(Apr. 22, 2021) On March 19, 2021, the Swiss parliament approved an amendment to the Swiss Narcotics Act that allows broader access to cannabis for medical use. The amendment is subject to an optional referendum. (Swiss Constitution art. 141.) The deadline for collecting enough signatures to hold a referendum is July 8, 2021. In addition, on […]
Topic: Alternative medicine, Controlled substances, Health, Medical research
(Apr. 20, 2021) On April 7, 2021, the Criminal Code (Consent and Mistake of Fact) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2021 (Qld), which was passed by the Queensland Parliament on March 25, 2021, received assent from the state governor. The amendments to the consent provisions related to certain sexual offenses in the Criminal Code Act 1899 […]
Topic: Crime and law enforcement, Crime victims, Crimes against women, Criminal procedure, Sex offenses
(Apr. 14, 2021) On April 9, 2021, New Zealand’s health minister, Andrew Little, stated in a press release that interim legislation set to expire in December 2021 that enables illegal substances to be tested to verify their contents would be made permanent through legislation passed during this year. The Drug and Substance Checking Legislation Act […]
Topic: Controlled substances, Drug safety, Health, Health promotion and preventive care
(Apr. 12, 2021) On April 5, 2021, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi announced in a press conference that former Crown Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein, the king’s half-brother, and more than a dozen other individuals had been arrested on charges of undermining the security of the state. However, Safadi did not mention the specific […]
Topic: Crimes against the state, Espionage, Specialized courts
(Apr. 9, 2021) On January 21, 2020, the Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court of Turkey issued its decision in the Kadri Enis Berberoglu (3) case, censuring the Istanbul 14. Criminal Court for refusing to comply with the Constitutional Court’s prior decision in Kadri Enis Berberoglu (2). The cases arose from complaints made by Kadri […]
Topic: Constitutional courts, Constitutional law, Crimes against the state, Detention, Espionage, European Convention on Human Rights, 1950, Judicial powers, Judicial review and appeals, Legislative elections, Legislators, Trials and court proceedings, Voting rights
(Apr. 7, 2021) On March 31, 2021, the Supreme Court of Sweden issued a judgment finding that song lyrics that named a female police officer and included threatening language did not constitute the crime of threatening a police officer (hot mot tjänsteman), but was protected under the constitutional right to freedom of expression. (Supreme Court, […]
Topic: Arts and culture, Freedom of speech, Law enforcement officers
(Apr. 6, 2021) On February 10, 2021, the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY, Integrationsmyndigheten, formerly Datainspektionen) issued a decision whereby it fined the Swedish Police Authority 2.5 million Swedish kronor (about US$296,000) for violating the Crime Data Act (Brottsdatalagen) by using the facial recognition application Clearview AI. The artificial intelligence application was used intermittently […]
Topic: Crime and law enforcement, Data protection, Electronic surveillance, Police power, Right of privacy
(Apr. 2, 2021) As Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Binyamin Netanyahu faces hearings scheduled to begin on April 5, 2021, in his criminal trial for charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, he finds his prime ministerial authority limited by a recent decision of the Israeli Supreme Court, sitting as a High Court of Justice […]
Topic: Bribery, Communications, Corruption, Crime and law enforcement, Executive powers, Fraud and financial crimes, Government ethics and transparency, Supreme court, Trials and court proceedings
(Mar. 31, 2021) The United Kingdom enacted the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Act (the CHIS Act) on March 1, 2021. The CHIS Act provides a framework to provide a criminal conduct authorization (CCA) that enables covert human intelligence sources (CHIS) to participate in actions during the course of their work that would otherwise constitute a […]
Topic: Crime prevention, Criminal code, Espionage, European Convention on Human Rights, 1950, Human rights and civil liberties, Intelligence activities, Judicial powers, Officials and employees, Organized crime and gangs, Police power, Terrorism
(Mar. 26, 2021) On February 5, 2021, Ecuador’s National Assembly approved reforms to the Organic Law of Human Mobility. Among other measures, the changes provide new grounds for the inadmissibility and deportation of foreign citizens. The amendments allow deportation of aliens through administrative procedure. Ecuador’s new rules prohibit admission of foreign nationals who use false […]
Topic: Administrative law and regulatory procedures, Asylum, Border security, Constitutional law, Crime prevention, Due process, Immigration, Refugees, Undocumented immigrants, Visas and passports
