Fiches Belges

Yes. If stipulated by an international treaty binding upon the Czech Republic (such treaties can be i.e. Art. 52 of the Schengen implementation treaty or Art. 5 the Convention of 29 May 2000 on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union) procedural documents may be delivered to the addressees in the territory of a foreign state directly by post in accordance with the regulations applicable for postal communication. Otherwise it is necessary to ask for service of procedural documents via letter rogatory.

• Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Strasbourg, 1959) with Protocols • Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union (Brussels, 2000) • Art. 52 of the Schengen implementation treaty

* receive the request/decision for judicial cooperation In cases where direct service is unsuccessful/ impossible a request for judicial assistance in criminal matters must be sent to the District Public Prosecutor’s Office, if the proceeding conducted in the foreign state is in the pre-trial stage, and otherwise the District Court, in the jurisdiction of which is the service to be realized. * 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.

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According to Section 52 of the Czech Act No. 104/2013 Coll. on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters Service of Documents (1) Addressee in the Czech Republic may be served documents drawn up in the language that is assumed, with regard to all circumstances, to be understood by the addressee, or documents provided by a translation into this language. (2) If the document is not drawn up in language according to conditions referred to in Sub-section (1), or provided with a translation into this language, the foreign authority will be requested to provide translation of the document and at the same time will be advised that otherwise the document without a translation will be served to the addressee only under the conditions of sentence three. If an international treaty stipulates that the foreign authority is not obliged to provide translation of documents, it will be provided by the judicial authority competent for executing the request of the foreign authority for legal assistance. Translation of documents is not necessary, if the addressee, after being advised on the option to refuse personal service of documents in a language he does not understand, which are not provided with a translation into a language he understands, declares that he is willing to accept the documents. (3) Documents will be served to the addressee pursuant to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure on process serving. On the basis of an explicit request on the foreign authority the documents may be served personally or through a judicial authority, which will draw up a protocol of the service. The protocol will reflect, in addition to requirements referred to in Section 55 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure also the exact specification of the served documents. (4) The foreign authority may serve documents to an addressee in the Czech Republic directly through a postal services provider only if it is allowed by an international treaty or with a previous consent of the Minister of Justice according to Section 4 (4). (5) If the served documents contain a threat of enforcement, such threat is ineffective in the territory of the Czech Republic.