Paragraph 5: Procedures for the performance of judicial police duties by authorised customs officers

Customs officers performing judicial police duties pursuant to Article 28-1 are directed as appropriate either by the public prosecutor or by the requesting investigating judge. On the occasion of a judicial investigation or the execution of a letter rogatory, they may only seek or receive orders or instructions from the judicial authority that requested them.

For these officers, judicial police missions take precedence over any other mission for which they may be responsible at the same time.

Authorised customs officers must state their name and capacity in all reports they draw up in matters of criminal investigation.

When acting in the context of a preliminary investigation, authorised customs officers may relate in a single report the various operations carried out in the course of the same investigation. If several of these officers are involved in a preliminary investigation, the name of the officer who personally carried out each of the operations must be specified.

When executing a letter rogatory or acting under the flagrante delicto procedure, authorised customs officers shall draw up separate procès-verbaux for each of the acts they are called upon to perform. Each procès-verbal shall state the name and capacity of the authorised customs officer who personally acted, to the exclusion of all others.

The customs officer appointed to carry out a judicial police mission shall immediately report to the public prosecutor or the requesting investigating judge if the latter has ordered such diligence. He shall inform him without delay of any difficulties that may arise and seek his instructions. He shall keep him regularly informed of his activities. .