement 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 extradition shall not be refused based on 
the nationality of a person sought for any of a comprehensive list of 
serious offenses. Finally, the new Treaty incorporates a series of 
procedural improvements to streamline and speed the extradition process.
    Because the United States and Bulgaria do not have a bilateral 
mutual legal assistance treaty in force between them, the MLA Agreement 
is a partial treaty governing only those issues regulated by the U.S.-EU 
Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement, specifically: identification of bank 
information, joint investigative teams, video-conferencing, expedited 
transmission of requests, assistance to administrative authorities, use 
limitations, confidentiality, and grounds for refusal. This approach is 
consistent with that taken with the other EU Member States (Denmark, 
Finland, Malta, Portugal, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia) with which the 
United States did not have an existing mutual legal assistance treaty.
    I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration 
to the Extradition Treaty and MLA Agreement, 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.