Section 9: Expertise

Any investigating or trial court, where a technical question arises, may, either at the request of the public prosecutor or of its own motion, or at the request of the parties, order an expert report. The public prosecutor or the party requesting an expert report may specify in their request the questions they would like the expert to ask. Where the investigating judge considers that he should not grant a…

Experts are chosen from natural or legal persons who appear on the national list drawn up by the Cour de cassation or on one of the lists drawn up by the Courts of Appeal under the conditions provided for by the loi n° 71-498 du 29 juin 1971 relative aux experts judiciaires. Exceptionally, the courts may, by reasoned decision, choose experts who do not appear on any of these lists.

If the expert appointed is a legal entity, its legal representative submits for the court’s approval the name of the natural person or persons who, within the legal entity and on its behalf, will carry out the expertise.

Expertise may also be requested from technical and scientific police services or organisations of the national police and the national gendarmerie, the list of which is set by joint order of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior. In this case, the head of the designated service or organisation submits the names of the persons who will carry out the expert examination to the court for approval.

The mission of the experts, which can only be to examine technical issues, is specified in the decision ordering the expertise.

The investigating judge appoints the expert responsible for carrying out the expert examination. If the circumstances justify it, he appoints several experts.

Experts not included on any of the lists mentioned in article 157 shall, each time they are appointed, take the oath provided for by the loi n° 71-498 du 29 juin 1971 relative aux experts judiciaires before the examining magistrate or the magistrate appointed by the court. The swearing-in report is signed by the competent magistrate, the expert and the court clerk. In the event of an impediment, the reasons…

Any decision appointing experts must set a time limit for them to complete their assignment. If special reasons so require, this time limit may be extended at the request of the experts and by a reasoned decision issued by the magistrate or court that appointed them. Experts who do not submit their report within the time limit set for them may be replaced immediately and must give an account of…

A copy of the decision ordering an expert opinion is sent without delay to the public prosecutor and to the parties, who have a period of ten days in which to ask the investigating judge, in accordance with the procedures set out in the penultimate paragraph of Article 81, to amend or supplement the questions put to the expert or to add to the expert or experts already appointed an…

If the period provided for in Article 161 exceeds one year, the investigating judge may request that a progress report be filed beforehand, which shall be notified to the parties in accordance with the procedures set out in Article 167. The parties may then send their observations to the expert and the judge at the same time with a view to the final report.