Advice on the reform of the penal code in North Macedonia
- Details
- Published: March 1, 2021
IRZ has been advising the Ministry of Justice of North Macedonia for several months now on its reform of the penal code. The reform process is being supported by a working group from the Ministry, which held its inaugural meeting online on 15 February 2021. The twenty or so legal experts and legal practitioners in the working group were welcomed to the meeting by Nikolina Mikeska from the Ministry of Justice of North Macedonia, Ana Novakova Zhikova from the OSCE Mission in Skopje, and Dr. Stefan Pürner, the responsible IRZ Head of Section.
During the meeting, the leader of the working group, Prof. Dr. Kambovski, expressed the need for a unified system and uniform structures in terms of the penalties provided for by the law. The activities of the working group and the reform process for the penal code in North Macedonia will focus on fulfilling this requirement over the coming months.
During the second half of 2021, the draft of the revised penal code will be presented to the public, thereby allowing any interested parties in the professional community to have a say in the reform process.
As part of the consultancy services provided by IRZ, German legal experts from the academic and business worlds have already given their expert opinions on draft criminal law provisions. These reports cover the following subjects:
- economic crime
- fighting terrorism
- cybercrime
- protection of elections
- cloning and artificial parenthood
- insolvency offences
The authors gave their expert opinions on draft laws from North Macedonia, taking into account the contents of the corresponding penal law provisions in Germany and any relevant international and European provisions.