The EJN Contact Points of the Netherlands
As described above the Netherlands has 10 International Legal Assistance Centres (IRC’s) one National IRC (LIRC) and the Department for International Affairs and Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. For each IRC including the LIRC at least one public prosecutor has been assigned to fulfil the role as an EJN Contact Point. By choosing for this structure all the regions in the Netherlands are covered by an EJN Contact Point. These Regional Contact Points can be contacted for questions about operational affairs and penal matters to be executed within their IRC region or, if applicable, for questions about Framework Decisions in case this IRC is also the Central Authority for the execution of a specific instrument. Moreover, an EJN Contact Point for the judges can be contacted to advise about questions in penal matters of judges within the EU member states, who are also connected to this network. The Ministry of Security and Justice is also a Contact Point to be contacted for information on foreign law, policy matters or questionnaires that do not affect operational matters. All the EJN Contact Points in the Netherlands are in close contact with each other. In case a question by any EJN Contact Point of another EU member state is not addressed to the right Contact Point for the Netherlands, the question will be forwarded to the right Contact Point and the requesting authority will be notified about the transfer.