Part I
General
CHAPTER II
General rules of procedure
Article 23
Requests
1. Requests for international co-operation shall indicate :
a) The requesting as well as the requested authorities, even if the indication of the latter may be in general terms ;
b) the purpose of and the reasons for the request
c) the legal qualification of the facts on the grounds of which the request is made ;
d) the identification of the suspect, the accused or the sentenced person, of the person whose extradition or transfer is requested, as well as the identification of the witness or the expert whose evidence is sought ;
e) a description of the facts, including time and place, proportional to the importance of the co-operation requested ;
f) the text of the legal provisions applicable in the requesting State ;
g) any relevant documents.
2. The authentication of the documents shall not be required.
3. The competent authority may require that a formally irregular or an incomplete request be modified or completed, without that precluding the possibility of taking provisional measures whenever such measures should not await the revised request.
4. The requirement mentioned in sub-paragraph f) of paragraph 1 above may be dispensed with where the form of co-operation requested is that which is mentioned in Article 1.1.f).
3. Upon the request of the Court, a State Party shall consult with the Court, either generally or with respect to a specific matter, regarding any requirements under its national law that may apply under paragraph 2 (e). During the consultations, the State Party shall advise the Court of the specific requirements of its national law.
Where a State Party receives a request under this Part in relation to which it identifies problems which may impede or prevent the execution of the request, that State shall consult with the Court without delay in order to resolve the matter. Such problems may include, inter alia:
(a) Insufficient information to execute the request;
(b) In the case of a request for surrender, the fact that despite best efforts, the person sought cannot be located or that the investigation conducted has determined that the person in the requested State is clearly not the person named in the warrant; or
(c) The fact that execution of the request in its current form would require the requested State to breach a pre-existing treaty obligation undertaken with respect to another State.