TITLE XXXII: PROCEDURE APPLICABLE TO OFFENCES RELATING TO THE PROLIFERATION OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND THEIR MEANS OF DELIVERY

For the prosecution, investigation and trial of offences falling within the scope of Article 706-167, the anti-terrorist public prosecutor, the investigating judge, the criminal court and the Paris assize court exercise concurrent jurisdiction with that resulting from the application of Articles 43,52,382 and 702. As regards minors, the anti-terrorist public prosecutor, the investigating judge, the juvenile judge, the juvenile court and the Paris juvenile assize court exercise concurrent jurisdiction with…

The public prosecutor at a judicial court other than that of Paris may, for offences falling within the scope of Article 706-167, request the investigating judge to relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Paris investigating court. The parties shall be notified in advance and invited to make their observations by the investigating judge; the order shall be made eight days at the earliest and one month at the latest from…

Where it appears to the Paris examining magistrate that the acts referred to him do not constitute one of the offences falling within the scope of Article 706-167 and do not fall within its jurisdiction in any other respect, this magistrate shall declare himself incompetent either at the request of the Anti-Terrorism Public Prosecutor or, after receiving the latter’s opinion, of his own motion or at the request of the…

Where the Paris Criminal Court or Juvenile Court declares that it does not have jurisdiction on the grounds set out in Article 706-170, it shall refer the Public Prosecutor’s Office to take action as it sees fit; it may, after hearing the Public Prosecutor’s Office, issue, by the same decision, a committal or arrest warrant for the accused.

In the cases provided for by articles 706-169 à 706-171, the committal order or arrest warrant remains enforceable; the acts of prosecution or investigation and the formalities carried out before the decision to relinquish jurisdiction or competence became final do not have to be renewed.

Any order made on the basis of articles 706-169 or 706-170 by which an examining magistrate rules that he is no longer competent or the Paris examining magistrate rules that he is competent may, to the exclusion of all other means of appeal, be referred within five days of notification, at the request of the Public Prosecutor or the parties, to the Criminal Division of the Cour de Cassation, which…