Fiches Belges

Measure taken during an inquiry, the aim of which is to verify and establish the existence of facts that may have escaped the attention of a non-specialist.

1959 Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters; Directive 2014/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters (Article 3).

* receive the request/decision for judicial cooperation The 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 request must be sent to the federal prosecutor’s office - section of international cooperation. * execute/recognise the measure (if other than the receiving authority) The public prosecutor or investigating judge within the framework of his or her general competence.

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

The deadlines as foreseen in the EIO Directive are applicable. There is no specificspecific deadline foreseen by Belgian law for the execution of letters of request. If the requested deadline cannot be respected, the requesting state will be informed accordingly.

a. Special requirements Content of the international letters rogatory: at least Article 5 of the Directive 2014/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters. b. Other useful information The appointed expert must take an oath. As far as expertise with regard to DNA is concerned, this can only be entrusted to an approved laboratory and cannot be requested for offences punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 years or less by the investigating judge (Article 90undecies of the CIC).