An agreement reached by Taiwan and Poland on legal cooperation in criminal matters came into force Feb. 23, underscoring the government’s commitment to working with like-minded partners around the world in combating transnational crime.
Under the pact, the two sides will fast-track extradition proceedings; increase exchanges of information on laws, implementations and prosecutions; share intelligence on crime and terrorism; and streamline procedures for transferring prisoners.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the accord is the first of its kind between Taiwan and a European country. Judicial collaboration is set to become more efficient now the ministry can directly contact its Polish counterpart and the National Public Prosecutor’s Office of Poland without passing through diplomatic channels, the MOJ said.
Inked by the Taipei Representative Office in Poland and the Polish Office in Taipei and witnessed by Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu, Justice Minister Tsai Ching-hsiang and Lukasz Piebiak, undersecretary of state for Poland’s MOJ in June 2019, the agreement passed a third reading in the Legislature later the same year and was signed into law by the European Union member state’s President Andrzej Duda in January.
Cooperation between Taiwan and Poland has grown from strength to strength in recent years across a broad spectrum of areas including agriculture, higher education, scientific research and trade, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The like-minded partners concluded agreements on science and higher education in 2018, as well as double taxation avoidance in 2016. (YCH-E)
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