Fiches Belges

This measure allows the sending of convocations and other procedural documents concerning judicial proceedings, issued by competent judicial authorities to the attention of persons having their residenceresidence in Belgium.

1959 Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters; 2000 Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union.

* receive the request/decision for judicial cooperation The letter of request must be sent to the local public prosecutor’s office of the geographical area where the investigating measure must be executed. If this area is not known, the letter of request must be sent to the federal prosecutor’s office - section of international cooperation.

Dutch, French, German and English. Important remarks: Before the execution, the letter of request will be translated by the Belgian prosecutor if the language is not the language of the judicial area where the letter of request must be executed. It is recommended, when possible, to obtain, prior to sending the request, information about the use of the correct language.

There is no specific deadline foreseen by the Belgian law for the execution of letters of request. If the requested deadline cannot be respected, the requesting state will be informed accordingly.

Principle: procedural documents are sent to the addressee directly by post. Notification via the public prosecutor or the central authority is only possible if: - the address of the addressee is unknown or uncertain; - the relevant procedural law of the requesting State requires proof of service of the document on the addressee, other than proof that can be obtained by post; - impossibility of serving the document by post; or - the requesting State has justified reasons for considering that dispatch by post will be ineffective or is inappropriate (Article 5 of the 2000 Convention).).