Fiches Belges

Law 144/9 previews and rules the procedures of transit, through Portugal, for cooperation with third States, for the EAW and for transit in connection of temporary transfer as established by Directive 2014/41/UE. The requests must be sent to the Prosecutor General's Office, central authority, and must include the following information: description of the circumstances of the transit (time, date and escorts involved), information on the procedure within which the transit occurs (execution of a EAW/extradition procedure/temporary transfer; State/authority that granted the surrender/extradition/temporary transfer; copy of the surrender/temporary transfer/recognition decision).

For transit during a surrender procedure (FWD 2002/584/JHA) or a procedure of temporary transfer (Directive 2014/41/UE) the applicable legal disposition is the generic rule, derived from the domestic Law on international cooperation (Law 144/99 from august 31st). In the case of transit in a procedure of enforcement of a foreign decision the applicable Law is Law 158/2015, from september 17th, that transposed FWD 2008/909/JHA.

For cases of EAW or Directive 2014/41/UE the competent authority is the Minister of Justice. For transit during a procedure of recognition of a foreign decision the competence belongs to the Courts of Appeal.

Requests must be received in Portuguese or with a Portuguese translation. Translated pieces into Spanish, French or English can be considered on a case by case basis.

The Law does not establish dead lines but it states that decision must be taken in a very short delay. Since these procedures tend to be very urgent the main problem arises not from deadlines but short notice of requests.

The applicable Law for transit in the frame of a procedure of recognition in view of enforcement is specific to EU States. For all the others, since the applicable rules are general, there is no distinction between EU MS and third States.