The Exchange of Instruments of Ratification
for the US-Romania Extradition Treaty and for
the US-Romania Mutual Legal Assistance Protocol
Signed in Bucharest on September 10, 2007

Date: 05.08.2009

With the occasion of the visit to the United States of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania, Cristian Diaconescu, on May 8, 2009, the exchange of instruments of ratification for the US-Romania Extradition Treaty, signed on September 10, 2007, and for the Protocol, signed in Bucharest on September 10, 2007, to the US-Romania Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, signed in Washington on May 26, 1999, took place.

The new extradition treaty replaces, from the date of implementation, the actual Convention of extradition between Romania and the US which was signed in Bucharest on July 23, 1924 and the treaty amendment which was signed in 1936.

The Extradition Treaty is significant because it lays the foundation of a new collaboration between the two states. The treaty contains provisions which will make bilateral cooperation more efficient by simplifying the procedure of transmission of extradition documents and by streamlining the extradition procedure in general.

On the other hand, the protocol to the bilateral agreement related to the legal assistance in criminal matters represents the fulfillment by the Romanian government of a commitment made when it became an EU member. This commitment refers to forming a judicial system which is in harmony with the Collaboration Agreement in the domain of legal cooperation in criminal matters between the European Union and the United States.

The US-Romania Extradition Treaty will come into force on the day of the exchange of instruments of ratification, and the Protocol to the US-Romania Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, on the date of the coming into force of the Collaboration Agreement domain of legal cooperation in criminal matters between the European Union and the United States.