Switzerland and Qatar planning closer cooperation

Switzerland and Qatar are planning to work more closely together in the fight against international crime. To this end, State Secretary Pascale Baeriswyl and Ali Bin Fetais Al Marri, Attorney General of the State of Qatar, signed last Tuesday in Bern a memorandum of understanding on international mutual assistance in criminal matters.

Approved by the Federal Council on 10 June 2016, the memorandum of understanding is intended in particular to support the efforts of both states under criminal law. These efforts are also in the interests of a clean Swiss financial centre. The memorandum does not create any new rights or obligations with regard to international mutual assistance in criminal matters, but it does introduce some key administrative and organisational changes to ensure efficient cooperation. In particular, in the future the central authorities of both states (in Switzerland's case the Federal Office of Justice) will be able to deal with each other directly and support each other in the drafting of requests for legal assistance. The appendix to the memorandum also includes model requests which satisfy the formal requirements of both states.

Last modification 08.03.2018