Section 2: Extradition procedure under ordinary law

Subject to the provisions of the fourth paragraph, any request for extradition shall be sent to the French government through diplomatic channels and accompanied either by a judgment or a sentence, even in absentia, or an act of criminal procedure formally decreeing or operating ipso jure the transfer of the person prosecuted before the criminal court, or an arrest warrant or any other act having the same force and issued…

The extradition request is, after verification of the documents, forwarded, together with the file, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Minister of Justice who, after ensuring that the request is in order, sends it to the public prosecutor with territorial jurisdiction.

For the search for a person who is the subject of a request for extradition or provisional arrest for the purposes of extradition, Articles 74-2 and 230-33 are applicable. The powers of the public prosecutor and the liberty and custody judge provided for by this article are exercised respectively by the public prosecutor and the president of the investigating chamber or the councillor appointed by him or her.

Any person apprehended following an extradition request must be brought before the territorially competent public prosecutor within forty-eight hours. The articles 63-1 to 63-7 are applicable during this period. After verifying the identity of the person claimed, the Public Prosecutor shall inform him, in a language he understands, of the existence and content of the extradition request against him and advise him that he may be assisted by a lawyer…

Following notification of the extradition request, if he decides not to release the person claimed, the public prosecutor shall present him to the first president of the court of appeal or to the judge designated by him. The first president of the court of appeal or the sitting magistrate designated by him orders the imprisonment and extradition of the person claimed at the remand centre at the seat of the…

Where the person claimed has declared to the Public Prosecutor that he consents to his extradition, the proceedings are immediately referred to the Investigating Chamber. The person claimed shall appear before it within five working days from the date of his presentation to the Attorney General. When the person claimed appears, the Investigating Chamber shall establish his identity and take his statements. A record of this shall be drawn up….

If, at the time of his appearance, the person claimed declares that he consents to be extradited and that the legal conditions for extradition have been fulfilled, the investigating chamber, after informing that person of the legal consequences of his consent, shall acknowledge it within seven days from the date of his appearance, unless further information has been ordered. The judgment of the investigating chamber is not subject to appeal.

Where the person claimed has declared to the Public Prosecutor that he does not consent to his extradition, the proceedings shall be referred to the Investigating Chamber without delay. The person claimed shall appear before it within ten working days from the date of his presentation to the Attorney General. The provisions of the second, third and fourth paragraphs of Article 696-13 shall apply. If, at the time of his…

The investigating chamber may, by a decision which is not subject to appeal, authorise the requesting State to intervene at the hearing at which the extradition request is considered, through a person authorised by that State for that purpose. Where the requesting State is authorised to intervene, it shall not become a party to the proceedings.

If the reasoned opinion of the investigating chamber postpones the extradition request and that opinion is final, extradition cannot be granted. The person claimed, if not detained for another reason, is then automatically released.