On 23 July 2021, a conference “The Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters” was organised upon request of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Uzbekistan aiming at raising awareness among the authorities of Uzbekistan on the Council of Europe conventions and legal instruments in the field of criminal law.

In course of the event, participants were familiarised with the provisions of the European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and its Additional Protocols. Representatives of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes and the International Legal Department of General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan as well as representatives of the Academy of the General Prosecutor’s Office, regional prosecutor’s offices, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the State Security Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Highest Judicial Council discussed issues related to the accession process to the Convention for non-member states of the Council of Europe as well as the process of submitting mutual legal assistance requests and the grounds for their refusal.

This conference allowed to exchange views on a legal review of Uzbekistan’s current legislative framework (including draft Criminal Code and Criminal Procedural Code with its latest amendments), comparing it to the provisions of the European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and its Additional Protocols. This review and recommendations were prepared by the experts of the Council of Europe. In the framework of the recommendations' discussion, the following issues have been raised: inclusion of an indicative list of the forms of assistance in criminal matters in the Criminal Procedure Code, establishment of concrete grounds for possible refusal to provide mutual assistance in conformity with the international standards, inclusion of provisions dealing with the specific procedural rules applied to different forms of assistance such as hearing by video conference and by telephone conference, setting-up of joint investigation teams and others.

Joint work with the authorities of Uzbekistan will continue in the framework of providing support to the General Prosecutor’s Office in developing a model bilateral agreement on mutual legal assistance as well as in a format of organising follow-up trainings for relevant stakeholders on submitting mutual legal assistance requests.

This activity was organised in the framework organised of the action “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime” within the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020-2023, which is a joint initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe. The action is aimed at strengthening capacities to fight and prevent economic crime in five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.