Fiches Belges

The request for communication of extracts from the criminal record refers to the request made by any competent foreign authority to obtain an extract from criminal record, whether in the context of criminal or administrative proceedings or in support of an individual's request. In France, it therefore applies to requests for what, in domestic law, is referred to as bulletin n°1, n°2 or n°3 of the criminal record. As far as the legal requirements are concerned, it is up to the foreign authority that intends to request such a bulletin from the French National Criminal Records Department (CJN) to ensure that there is an international convention in force that allows for such an exchange. In criminal matters, if such an agreement exists, the formal conditions for sending such a request must be respected (recipient authority, formal conditions of the request, etc.). In administrative matters (request for bulletin n°2) it is common for the conventions that allow this type of request to also provide that the CJN, in its capacity as the competent central authority, should first check whether French legislation allows the issue of such a bulletin under domestic law. EU Member States: Directive 2014/41/EU of 3 April 2014 does not constitute the legal basis for requests for criminal record extracts between EU Member States. These requests are covered by EU FD 2009/315/JHA and EU FD 2009/316/JHA, which have established ECRIS since 2012.

• EU member states: EU FD 2009/315/JHA and of 26 February 2009 and FD 2009/316/JHA of 6 April 2009. Directive 2014/41/EU of 3 April 2014. • Non-EU countries: The European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959 (Art. 13 and 15).

• On the basis of EU FD 2009/315/JHA of 26 February 2009: Articles 6 and 7 of FD 2009/315/JHA of 26 February 2009 deal specifically with such requests between Member States. As the CJN is connected to all the Member States' criminal records, only this channel should be used to make such a request, for which the CJN remains the competent authority. • On the basis of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959: It is the CJN, in its capacity as the department managing the processing of the automated criminal record set up on behalf of the Minister of Justice, which must be considered the competent authority to process such requests (Articles 13 and 15 of the Convention).

• Within ECRIS: No requirements for translation. The authority of the Member State wishing to obtain an extract from the French criminal record must address its request to its own criminal records department in accordance with its own procedures, which will forward the request to the French CJN department in accordance with the principles laid down in FD 2009/315 and FD 2009/316 mentioned above. • On the basis of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959: In principle, the request must be translated into French and sent to the CJN if it concerns criminal proceedings (example of a request for bulletin n°1). The CJN may be seized directly by the competent foreign judicial authority in this case.

• The CJN must respond within 10 days to any request for a bulletin in criminal matters made by a member state of the European Union via ECRIS. The same applies to administrative matters. If the request comes from an individual, the deadline is extended to 20 days. • Requests from the United Kingdom are processed within 20 days of receipt in accordance with the EU/UK agreement of 24 December 2020. • There is no time limit provided for in the convention of 20 April 1959, but, especially in criminal matters, the CJN service undertakes to process them within a time limit approaching that provided for by ECRIS. A commitment of reciprocity is also required from the requesting State.

It is to be noted that for foreign convictions that are included in the requested criminal record, the convicting State may require the CJN service not to communicate these convictions to authorities other than the French authorities. The CJN may then inform the requesting foreign authority to turn to the convicting State to obtain all necessary information. The principle of finality of the use of personal data thus transmitted must be respected by the requesting State. The request for extracts from criminal records for criminal proceedings cannot therefore be used subsequently in administrative matters. Between Member States of the European Union, it is recommended that requests for communication of criminal records be sent only to the criminal records department of the Member State of nationality if the person concerned is a national of a Member State. It is in fact this criminal records department that must keep all the criminal records of its nationals, including those from other Member States. For instance, such a request concerning a French national suspected of having been convicted by several European courts would be usefully addressed to the CJN alone (initially) through the ECRIS system.