Fiches Belges

Summoning persons for the purpose of hearing them as witnesses or summoning suspects/persons accused is possible in the course of pre-trial proceedings, as well as in the course of trial. If a witness does not appear voluntarily before the authority that summoned them, they can be produced or fined.

Convention of 29 May 2000 on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union; European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters 1959 and its Protocols (separate service of any document, including summonses, does not fall under the EIO).

* receive the request/decision for judicial cooperation If only a summons is served, the competent authority is the district public prosecutor's office for pre-trial stage of the proceedings and the district court for trial stage of the proceedings. If, in addition to the service of the summons, it is also required to carry out any act of gathering of evidence falling under an EIO (e.g. hearing of a person), the competent authority is the regional public prosecutor's office for pre-trial stage of the proceedings and the regional court for trial stage of the proceedings. * execute/recognise the measure (if other than the receiving authority)

When proceeding according to COE 1959 Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and its additional Protocols and the EU 2000 Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, translation of requests into Czech language in not required on the condition of reciprocity.

In accordance with the declaration made by the Czech Republic to article 7 of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, the service of a summons on an accused person who is in the territory of the Czech Republic shall be transmitted to the respective authorities of the Czech Republic at least 30 days before the date set for appearance.

The summons should be first sent to the person directly without assistance of Czech judicial authorities. If not successful, not possible or not appropriate in individual case, the Czech judicial authorities could be requested for assistance.