Judicial Assistance between Switzerland and India

Facts

This decision concerns an administrative law appeal filed by the Federal Office of Police against a company S. and the Indictment Chamber of the Canton of Geneva. The main factual elements are as follows:

• The case concerns judicial assistance between Switzerland and India, governed by an exchange of letters of 20 February 1989 between the two countries.
• The Indictment Chamber of the Canton of Geneva considered that, in the absence of a convention binding Switzerland and India, only the Federal Act on International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (IMAC) and its Ordinance (IMAO) would be applicable.
• The Federal Office of Police contested this interpretation, considering that the 1989 exchange of letters constitutes an international treaty taking precedence over domestic law.

Considerations

The Federal Court ruled that the 1989 exchange of letters between Switzerland and India is indeed an international treaty that takes precedence over domestic law in the field of judicial assistance. According to the Court, this treaty autonomously defines the framework for mutual assistance, while specifying that it must be carried out on the basis of reciprocity and in accordance with the national law of the parties.

The Court also considered that Art. 2(a) IMAC implicitly refers to the procedural guarantees arising from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in addition to those of the European Convention on Human Rights. Given…