Fiches Belges: Pays-Bas

Is this measure possible in your Member State under International Judicial Cooperation?

See under section 501, 1. One can doubt whether there is at this moment a treaty, EU framework or EU directive that provides for the possibility to seize any good that belongs to the suspect to secure the possibility to (in the end) compensate victims as described under section 501, 1 under D. However, the Dutch criminal procedure code provides for the possibility to return the seized good, after the seizure to another person which can reasonably be considered as being the rightful owner of the good (f.e. a stolen good) . The public prosecutor can decide this if the person under whom the good has been seized no longer claims the good. He has to state this in writings. Without such a written declaration, the public prosecutor can still decide this, if the intention to return the good to the rightful owner has been made known to the person under which the item has been seized and this person did not file a complaint against this decision within 14 days. If this person, however, complains against this decision within 14 days. The court will decide whether the good can be returned to the person that can reasonably be considered as being the rightful owner. The basis for returning the good to the person that can reasonably be considered as being the rightful owner can be found f.e. in article 8 of the EU Agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters (Brussel, 29-05-2000) or f.e. article 14 of the UNTOC (New York, 15 November 2000)and article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1805. With regard to seized assets in general, restitution is possible after these have been confiscated by the court within the framework of the asset sharing. The confiscated assets can be transferred to the requesting member state in this phase for the purpose of the compensation of victims. The competent authority for asset sharing is the Minister of Justice and Security in the Netherlands. See for this f.e. article 30 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1805.

International legal framework applicable for this measure in your Member State

See section 501,2.

* receive the request/decision for judicial cooperation

See under section 501 and under 503,1.

* execute/recognise the measure (if other than the receiving authority)

See under section 501 and under 503,1.

Accepted languages for the request/decision

See under section 501,4.

Deadlines for the execution of the request/decision (where applicable)

See under section 501,5.

a. Special requirements

See under section 501, 6 a.

b. Other useful information

See under section 501, 6 b.