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Law on Internal Affairs

Proclaimed on the session held on 29th March 1995 by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia

(excerpts)

II. SCOPE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE MINISTRY

1. Police

Article 8

The operations related to direct maintenance of public order and peace, traffic regulation and control on roads, control over national border crossings, security of lakes as well as other matters laid out in Article 1 of this Law whose nature or conditions require uniformed employees of the Ministry to undertake them, shall be performed by the Police.

The Police shall be the uniformed part of the Ministry who shall be insignia of their rank and shall be armed and equipped.

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2. Criminal Police

Article 12

Crime prevention matters, detecting and catching perpetrators, crime-scene matters, control over residence and visits of foreigners, inspectoral supervision of protection from fire and explosives, as well as other matters listed in Article 1 of this Law, shall be performed by the Criminal Police of the Ministry.

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III. SPECIAL OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS OF THE MINISTRY AND RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF AUTHORIZED PERSONS

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Article 24

Employees of the Ministry who have special obligations and rights stipulated by the law shall be authorized official persons.

Authorized official persons, in the light of this law shall be:

1) employees of the Police and operational employees;

2) employees who perform activities directly linked with police or operational matters;

3) the Minister, his/her Deputy, Chief personnel and heads of specific organizational units.

The Act of the structure of the working posts of the Ministry shall determine the posts with special obligations and rights in view of Paragraph 2 of this Article.

Article 25

The Minister shall regulate the procedure and forms for issuance of papers of authorized official persons.

Authorized official persons, as stipulated by the acts regulating special obligations and rights, shall have and carry arms, ammunition and other regulated means and equipment.

Article 26

Authorized official persons shall be obliged to perform the duties under their competence in all circumstances, regardless of whether they are officially working and regardless of whether that duty has been given to them.

Authorized official persons shall be obliged to perform the activities from Paragraph 1 of this Article even when that task is life threatening.

Article 27

Authorized official persons shall have the right to demand identity cards from citizens to determine their identity.

The identity documents may be retained only for the time required to check the identity, after which they shall be returned to the citizen immediately.

If the person shall refuse or if he/she cannot prove his/her identity, that person may be retained for a period required to check his/her identity, but not longer than three hours.

The person retained in view of Paragraph 3 of this Article shall be enabled to prove his/her identity in whatever manner.

Article 28

The authorized official person wearing a uniform shall be obliged to identify himself/herself upon the request of the citizen in the course of performing official duties.

When an authorized official person shall perform official duty in civilian attire, he/she shall be obliged to identify himself/herself.

If, in the course of performing official duty, the authorized official person shall need to enter someone's property or premises, he/she shall be obliged to identify himself/herself and present a court order.

Article 29

Authorized official persons of the Ministry shall have the right to retain a person up to 24 hours if that person disturbs or disrupts public order and peace, and if restoring public order and peace, or eliminating the disruption of public order and peace cannot be achieved in another manner, and in cases when the person was delivered by a foreign security body for the purpose of escorting the person to the competent body.

Authorized official persons of the Ministry shall be obliged to disclose the reasons for detaining or arresting a person and to read him/her his/her rights determined by the Constitution and the Law.

Authorized official persons should not expose the arrested person to public curiosity.

The person detained shall have the right to complain to the Minister within 12 hours of the moment of detainment.

The Complaint shall not defer the execution of the decision.

The decision regarding the Complaint shall be adopted and submitted to the detained person within 12 hours of filing the Complaint.

The authorized official person, provided the conditions are right, shall be obliged to inform the family of the detained person within 3 hours as well as the company or the body where he/she is employed, if requested, and to inform the detained person about the reasons for his/her detainment and his/her right to an attorney.

Article 30

For the purpose of preventing crime, detecting and catching perpetrators and finding and securing objects or evidence of crime, authorized official persons shall have the right to close down the access to specific premises or buildings without an approval. These measures shall last until the execution of official activities.

Undertaking the measures specified in Paragraph 1 of this Article can be ordered by the Minister or by the person authorized by the Minister.

Article 31

Authorized official persons, in the course of duty, when using public transport, shall have the right to use public transport free of charge and they shall be insured like the other passengers.

In cases pertaining to Paragraph 1 of this Article, citizens or companies shall not have the right to charge a fee for the service provided to the authorized official person.

Article 32

Authorized official persons, in cases when reasons endanger the security of the Republic, when detecting and catching perpetrators, when protecting the life, personal security or the property of the citizens, when maintaining public order and peace, traffic safety on roads, or when controlling national border crossings, may search vehicles, persons and luggage and may direct movement to a specific place for as long as there is a need for that.

The provisions of Paragraph 1 of this Article shall not include military vehicles.

Article 33

For the purpose of catching a perpetrator when directly pursued, or for transporting a victim of crime, natural disaster or any other accident to the closest medical centre, as well as for the purpose of undertaking other official duties of an urgent nature, the authorized official persons and the employees of the Directorate with special obligations and rights for undertaking official duties of urgent nature, shall have the right to use vehicles and communication means that they come around if they cannot do that otherwise. To use the vehicle of communication means, the owner or the user, shall be issued a document.

The owner, or the user, of the vehicle or of the communication means shall have the right to compensation for the actual damage caused from the usage of his/her vehicle.

The compensation for the damage inflicted referred to in Paragraph 2 of this Article shall be covered from the budget of the Republic of Macedonia.

Article 34

Authorized official persons may use forceful means regulated by an act of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia for the purpose of restoring disrupted public order and peace to a greater extent, for overcoming resistance from a person disrupting public order and peace or a person who has to be taken in, detained or arrested, for the purpose of rejecting an attack from oneself, from another person or from a building that is being secured, for the purpose of removing a person from a specific place or a person who does not comply with the orders of the authorized official person.

Article 35

An authorized official person shall use firearms if by using other forceful means he/she cannot:

1) protect the life of the citizens;

2) reject direct life-threatening attack on himself/herself;

3) reject attack on a building or person secured;

4) prevent the escape of a person caught in the act of committing a crime for which the sentence of at least 5-years imprisonment is provided, as well as to prevent the escape of a person arrested or a person for whom an arrest warrant has been issued for committing such a crime.

Article 36

Authorized official persons who officially perform duties directly under their superior may use forceful means or firearms only if ordered by him/her.

Article 37

Prior to the use of force or firearms in the cases referred to in Articles 34 and 35 of this Law, the authorized official person shall be obliged to warn, in a loud voice, the person for whom he/she shall use forceful means, i.e. firearms.

Article 38

For each specific case, the responsible officer shall directly assess the grounds and justification for using forceful means or firearms.

Article 39

If the forceful means or firearms are used within authorized limits and in compliance with the provisions of Articles 34, 35 and 36 of this Law, the responsibility of the authorized official person who used them shall be excluded as well as the responsibility of the person in charge who ordered use of force and firearms, including the person who, upon the call of the Ministry or the authorized official person extended assistance in the execution of official activities.

Article 40

In the performance of duties related to securing lakes, the police officers shall have the right to stop suspicious vessels, to check the flag, the documents of the ship, to search the vessels, as well as to pursue, seize or deliver the vessel to the competent body if it does not comply with the regulations, unless provided otherwise by international agreements.

The provisions of Paragraph 1 of this Article shall not include military vessels.

Article 41

Citizens, enterprises and other legal persons and bodies shall be obliged to adhere to the warnings and orders given in the course of performing security activities, especially in cases of saving people threatened by disasters, epidemics or other dangers, issued by the Minister or the persons authorized by him/her.

Article 42

Upon the request of the citizens, the authorized official persons shall be obliged to extend assistance, to disclose necessary information or to direct the citizens to contact other authorized bodies and institutions.

Article 43

If a criminal procedure, misdemeanor or a lawsuit has been filed against an employee with special obligations and rights for using forceful means or firearms or for other interventions in the line of duty, including the involvement in a car crash with a motor vehicle in the line of duty, the Ministry shall provide free of charge legal aid for the procedure.

The Ministry shall provide free of charge legal aid to a citizen who has assisted the authorized official person in the line of duty if a criminal or misdemeanor procedure or a lawsuit has been filed against him/her for an act done while assisting the officer.

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