Part 6 The Trial: Le Procès, Art.73 Third party information or documents/Renseignements ou documents émanant de tiers

Subject(s):

Judges — Elements of crimes — International criminal law, conduct of proceedings — Evidence

This chapter comments on Article of 73 the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 73 applies when a State Party is requested by the Court to provide a document or information in its custody, possession, or control. If the document was disclosed to that State in confidence by another State, or by an intergovernmental organization or international organization, the State Party need not comply with the request from the Court unless it can obtain the consent of the provider (known as the ‘originator’) of the document or information. If the originator of the information is a State Party, then it is required either to consent to disclosure of the information or document or to resolve the matter in accordance with the provisions of article 72. In other words, the information can only be withheld from the Court if the originator State invokes national security interests. It seems unlikely this part of article 73 will ever have much practical impact. In effect, it amounts to a request from the Court to the State Party that originated the information or document.