Fiches Belges

Under Section 8 (2) of the Czech Penal Procedural Code it is possible to ask for banking information (including information from a record of securities) if it is necessary in the course of criminal proceedings for proper clarification of circumstances suggesting that a criminal offence has been committed, or in the court proceedings also for the purpose of considering the defendant's asset relations or of execution of a decision. It is also possible to order a monitoring of a bank account or an account at the Centre for Securities under the same conditions. Section 8 (2): If the criminal proceedings require a proper investigation of the circumstances suggesting that a criminal offence has been committed or to assess the circumstances of the accused during court proceedings or for the enforcement of a decision, the public prosecutor and, after the indictment or a punishment petition, the presiding judge may request information that is subject to banking secrecy and data from the security register. In criminal proceedings conducted on a criminal act described in Section 180 of the Criminal Code, the law enforcement authority may request individual data obtained under a special Act for statistical purposes during the criminal proceedings. The conditions under which the law enforcement authority may require the data obtained in the administration of taxes are stipulated under a special Act. Data obtained under this provision may not be used for a purpose other than the criminal proceedings for which such data was requested. Section 8 (3): For the reasons as stated in Subsection 2, the presiding judge may, and upon the proposal of the public prosecutor during a preliminary hearing, order the surveillance of the bank accounts or accounts of persons entitled to the records of investment instruments under a special Act for a maximum period of six months. If the reason for which the surveillance of an account was ordered exceeds this time, it may be extended upon the order of a judge from a court of higher instance and, during preliminary hearing, upon the proposal of the public prosecutor of the County Court judge for a further six months, and such prolongation can be performed repeatedly. Information obtained under this provision may not be used for a purpose other than the criminal proceedings for which it was obtained.

Directive 2014/41/EU regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters was implemented in the Czech law and the EIO became effective as of 16 August 2018. It is applicable in relation to the Member States, which have also implemented the EIO Directive. For the countries, which have not implemented the EIO Directive so far, the following legal framework is applicable: • Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union (Brussels, 2000) amended by the Protocol (Luxembourg, 2001)

* receive the request/decision for judicial cooperation The EIO or request for banking information and information from tax proceedings shall be delivered to presiding judge and in preliminary proceeding to public prosecutor of one the regional prosecutor’s offices. The same applies to EIOs and requests concerning monitoring of a bank account or an account at the Centre for Securities. * execute/recognise the measure (if other than the receiving authority)

EIO – Czech and Slovak. 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.

The EIO – deadline stipulated by the EIO Directive are implemented.

a. Special requirements Obtained banking or tax information must not be used in another criminal proceedings than the one in which they were requested. b. Other useful information Request for the mutual legal assistance in criminal matters is essential. The banking or tax information obtained in a given criminal matter may not be utilised for any other purpose than the criminal proceedings within the framework of which they have been required. Due to rather technical character of this co-operation no participation of agents of the requesting State is anticipated.