Fiches Belges

The legal basis under Belgian Law is the Law of 19 December 2003 related to the European Arrest Warrant as amended by the law of 25 April 2014 and the law of 5 February 2016.

Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States.

* receive the request/decision for judicial cooperation The public prosecutor who is territorially competent; If not known: the federal public prosecutor or the central authority of the Belgian Ministry of Justice. * execute/recognise the measure (if other than the receiving authority) If the person consents: the public prosecutor If the person does not consent: 'Chambre du Conseil' (subsidiary competence).

The EAW should be drawn up in or translated into 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. When Belgium is the issuing State of an EAW request, generally the executing Member State will indicate the time limit for the translation in a follow-up communication after the "HIT" (successful match in the system) was received. The Belgian authorities will respect this deadline and will commission an urgent translation if needed. When Belgium is the executing State of an EAW request, a translation in the official working language of the competent authority must be available before the case is brought before the Council Chamber. The Council Chamber must rule on the matter within 15 days following the arrest ("HIT"), so the specific deadline for a translation may vary, but the delay generally does not exceed 10 days. The specific delay for the translation is communicated either directly or via police channels (SIRENE). Belgium accepts transmission of EAW translations via SIS.

The decision on the execution is usually taken within sixty days maximum (including legal remedies); The surrender will, in principle, take place within ten days after the decision.

Time limits to receive the EAW after the provisional arrest of the person sought: Belgian law does not lay down a time limit for receiving the original or a copy of the European arrest warrant. However, the European arrest warrant must be available at the time when the person is entitled to have access to his file before being heard by the Chambre du Conseil. Consequently, European arrest warrants should be sent to the Belgian authorities within 10 days of the person's arrest. Either the original or a certified true copy of the European arrest warrant should be sent. Dual criminality: the execution of a European arrest warrant may be refused if the offence for which the European arrest warrant was issued does not constitute an offence under Belgian law unless the issuing judicial authority has indicated that the offence falls within one of the 32 categories of offence for which the double criminality requirement has been withdrawn . Euthanasia and abortion permitted under Belgian law will not be considered to be covered by the category of offence "murder". Belgian law does not provide any express provisions for the surrender of individuals for 'accessory offences' (offences not meeting the 12-month threshold) in relevant legal resources. Surrender for the purpose of prosecution cannot be granted by Belgium for offences that, in the legislation of the requesting state, are not punishable by a sentence of at least 12 months. This primarily concerns surrender for the purpose of prosecution since only in hypothesis article 2.1 of FD 2002/584 requires (allows) the executing Member State to look at the separate facts for which the EAW was issued. When receiving a European Arrest Warrant for the purpose of sentence execution, Belgium will only verify whether the threshold of min. 4 months imprisonment is met without looking at the (penalisation of the) separate facts for which this sentence was imposed. The condition of double incrimination remains.