The Governments of the Member States of the Organization
of American States, desirous of strengthening and
facilitating international cooperation in judicial
procedures as provided for in the Inter-American
Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad, have agreed
as follows:
I. CENTRAL AUTHORITY
Article 1:
Each State Party shall designate a central authority
that shall perform the functions assigned to it in the
Inter-American Convention on the Taking of Evidence
Abroad (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention") and
in this Protocol. At the time of deposit of its
instrument of ratification of or accession to this
Protocol, each State Party shall communicate its
designation to the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States, which shall distribute
to the States Parties to the Convention a list
containing the designations received. The Central
Authority designated by a State Party in accordance with
Article 11 of the Convention may be changed at any time.
The State Party shall inform the above-mentioned
Secretariat of such change as promptly as possible.
A State Party that is also a Party to the Additional
Protocol to the Inter-American Convention on Letters
Rogatory shall designate the same Central Authority for
the purposes indicated in the two Protocols.
II. PREPARATION OF LETTERS ROGATORY REQUESTING THE
TAKING OF EVIDENCE
Article 2:
Letters rogatory requesting the taking of evidence shall
be prepared on a form conforming to Form A of the Annex
to this Protocol, and shall be accompanied by the
documentation to which Article 4 of the Convention
refers and a form conforming to Form B of the Annex to
this Protocol.
If a State Party has more than one official language, it
shall, at the time of signature or ratification of this
Protocol, or of accession to it, declare which language
or languages shall be considered official for the
purpose of the Convention and of this Protocol. If a
State Party comprises territorial units that have
different languages, it shall, at the time of signature
or ratification of this Protocol, or of accession to it,
declare which language or languages in each territorial
unit shall be considered official for the purpose of the
Convention and of this Protocol. The General Secretariat
of the Organization of American States shall distribute
to the States Parties to this Protocol the information
contained in such declarations.
III. TRANSMISSION AND PROCESSING OF LETTERS ROGATORY
REQUESTING THE TAKING OF EVIDENCE
Article 3:
Upon receipt of a letter rogatory from the Central
Authority of another State Party, the Central Authority
of a State Party shall transmit the letter rogatory to
the appropriate judicial or other adjudicatory authority
for processing in accordance with applicable local law.
The judicial or other adjudicatory authority or
authorities that processed the letter rogatory shall
certify the execution thereof in accordance with their
local law, or the reasons for its non-execution, and
shall transmit it with the relevant documents to their
Central Authority. The Central Authority of the State
Party of destination shall certify execution of the
letter rogatory, or the reasons that prevented it from
executing the letter rogatory, to the Central Authority
of the State Party of origin on a form conforming to
Form B of the Annex, which shall not require
legalization. In addition, the Central Authority of the
State of destination shall return the letter rogatory
and attached documentation to the Central Authority of
the State of origin for delivery to the judicial or
other adjudicatory authority that issued it.
Article 4:
In processing letters rogatory pursuant to the
Convention and this Protocol, the judicial or other
adjudicatory authority of the State of destination shall
apply the appropriate measures of compulsion provided
for in its legislation when it finds that the
requirements set forth in that legislation for the
application of such measures in domestic proceedings
have been met.
Article 5:
The judicial or other adjudicatory authority of the
State of origin may request notice of the date, time,
and place of the execution of a letter rogatory
transmitted to the competent authority of a State Party.
The judicial or other adjudicatory authority of the
State of destination that will execute the letter shall
provide notice of the date, time, and place to the
judicial or other adjudicatory authority of the State of
origin, as requested. The legal representatives of the
parties or their lawyers may attend the execution of the
letter; their intervention shall be subject to the law
of the State of destination.
IV. COSTS AND EXPENSES
Article 6:
The processing of letters rogatory by the Central
Authority of the State of destination and by its
judicial or other adjudicatory authorities shall be free
of charge. However, this State Party may seek payment by
the party requesting the evidence or information for
those services which, in accordance with its local law,
are required to be paid for directly by that party.
The party requesting the evidence or information shall,
at its election, either select and indicate in the
letter rogatory the person who is responsible in the
State of destination for the cost of the above-mentioned
services or attach to the letter rogatory a check for
the fixed amount that is specified in Article 7 of this
Protocol and will cover the cost of such services or a
document proving that such amount has been transferred
by some other means to the Central Authority of the
State of destination.
The fact that the cost of such services ultimately
exceeds the fixed amount shall not delay or prevent the
processing or execution of the letter rogatory by the
Central Authority or the judicial or other adjudicatory
authorities of the State of destination. Should the cost
exceed that amount, the Central Authority of the State
of destination may, when returning the executed letter
rogatory, seek payment of the outstanding amount due
from the party requesting execution of the letter
rogatory.
Article 7:
At the time of deposit of its instrument of ratification
of or accession to this Protocol with the General
Secretariat of the Organization of American States, each
State Party shall attach a schedule of services,
itemizing the pertinent costs and expenses that, in
accordance with its local law, shall be paid for
directly by the party requesting the evidence or
information. In addition, each State Party shall specify
in the above-mentioned schedule the single amount that
it considers will reasonably cover the cost of such
services, regardless of the number or nature thereof.
This amount shall be paid when the person requesting the
evidence or information has not designated a person
responsible for the payment of such services in the
State of destination, but has decided to pay for them
directly in the manner provided for in Article 6 of this
Protocol.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American
States shall distribute the information received to the
States Parties to this Protocol. A State Party may at
any time notify the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States of changes in the
above-mentioned schedules, which shall be communicated
by the General Secretariat to the other States Parties
to this Protocol.
Article 8:
States Parties may declare in the schedules mentioned in
Article 7 that, provided there is reciprocity, they will
not, in certain matters, charge the party requesting the
evidence or information for the services necessary for
executing the letter rogatory, or that they will accept
in complete satisfaction of the cost of such services
the single amount that is specified in Article 7 or
another fixed amount.
V. THE TAKING OF EVIDENCE BY DIPLOMATIC OR CONSULAR
AGENTS
Article 9:
The Convention shall not preclude a diplomatic or
consular agent of a State Party, acting within his
territorial jurisdiction, from taking evidence or
obtaining information in the State Party in which he
performs his functions, but in so doing he may not use
measures of compulsion.
However, whenever evidence is taken or information
obtained from persons whose nationality is not that of
the State accrediting the diplomatic or consular agent,
the provisions of Article 10 shall apply.
Article 10:
In the case provided for in the second paragraph of
Article 9 and without prejudice to the provisions of
Article 12, the States Parties may limit the powers of
the diplomatic or consular agents of the other States
Parties to specified matters and stipulate such
conditions for the taking of evidence or obtaining of
information, including those relating to the time and
place at which it shall be taken or obtained, as they
deem necessary or advisable.
A declaration to this effect shall be made at the time
of signature or ratification of, or accession to this
Protocol.
Article 11:
In the cases provided for in Article 9 of this Protocol,
a diplomatic or consular agent may, through the
appropriate channels, request the competent judicial or
other adjudicatory authority to apply the appropriate
measures of compulsion provided for under the laws of
the State Party in which he performs his functions. The
judicial or other adjudicatory authority shall apply
those measures of compulsion when it finds that the
requirements set forth in its legislation for the
application of such measures in local proceedings have
been met.
Article 12:
When evidence is taken or information obtained pursuant
to Article 9 of this Protocol, the rules and procedures
in force in the State of origin may be observed,
provided they do not conflict with the provisions of
Article 2 (1) of the Convention; however, the grounds
for refusal to testify specified in Article 12 of the
Convention shall also apply to the taking of evidence or
obtaining of information.
In the cases provided for in Article 9 of this Protocol,
the persons from whom evidence is being taken or
information obtained may be assisted by legal counsel
and, where appropriate, by interpreters and by persons
they trust.
Article 13:
The failure of an attempt to take evidence or obtain
information pursuant to Article 9 of this Protocol
because of the refusal of the person called upon to
provide it shall not preclude a request that evidence be
taken or information obtained in accordance with
Chapters I to IV of this Protocol.
VI. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 14:
At the time of signing, ratifying or acceding to this
Protocol, the States Parties may declare that the rules
relating to the preparation and processing of letters
rogatory for the taking of evidence or obtaining of
information also apply to criminal and other matters
provided for in Article 15 of the Convention.
Article 15:
The judicial or other adjudicatory authority of the
State of destination shall honor a request to follow
special procedures pursuant to Article 6 of the
Convention, unless they cannot be followed by it or they
are incompatible with the fundamental principles of the
legislation or the mandatory rules of the State of
destination.
Article 16:
The States Parties to this Protocol shall process a
letter rogatory that requests the exhibition and copying
of documents if it meets the following requirements:
a. The proceeding has been initiated;
b. The documents are reasonably identified
by date, contents, or other appropriate information, and
c. The letter rogatory specifies those facts
and circumstances causing the requesting party
reasonably to believe that the requested documents are
or were in the possession, control, or custody of, or
are known to the person from whom the documents are
requested.
The person from whom documents are requested may, where
appropriate, deny that he has possession, control, or
custody of the requested documents, or may object to the
exhibition and copying of the documents, in accordance
with the rules of the Convention.
At the time of signing, ratifying or acceding to this
Protocol a State may declare that it will process the
letters rogatory to which this article applies only if
they identify the relationship between the evidence or
information requested and the pending proceeding.
Article 17:
The provisions of this Protocol shall be interpreted in
such a way as to complement those of the Inter-American
Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad.
VII. FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 18:
This Protocol shall be open for signature and
ratification or accession by those Member States of the
Organization of American States that have signed,
ratified, or acceded to the Inter-American Convention on
the Taking of Evidence Abroad signed in Panama on
January 30, 1975.
This Protocol shall remain open for accession by any
other State that accedes or has acceded to the
Inter-American Convention on the Taking of Evidence
Abroad under the conditions set forth in this article.
The instruments of ratification and accession shall be
deposited with the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States.
Article 19:
Each State may, at the time of signature, ratification
or accession, make reservations to this Protocol,
provided that each reservation concerns one or more
specific provisions.
Article 20:
This Protocol shall enter into force on the thirtieth
day following the date on which two States Parties to
the Convention have deposited their instruments of
ratification of or accession to this Protocol.
For each State ratifying or acceding to the Protocol
after its entry into force, the Protocol shall enter
into force on the thirtieth day following deposit by
such State of its instrument of ratification or
accession, provided that such State is a party to the
Convention.
Article 21:
If a State Party has two or more territorial units in
which different systems of law apply in relation to the
matters dealt with in this Protocol, it may, at the time
of signature, ratification or accession, declare that
this Protocol shall extend to all its territorial units
or to only one or more of them.
Such declaration may be modified by subsequent
declarations that shall expressly indicate the
territorial unit or units to which this Protocol
applies. Such subsequent declarations shall be
transmitted to the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States, and shall become
effective thirty days after the date of their receipt.
Article 22:
This Protocol shall remain in force indefinitely, but
any of the States Parties may denounce it. The
instrument of denunciation shall be deposited with the
General Secretariat of the Organization of American
States. After one year from the date of deposit of the
instrument of denunciation, the Protocol shall no longer
be in effect for the denouncing State, but shall remain
in effect for the other States Parties.
Article 23:
The original instrument of this Protocol and its Annex
(Forms A and B), the English, French, Portuguese and
Spanish texts of which are equally authentic, shall be
deposited with the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States, which shall forward an
authenticated copy of its text to the Secretariat of the
United Nations for registration and publication in
accordance with Article 102 of its Charter. The General
Secretariat of the Organization of American States shall
notify the Member States of that Organization and the
States that have acceded to the Protocol of the
signatures, deposits of instruments of ratification,
accession and denunciation, as well as of reservations,
if any. It shall also transmit to them the information
mentioned in Article 1, the last paragraph of Article 2,
Article 7, and declarations pursuant to Articles 8, 10,
14, 16, and 21 of this Protocol.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF,
the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized
thereto by their respective Governments, have signed
this Protocol.
DONE AT LA PAZ, Republic of Bolivia, this twenty-fourth
day of May, one thousand nine hundred and eighty-four.