GUIDELINES FOR INTER-AMERICAN COOPERATION REGARDING TERRORIST ACTS AND ACTIVITIES

Principles

1. Inter-American cooperation in dealing with terrorist acts and activities will be guided by full respect for domestic laws and regulations and for international law and will be carried out exclusively at the express request of the affected state.

2. Inter-American cooperation shall respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, as well as the principle of nonintervention in domestic affairs under the jurisdiction of the state, in accordance with the Charter of the Organization of American States.

3. Pursuant to inter-American norms on the subject, each state has the exclusive right to determine the nature of occurrences that could qualify as terrorist acts or activities. The states shall cooperate closely as regards extradition in accordance with their domestic laws and the extradition treaties in force, without prejudice to the right of states to grant asylum under the appropriate circumstances.

4. Each state has the fundamental and principal responsibility of preventing, combating, and eliminating terrorism, a goal that inter-American cooperation pursues according to the following guidelines.

Purposes

5. The member states will seek to cooperate in the fight against all forms of terrorism, to the fullest extent permitted by their national laws and regulations, in accordance with their legal obligations arising from existing international conventions on terrorism, and as set out in these guidelines.

6. The member states will seek to cooperate, to the extent that they find mutually beneficial, in the development and implementation of joint programs and activities to facilitate the full realization of the intent of these guidelines.

7. The member states will seek to cooperate, by mutual consent, in the event of a terrorist act. Cooperation under these guidelines may include assistance with: weapons detection and deactivation, hostage negotiations, intelligence gathering, communications systems, search and rescue for victims, and criminal investigations.

Procedures

8. Irrespective of bilateral mechanisms, member states will seek, insofar as possible within the context of domestic legislation, through CICTE, to exchange information regarding the laws, regulations, plans, and administrative procedures concerned with preventing, combating, and eliminating terrorist acts and activities.

9. Member states will seek to cooperate in dealing with terrorist acts and activities. To that end, member states may provide assistance, when such assistance is expressly requested, to another state in order to prevent, combat, and eliminate terrorism. That cooperation may include technical, scientific, and logistical assistance, depending on the agreement reached by the states involved. Member states will seek to prepare operational plans and crisis management procedures within their respective governments in response to terrorist activities.

10. Member states will seek to keep other states up to date regarding occurrences that, in their view, could be classified as terrorist acts and activities.

Notification

11. Whenever a member state becomes aware of occurrences that it considers could be classified as terrorist acts or activities with a transnational impact, it will seek to notify, as soon as possible, the state or states that could be affected.

12. The member states will seek to notify each other of any request or acceptance of assistance from a third party regarding a terrorist activity or act that has affected or could directly affect another member state.

13. The member states will seek to inform CICTE or any other competent organ in the OAS, whenever possible, of the events referred to in paragraph 4.

Response

14. In the event of occurrences that could be classified as terrorist acts and activities with a transnational impact, member states will seek in a manner compatible with their domestic laws and regulations and applicable international conventions:

a. To authorize and facilitate the presence of liaison representatives at locations agreed to by the member states, consistent with domestic crisis management procedures, who will be responsible for maintaining channels of communication between the member states and for facilitating accurate exchanges of information on operational and policy decisions;
b. To the extent appropriate, to share information concerning the materials, devices, and/or weapons used in that terrorist act or activity; likely perpetrators; their possible sources of support; and any other relevant information.

c. To afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in judicial cooperation, including assistance in obtaining evidence at their disposal necessary for such investigations or proceedings.

Confidentiality

15. The member states will seek to safeguard the confidentiality of information that is not a matter of public record, exchanged pursuant to these guidelines, and to prevent the disclosure of such information to third parties in accordance with their national laws and regulations.

16. Information and materials exchanged under these guidelines may be disclosed to third states only with the explicit consent of the member state that provided it.