Federal Act
on International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters
(Mutual Assistance Act, IMAC)

¹ Un­less oth­er fed­er­al acts or in­ter­na­tion­al agree­ments provide oth­er­wise, this Act shall gov­ern all pro­ced­ures of in­ter­na­tion­al co­oper­a­tion in crim­in­al mat­ters, and in par­tic­u­lar:⁴

a.

the ex­tra­di­tion of per­sons who are the sub­ject of crim­in­al pro­sec­u­tion or have been con­victed (Part Two);

b.

as­sist­ance aimed at sup­port­ing crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings abroad (Part Three);

c.

the trans­fer of pro­ceed­ings and pun­ish­ment of of­fences (Part Four);

d.

the ex­e­cu­tion of for­eign crim­in­al judg­ments (Part Five).

² …⁵

³ This Act ap­plies only to crim­in­al mat­ters in which re­course to the courts is per­mit­ted un­der the law of the re­quest­ing State.

^3bis Un­less oth­er le­gis­la­tion or in­ter­na­tion­al agree­ments provide oth­er­wise, this Act ap­plies by ana­logy to pro­ceed­ings for co­oper­a­tion in crim­in­al mat­ters with in­ter­na­tion­al courts or oth­er inter- or supra­na­tion­al bod­ies with crim­in­al justice func­tions if the pro­ceed­ings re­late to:

a.

of­fences un­der the Twelfth Title^bis, Twelfth Title^ter or Twelfth Title^quater of the Swiss Crim­in­al Code⁶; or

b.

of­fences un­der oth­er pro­vi­sions of the crim­in­al law and the court or the body con­cerned is es­tab­lished by a res­ol­u­tion of the United Na­tions that is bind­ing on or sup­por­ted by Switzer­land.⁷

^3ter The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may also stip­u­late in an or­din­ance that this Act ap­plies by ana­logy to pro­ced­ures for co­oper­a­tion on crim­in­al mat­ters with oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al courts or oth­er inter- or supra­na­tion­al bod­ies with crim­in­al justice func­tions if:

a.

the court or body is es­tab­lished on the basis of leg­al pro­vi­sions that clearly define the powers of court or body in terms of crim­in­al law and crim­in­al pro­ced­ure;

b.

the pro­ced­ure be­fore the court or body guar­an­tees com­pli­ance with the prin­ciples of the rule of law; and

c.

co­oper­a­tion serves to safe­guard Switzer­land’s in­terests.⁸

⁴ This Act con­fers no right to co­oper­a­tion in crim­in­al mat­ters.⁹