Fiches Belges

The investigative authorities of a party to the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement may carry out a hot cross-border pursuit without prior authorization where: - a person is caught in the act of committing or participating in an offence provided for in paragraph 4 of article 41 ; - or the pursued person has escaped while being under provisional arrest or serving a custodial sentence. The flagrante delicto is defined at article 53 of the French Criminal code of procedure as the offence that is currently being committed or has just been committed. There is also flagrante delicto when in the immediate vicinity of the action, the suspect is pursued or has been caught in possession of objects or presents element suggesting he has participated in the offence. The person must be fleeing to a neighboring State without its authorities having been able to be notified in time of the entry into the territory or having been able to go there to carry on the pursuit. At the latest when the border is crossed, the investigative authority must call on the competent authority of the Party on which territory the pursuit takes place. The public prosecutor territorially competent shall be informed of the pursuit. The information shall specify the identity and the status of the foreign investigative authorities or at least of the agent responsible for the pursuit as well as the facts for which the pursuit was initiated and if possible, the identity of the person pursued. According to the declaration made by the French government under article 41 paragraph 9 of the convention, the foreign authorities are not entitled to arrest the offender on the French territory. Nevertheless, under article 73 of the French Criminal Code of Procedure they are entitled to apprehend the person in order surrender him/her to French authorities that are the only ones entitled to arrest the offender. Prosecuting officers may request the arrest of the person in order to for their authority to send a request for provisional arrest in order to extradite the offender if he or she is foreign, or a denunciation or complaint in order to prosecute the offender in France if she or he is French. They may also only request the verification of the offender’s identity.

Article 41 of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and French government's declaration under article 41 paragraph 9.

The public prosecutor territorially competent is competent to decide whether the pursuit shall continue or stop.

N/A

The convention does not limit the duration of the pursuit. Nevertheless, it shall not exceed a reasonable period of time, which should not normally exceed a few hours excepting in exceptional circumstances.

The pursuit may be executed when the following offence have been committed: - assault on life, rape, drug trafficking, kidnapping and hostage-taking, procuring, working and living conditions contrary to human dignity, corruption of minors, use of a pornographic image of a minor, aggravated robbery, extortion, aggravated handling of stolen goods, destruction, degradation or deterioration of property belonging to others through the effect of an explosive substance or fire, and manufacture of and trafficking in counterfeit money; - manufacture or possession of machinery, lethal or explosive devices; - production, sale, import or export of explosive substances; - possession, carrying and transport of weapons and ammunition of the first and fourth categories and illegitimate acquisition, possession, transport or carrying of explosive substances or devices made with such substances; - offences defined in Articles 1 and 4 of Law No. 72-467 of 9 June 1972 prohibiting the development, manufacture, possession, storage, acquisition and transfer of biological or toxin-based weapons; - trafficking in labor as defined by Articles L. 152-3, L. 364-1, L. 364-4 and L. 364-5 of the Labor Code; - offences defined in Article 24(9) of Law No. 75-633 of 15 July 1975 on the elimination of waste and the recovery of materials; - smuggling offences defined in Article 414 of the Customs Code when they concern narcotics, psychotropic substances, weapons, explosives and toxic or harmful waste. - terrorism Concerning the border between France and Belgium and France and Germany, the pursuit may be carried out without limitation in space or time. Concerning the border between France and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the pursuit may be carried out within a 10 km radius on either side of the border.