Summary

Representatives from 120 states including Estonia signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court at a UN diplomatic conference held in Rome in 1998. However, the Republic of Estonia has not ratified the Statute yet.
The article gives an overview of attempts at establishing an international criminal court which were made at its pre-establishment phase and examines the course of drafting the Statute. The author analyses in depth the competence of the International Criminal Court focusing on issues concerning the supremacy of its jurisdiction, and its material and temporal jurisdiction and legal personality. The author also examines the concept of crime as defined by the Statute. The definition given in the Statute is rather fragmentary and determination of the elements of crime is delegated to the Assembly of States Party. Further, the author outlines the criminal procedure under the Statute. The author points out that since decision of several important issues has been delegated to the Assembly of States Party, the purpose of the convention is to lay down the most general principles of criminal law. The author analyses in detail the possible contradictions between the Rome Statute and the Estonian law which are primarily related to the constitutional immunity provisions and which, in the author's opinion, can be resolved by interpretation of the Constitution.