Title XVI: Prosecution, investigation and trial of drug trafficking offences

The offences provided for by articles 222-34 to 222-40 of the Penal Code, as well as the offence of participation in a criminal association provided for by article 450-1 of the same code when its purpose is to prepare one of these offences, shall be prosecuted, investigated and judged according to the rules of this code, subject to the provisions of this title.

Within the jurisdiction of each court of appeal, one or more assize courts, the list of which shall be determined by decree, shall have jurisdiction to try the crimes referred to in Article 706-26 and related offences. For the trial of defendants who have reached the age of majority, the rules relating to the composition and operation of the assize court are set by the provisions of l’article 698-6. For…

For the purposes of investigating and establishing the offences referred to in Article 706-26, the visits, searches and seizures provided for by Article 59 may be carried out outside the hours provided for by this article inside premises where narcotics are used in company or where narcotics are manufactured, processed or stored unlawfully when these are not residential premises. The acts provided for in this article may not, on pain…

Where the provisions of the fourth paragraph of article 99-2 is applied to narcotic substances seized in the course of the proceedings, the investigating judge must retain a sample of these products in order to allow them to be examined, if necessary. This sample is placed under seal. The seized substances must be weighed by the investigating judge or by a judicial police officer acting on a rogatory commission before…

As an exception to the provisions of Article 750, the maximum duration of judicial restraint is set at one year when the fine and pecuniary penalties imposed for one of the offences mentioned in article 706-26 or for related customs offences exceed €100,000.

Without prejudice to the provisions of articles 706-81 to 706-87 of this code, and for the sole purpose of recording the offences of acquiring, offering or transferring narcotics referred to in articles 222-37 and 222-39 of the Penal Code, to identify the perpetrators and accomplices and to carry out the seizures provided for in this Code, officers of the judicial police and, under their authority, judicial police officers may, with…

In the event of prosecution for one of the offences referred to in Article 706-26, the investigating judge may provisionally order, for a period of up to six months, the closure of any hotel, furnished house, guesthouse, public house, restaurant, club, circle, dance hall, place of entertainment or their annexes or any place whatsoever open to the public or used by the public, where these offences have been committed by…