The Governments of GUUAM Participating States, hereinafter referred to as “the Parties”,

Desirous to develop the provisions of the Charter of GUUAM, signed in Yalta on 7 June 2001,

Reaffirming their resolute condemnation of terrorist acts and stating their willingness to prevent such,

Reaffirming that terrorist actions represent a threat to international peace and security,

Recognizing the need to ensure security, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of their States,

Reaffirming the need to combat by all means against threats to international peace and security created by terrorist acts,

Calling upon their States to undertake joint efforts to prevent and supress terrorist acts, including through broadening of cooperation and implementation of relevant international conventions related to combat against terrorism,

Recognizing the need for additional measures in order to prevent and suppress within their territories, using all legitimate means, financing and preparation of any terrorist acts,

Alarmed by growth of crime, especially in its organized forms,

Being guided by the norms of international law and provisions of the national legislation of their States,

Basing on the principles of equality, mutual respect and benefit,

Have agreed as follows:

Article 1

The Parties, in accordance with the national legislation of their States, shall cooperate in the following fields:

  • Combat against terrorism;
  • Combat against organized crime;
  • Combat against illegal armed formations;
  • Combat against illegal circulation of arms and munitions, military equipment, certain types of raw materials, as well as materials, equipment and technologies, which may be used for their creation, explosive and poisonous substances;
  • Combat against illegal circulation of nuclear materials, radioactive substances, materials, equipment and technologies of double purpose, which may be used in creation and manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction;
  • Combat against illegal circulation of narcotics, psychotropic substances and precursors;
  • Combat against forgery of means of payment, securities, financial documents, personal identification documents as well as against their circulation and illegal use;
  • Combat against crimes in economic and financial spheres, including crimes related to avoidance of taxation, money laundering and corruption;
  • Combat against smuggling and other customs offences;
  • Combat against crimes against human life and property;
  • Search for missing persons, identification of persons as well as of unidentified corpses;
  • Search for persons suspected or accused of crimes, as well as for persons avoiding criminal responsibility or punishment;
  • Combat against theft, illegal circulation and trafficking in vehicles;
  • Combat against illegal migration, illegal movement and trafficking in human beings;
  • Combat against crimes in the sphere of use of computer technologies and computer networks;
  • Combat against crimes in the sphere of intellectual property;
  • Combat against seizure of aircraft, maritime vessels and other transport vehicles.

Article 2

Cooperation of the Parties under this Agreement shall be implemented in bilateral and multilateral formats on the basis of requests for rendering assistance aimed at preventing, detection, suppression, investigation and elimination of consequences of, primarily:

  • Crimes of terrorist character, including taking hostages and kidnapping;
  • Illegal movement and circulation of highly dangerous, toxic and radioactive substances;
  • Illegal trafficking in nuclear, chemical, biological and other types of weapons of mass destruction, materials and equipment, which may be used for its creation;
  • Illegal trafficking in weapons, munitions, explosives and explosive devices;
  • Illegal trafficking in narcotics, psychotropic substances and precursors.
  • The Parties shall undertake all necessary measures to ensure prompt and complete compliance with requests for assistance in combat against crimes of terrorist character.

Article 3

  1. Requests for assistance shall be submitted in writing. In emergency cases, requests may be submitted verbally or through electronic means of communication, with subsequent written confirmation within 72 hours.
  2. Requests for assistance shall contain:
    1. Names of competent authority of the requesting Party and of competent authority of the requested Party;
    2. Explanation of the case;
    3. Goal and grounds for request;
    4. Action requested;
    5. Desired terms of complying with request.
  3. To the extent necessary and possible, requests for assistance shall also include:
    1. First and last names, nicknames (special marks, if necessary), nationality of related persons, their dates and places of birth, occupation, places of residence and stay;
    2. Names and locations of relevant legal entities;
    3. Description of action or event and qualification of action for criminal cases in accordance with legislation of State of the requesting Party and the text of applicable provisions of law;
    4. List of questions to be answered;
    5. Description of special procedure to be followed to comply with the request, including relevant documents;
    6. Any other information, which may be useful for complying with request, including relevant documents.
  4. Requests for assistance transmitted or confirmed in writing shall be signed in accordance with established procedure and affixed by a seal.
  5. Competent authorities of every Party shall determine the procedure of communication and lists of persons authorized to conduct them and inform the other Parties accordingly.
  6. Information may be presented to another Party without a request if there are grounds to consider that it may be of interest to such Party.

Article 4

The Parties shall develop and take coordinated measures to:

  • Prevent activities of terrorist organizations and groups, as well as suppression of channels of rendering them financial, military, technical and other assistance;
  • Detect bases, training camps and places of healing of terrorists;
  • Suppress routes of movement of terrorist groups and involved persons within the territory of GWAM Member States;
  • Detect and identify persons related to activities of terrorist organizations and groups;
  • Operatively investigate organized criminal groups, including those dealing with illegal trafficking in weapons and narcotics, as well as illegal migration;
  • Conduct controlled deliveries;
  • Exchange information, including information about new types of narcotics and psychotropic substances, which appear in illegal trafficking, manufacturing technology and substances used hereto, as well as of new methods of research and identification of narcotics, precursors and psychotropic substances;
  • Conduct, taking into account operative information and existing criminal situation, goal-oriented operative preventive measures to suppress activities of international organized criminal groups;
  • Undertake urgent measures with regard to emergencies related to possible terrorist acts, other illegal actions, as well as elimination of their consequences;

The Parties shall inform each other about the results of coordinated measures undertaken.

Article 5

  1. The Parties shall designate competent authorities responsible for implementation of provisions of this Agreement.
  2. The competent authorities of the Parties shall organize meetings of specialists in order to assess and improve cooperation.
  3. For the purposes of implementation of provisions of this Agreement, the competent authorities of the Parties may conclude additional documents that will determine concrete directions of cooperation and means of communication.
  4. For the purposes of coordination of interaction to combat against crimes, the competent authorities of the Parties may send their personnel to the territory of State of another Party.
  5. The competent authorities of the Parties, in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, shall cooperate directly within their competence.

Article 6

In order to ensure confidentiality of personal information, which is transferred in accordance with this Agreement and national legislation of their States, the Parties shall adhere to the following provisions:

  1. The receiving Party may use information only for the purpose and on conditions established by the sending Party;
  2. The receiving Party shall inform the sending Party about use of information and results achieved;
  3. Personal information may be transferred only to the competent authorities of the Parties. Information, including personal data, as well as materials, information, technical and other means may be transferred to other authorities, third state or individuals and legal entities only by written consent of the sending Party;
  4. The sending Party shall make decision whenever providing information is necessary and ensure its trustworthiness and accuracy. National legislation of State of the other Party, which limits or forbids providing such information, shall be observed. If it is established additionally that wrong information or information, which should not have been transferred, has been transferred, the receiving Party shall be promptly informed thereof. The Latter shall correct wrong information or destroy the information, which should not have been transferred;
  5. Upon request of the person, data about whom is to be transferred or has already been transferred, he/she shall be provided with information about the data transferred as well as about the purpose of its use, if allowed by the national legislation of States of the Parties.
  6. During transfer of information, the sending Party shall notify the other Party about the terms of its destruction stipulated for by legislation of its State. Irrespectively of those terms, personal data shall be destroyed when no longer needed.

Article 7

  1. Cooperation under this Agreement may be rejected totally or partially if the requested Party considers that compliance with the request may cause damage to its interests or is contrary to legislation of its State or international obligations, or if action, with regard to which request was made, is not a crime under the legislation of State of the requested Party.
  2. In cases provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article the Parties shall without delay inform each other about refusal of assistance, stating the reasons of such refusal.

Article 8

  1. Any Party may reserve special conditions for rendering assistance, which shall be obligatory for another Party.
  2. Any Party shall ensure storage of information received from another Parry, taking into account the conditions set by the Party owner of this information.
  3. Transfer of secret information and its material carriers by the competent authorities of the Parties shall be conducted only in accordance with bilateral international treaties on mutual protection of secret information between the Parties.

Article 9

Each Party shall bear expenses arising within the territory of its State in connection with implementation of this Agreement, unless agreed otherwise.

Article 10

In the course of implementation of this Agreement, the Parties shall use the English and Russian languages as working languages.

Article 11

  1. This Agreement shall be without prejudice to the rights and obligations of the Parties under other international agreements to which they are Parties.
  2. Any disputes related to interpretation or application of provisions of this Agreement shall be settled by the Parties through consultations in accordance with the norms of international law.

Article 12

  1. This Agreement shall be open for signature on behalf of the Governments of GUUAM Participating States and enter into force on the date of deposit of the third notification on completion by the Parities of national procedures necessary for entry of the Agreement into force. For the Parties depositing their notification after such date, the Agreement shall enter into force on the date of receipt of such notification by the Depositary.
  2. Each Party may withdraw from this Agreement by written notification to the Depositary no less than six months before the date of withdrawal.
  3. By mutual consent of the Parties, this Agreement may be amended and supplemented. The amendments and supplements shall be drawn up in the form of protocols, which shall constitute inalienable part of the Agreement and enter into force in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article.
  4. The Depositary of this Agreement shall be the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which shall send the Parties certified copies of this Agreement as well as notify about its entry into force, accession or withdrawal of Parties to it.

Done at Yalta on “20” July, 2002 in a single copy in the English and Russian languages, both texts being equally authentic.

(Entered into force 25 August 2004)