Title X: International Mutual Legal Assistance

In the absence of an international agreement stipulating otherwise: 1° Requests for mutual assistance from French judicial authorities to foreign judicial authorities shall be transmitted via the Ministry of Justice. Implementing documents are returned to the authorities of the requesting State through the same channel; 2° Requests for mutual assistance from foreign judicial authorities and intended for the French judicial authorities are transmitted through diplomatic channels. Execution documents shall be…

In urgent cases, requests for mutual assistance from foreign judicial authorities shall be forwarded, according to the distinctions provided for in Article 694-2, to the public prosecutor or investigating judge of the territorially competent judicial court. They may also be sent to these magistrates via the public prosecutor. If the public prosecutor receives a request for mutual assistance directly from a foreign authority that can only be executed by the…

Requests for mutual assistance from foreign judicial authorities shall be executed by the public prosecutor or by officers or agents of the judicial police requested for this purpose by that magistrate. They shall be executed by the investigating judge or by officers of the judicial police acting on a rogatory commission from that magistrate when they require certain procedural acts that can only be ordered or executed during a preparatory…

Requests for mutual assistance from foreign judicial authorities shall be executed in accordance with the procedural rules provided for by this Code. However, if the request for mutual assistance so specifies, it shall be executed in accordance with the procedural rules expressly indicated by the competent authorities of the requesting State, provided, on pain of nullity, that such rules do not reduce the rights of the parties or the procedural…

If the execution of a request for mutual assistance from a foreign judicial authority is likely to undermine public order or the essential interests of the Nation, the Public Prosecutor to whom the request has been referred or who has been notified of the request pursuant to the third paragraph of Article 694-1 shall forward it to the Public Prosecutor who shall determine whether to refer the matter to the…

If a request for mutual assistance from a foreign judicial authority concerns acts committed outside national territory that are likely to be connected with the missions carried out, for the purposes of defending and promoting the fundamental interests of the Nation provided for in article L. 811-3 of the Internal Security Code, by a specialised intelligence service provided for in article L. 811-2 of the same code, the public prosecutor…