Fiches Belges

Under French law, service is made by a bailiff, in order to inform the person concerned in a sure and certain way. Service can also be made by the head of a prison, a clerk, a police officer, or a magistrate. The bailiff must take all necessary steps to ensure that the document is delivered to the person to whom it is addressed. If the person concerned is not at home, the copy of the document is delivered to a person residing at that home. In this case, the bailiff informs the person concerned by post. If no one is present at home, the bailiff informs the person concerned by post, inviting him or her to collect the copy of the document from the bailiff's office. If the person concerned do not have address or residence, the bailiff delivers a copy of the document to the public prosecutor's office.

• Article 7 of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959 and Articles 15 and 16 of the Second additional Protocol. • Article 5 of the MLA Convention of 29 May 2000.

• Article 16 of the Second additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959 : direct transmission to the person concerned by post. • MLA Convention of 29 May 2000 - article 5 paragraph 1 : direct transmission by post to the person concerned is the rule. Under paragraph 2 of this article, procedural documents may be sent via the competent authorities of the requested Member State only if: a) the address of the person for whom the document is destined is unknown or uncertain, b) the rules of procedure applicable in the requesting Member State require evidence of the service of the document upon the addressee other than the type of receipt that can be obtained when sending a document by post, c) it has not been possible to serve the document by post, or d) the requesting Member State has a legitimate reason to believe that service by post will prove to be unsuccessful or inappropriate. Apart from in the case of paragraph 1 of article 5, it will therefore be the judicial authority that has territorial jurisdiction which receives the request, namely the public prosecutor who has territorial jurisdiction. The request can also be addressed to the General Prosecutor, who will forward it to the competent magistrate.

• Convention of 29 May 2000 : translation is not required unless "there is reason to believe that the addressee does not understand the language in which the document has been drawn up". In this last case "the document, or at least the important passages, must be translated into the (or one of the) language(s) of the Member State on the territory of which the addressee is located" (paragraph 3 of article 5 of the Convention). In addition, if the authority which issued the document knows that the addressee only speaks one, different, language, the document, or at least the important passages of the document, must be translated into that other language. • European Convention of 20 April 1959: translation in French is not required. Article 15 of the Second additional Protocol : Procedural documents and judicial decisions shall always be delivered in the language or languages in which they were produced. If the issuing authority knows, or has reason to believe, that the addressee knows only one other language, the documents, or at least the most important passages thereof, must be accompanied by a translation into that other language.

There is no deadline for the execution of requests for assistance in French criminal law. However, it is possible to ask for a deadline to be observed ; such a deadline will, however, only be regarded as a general guide.

Regardless of the legal instrument on which the request is based, the requesting authority can ask for particular procedural rules to be followed, in accordance with article 694-3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure providing that such rules must not reduce or impair “the rights of the parties or the procedural guarantees provided by the present Code”. The request can be refused if it is likely to harm public order or the essential interests of the Nation, as provided by article 694-4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Under article 5 of the Convention of 29 May 2000, all ""procedural documents shall be accompanied by a note indicating that the addressee can obtain, from the authority which issued the document, or from other authorities of the Member State concerned, information on his rights and obligations in relation to the document"" (paragraph 4 of article 5 of this Convention). The provisions relating to the necessity for a translation also apply to this note. The same provision is provided by article 16 of the Second Additional Protocol to the Convention of 20 April 1959.