The law on the International Criminal Court came into effect on December 16.

Through it Malta is, for the first time, recognising crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.

The law includes specific definition of the new crimes.

Where a crime includes murder, there is a sentence of life imprisonment and in all other cases, the sentence is 30 years imprisonment.

Should the International Criminal Court request the extradition of war criminals found in Malta, a short and easy extradition process would be employed for the issuing of a mandate of arrest by the same court. If Malta's Attorney General deemed this to be valid, the magistrate would authorise extradition without going into the details of the case but would assure that the mandate was legally issued by the same court.

The International Criminal Court was set up in July 1998 when 120 countries adopted the Rome Treaty. It started functioning in April last year after a minimum of 60 countries had ratified the statue.

The ratification was mired in controversy when the US decided to suspend future military aid to Malta and 34 other countries last July.

An American Act, which came into force this July, resulted in the cut off of provision of military assistance to states that are parties to the International Criminal Court and that have not entered into specific agreements with the US.

The court's headquarters are at The Hague, in The Netherlands. It has universal jurisdiction. It is able to proceed against those who commit relevant crimes and delve into cases which national authorities would not themselves be able to process.