Luxembourg

The organisation of the judiciary in criminal matters

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is divided into two judicial districts, namely Luxembourg and Diekirch. Each district has a district court. The district courts in particular have criminal jurisdiction for the most serious criminal offences, i.e. crimes (“crimes”) and misdemeanors (“délits”). All crimes, as well as some serious or complex misdemeanors that are likely to require the use of coercive measures, are handled by investigating magistrates having their chambers in the district courts. In total, there are fourteen investigating magistrates in Luxembourg.

The judiciary jurisdictions are headed by the Luxembourg Superior Court of Justice, which includes a Supreme Court as well as a Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court mainly has jurisdiction for proceedings for annulment or appeals on a point of law relating to judgments rendered by the Court of Appeal and certain judgments of first instance rendered as a last resort. The Court of Appeal comprises a criminal Chamber which has jurisdiction for the judgments rendered by the criminal chambers of the two district courts.

Public prosecution is exercised independently under the direction of the General Prosecutor. The General Prosecution Service exercises at the Superior Court of Justice; at every district court, there is a Public Prosecution Service represented by a Chief Prosecutor and his delegates (“substituts”). The total staff of the Public Prosecution Service is forty-six judges (twelve at the General Prosecution Service, twenty-nine at the Luxembourg Prosecution Service and five at the Diekirch Prosecution Service).

For more information:

Organisation of justice - the judicial system - Luxembourg (e-Justice website)

Organisation of justice - Administration judiciaire website (in French)

Mutual legal assistance in criminal matters

A statute of 8th August 2000 concerning mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, as amended, designates the General Prosecutor as the central authority for receiving all mutual legal assistance requests issued by international and national judiciary authorities and aiming at the execution of coercive judicial measures requiring the intervention of the Luxembourgish investigating magistrate on Luxembourg territory. The legislator’s intention has been to de-politise international mutual legal assistance in criminal matters by excluding the intervention of the Ministry of Justice.

In order to fulfil its role of central authority, the General Prosecution Service has set up a specific unit, the service for international mutual legal assistance in criminal matters (“Service d’Entraide Pénale Internationale”), with specialized judges as well as an own secretariat having material and informatics
means necessary for the execution of its task. The service for international mutual legal assistance in criminal matters deals with approximately five hundred international requests per year, and drafts the relevant statistics published with the annual report on Justice.

The General Prosecutor also is the central authority in charge of confiscation and restitution decisions rendered by foreign courts, as well as the application of a certain number of international conventions against international crime.

Luxembourg has delegated a national member to Eurojust in The Hague in the Netherlands, and participates in the European Judicial Network in criminal matters with three contact points.

The European Judicial Network is organised so as to cover all judicial districts and include the main actors of criminal proceedings.
Thus, there is at least one representative of the EJN in each judicial district. Currently, two contact points are based in the Luxembourg district, and one is based in the Diekirch district.
The two main actors in criminal proceedings, i.e. the prosecutor and the investigating magistrate, are also represented within the EJN. Two of the current contact points are members of the Prosecution Service, the third one being an investigating magistrate.
One of the three contact points is also the national correspondent, whereas another one simultaneously assumes the role of tool correspondent.
The EJN is represented within the Eurojust National Coordination System (ENCS) by the national correspondent, another contact point as well as the tool correspondent.