Problems and Restrictions in the Mutual Legal Assistance among ASEAN Countries

Abstract

The recent establishment of ASEAN community is expected to facilitate more cross-border immigrants, tourists and labors among ASEAN member countries. As a result, there will be more transnational crime and criminal offenses committed by the ASEAN people in other countries, so the ASEAN member countries need to adopt the mutual legal assistance framework with a greater regional collaboration in combatting the crime. All 10 ASEAN member countries agreed the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters among Liked-Minded ASEAN Member Countries (MLAT ASEAN) in response to the increasing transnational crime. However, the mutual legal assistance among ASEAN countries has been found ineffective and lots of problems in practice over time. These problems are: the strict assignment in mutual assistance operation to only traditional law enforcement agents while there are a number of special law enforcement agents with no legal authority to lend the assistance; inadequate access to technological evidences; double criminality concerns in different ASEAN countries; a lack of readiness in the use of witness examination through VDO conference; and operational problems. Nowadays, Thailand has already amended the domestic mutual legal assistance law which allow the special law enforcement agents to participate in the assistance and open an opportunity to serve special assistance in case of important or urgent matters. However, other operational problems are still unresolved.