Paragraph 3: Appearance before the Investigating Chamber

The proceedings are immediately referred to the Investigating Chamber. The wanted person shall appear before it within five working days from the date of his presentation to the public prosecutor.

When the wanted person appears, the investigating chamber establishes his or her identity and takes his or her statements, a record of which is drawn up. The hearing is public, unless publicity is likely to prejudice the proper conduct of the proceedings in progress, the interests of a third party or the dignity of the person. In this case, the Investigating Chamber, at the request of the Public Prosecutor, the…

If, at the time of his appearance, the wanted person declares that he consents to his surrender, the investigating chamber informs him of the legal consequences of his consent and of its irrevocable nature. When the wanted person maintains his consent to surrender, the Investigating Chamber asks him whether he intends to waive the rule of speciality, after having informed him of the legal consequences of such a waiver and…

Where the wanted person is of French nationality or has been lawfully resident on French territory uninterruptedly for at least five years, the execution of the European arrest warrant may be made subject to verification that he or she can be returned to France to serve the sentence that may be handed down by the judicial authority of the issuing State for the acts that are the subject of the…

If the Investigating Chamber considers that the information communicated by the issuing Member State in the European arrest warrant is insufficient to enable it to rule on the surrender, it shall request the judicial authority of that State to provide the necessary additional information within a maximum of ten days of receipt.

Release may be requested at any time from the Investigating Chamber in accordance with the forms provided for in Articles 148-6 and 148-7. The wanted person’s lawyer is summoned, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, at least forty-eight hours before the date of the hearing. After hearing the Public Prosecutor and the requested person or his lawyer, the Investigating Chamber shall rule as soon as possible and at the…

The release or modification of judicial supervision or electronically monitored house arrest may be ordered at any time by the investigating chamber under the conditions provided for in article 199, either ex officio, on the application of the public prosecutor, or at the request of the wanted person after an opinion from the public prosecutor. The Investigating Chamber shall rule within fifteen days of the matter being referred to it.

If the wanted person voluntarily evades the obligations of judicial supervision or electronically monitored house arrest or if, after having been released without judicial supervision or electronically monitored house arrest, it appears that he or she clearly intends to evade the execution of a European arrest warrant, the Investigating Chamber may, on the application of the Public Prosecutor, issue an arrest warrant for him or her. The provisions of Article…