Czech Republic

Courts:

- Supreme Court of the Czech Republic

- high courts (2x) – in Olomouc and in Prague

- regional courts (7x) and the Municipal Court in Prague

- district courts (75x), district courts in Prague (10x) and the Municipal Court in Brno

Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic - stands outside the general court structure introduced above

Public prosecutor´s offices:

- Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Czech Republic

- high public prosecutor’s offices (2x) – in Olomouc and in Prague

- regional public prosecutor’s offices (7x) and the Municipal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prague

- district public prosecutor’s offices (75x), district public prosecutor’s offices in Prague (10x) and the Municipal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Brno

You can see also:

Providing the MLA

There are two central authorities for the mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. The Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Czech Republic is the competent central authority to receive the MLA request (mutual legal assistance request) in the pre-trial stage of criminal proceedings, otherwise the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic is the competent central authority (i.e. in the stage of criminal proceedings after an indictment has been submitted and when execution of sentences is concerned).

Unless the international treaty provides for a direct contact of judicial authorities (courts and state prosecutor’s offices), the contact via central authorities applies. At the present time, the vast majority of MLA requests from one EU Member State to another EU Member State are communicated directly between the competent judicial authorities of the EU Member States involved. 

The central authority will review the MLA request of the foreign authority especially in view of the conditions and requirements arising from the Act No. 104/2013 Coll., on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters, as amended, or by an international treaty and the conditions implied from previous mutual cooperation, and will forward it to a judicial authority competent for its execution, or return in along with stating reasons, for which it could not be forwarded for execution, or will request the required supplementations within a time limit set by it. If the foreign authority fails to send the requested supplementations within the set time limit without stating substantial reasons therefor, the central authority will send the request back.

If an international treaty allows for a direct contact between judicial authorities, the competence to accept the MLA request will pertain to the judicial authority competent for its execution according to the Act No. 104/2013 Coll., on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters, as amended. This judicial authority will review the request of the foreign authority from the view of the aspects referred to above and will proceed to its execution, or it will return the request with stating reasons, for which it was impossible to execute it, or will request the necessary supplementations within a time limit set by it.

If the MLA request/EIO,... was delivered to an authority, which is not competent to accept it, it will immediately forward it to the authority competent to accept it and will notify the foreign authority thereof.

In general, in case there are pre-trial proceedings being conducted in a foreign state, the competence to execute the MLA request/EIO,... will pertain to the regional public prosecutor’s office and otherwise to the regional court, in the jurisdiction of which the requested action of legal assistance is to be performed, unless the Act No. 104/2013 Coll., on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters, as amended, stipulates otherwise. In case the requested action of legal assistance consists solely in service of documents, competence for execution of the request of the foreign authority will pertain to the district public prosecutor’s office if there are pre-trial proceedings conducted in the foreign state, otherwise the district court, in the jurisdiction of which the service is to be realized.

The Act No. 104/2013 Coll., on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters, as amended, provides for judicial authorities competent for different particular acts of MLA. The competent authorities can be found via EJN Atlas and also via consultation of the EJN contact point of the Czech Republic.

If you have a complex legal assistance case, where investigative measures will need to be carried out in several judicial regions of the Czech Republic, it is sufficient to issue only one EIO (or 1 MLA request) and send it to one regional public prosecutor's office (if you are conducting pre-trial criminal proceedings) or one regional a court (if you are requesting cooperation in the trial) that is competent for at least one of the requested investigative measures.

Requesting the MLA

Legal assistance in a foreign state may be requested solely on the basis of a request of the public prosecutor and after submitting an indictment, on the basis of a request of the court. This does not preclude the public prosecutor from requesting legal assistance from his own initiative also after submitting an indictment, if it concerns obtaining evidence necessary for representing prosecution in trial proceedings. The judicial authority may send the MLA request and all other documents directly to the foreign authority only if an international treaty provides for a direct contact between judicial authorities in the course of realization of legal assistance. Otherwise, the public prosecutor will submit the MLA request to the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, the court to the Ministry of Justice.

There are 14 EJN contact points in the Czech Republic out of which 7 contact points work at the International Department for Criminal Matters of the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic, 5 contact points are the public prosecutors at the International Department of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Czech Republic and 2 contact points are judges (1 is appointed to the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem and 1 to the Regional Court in Brno).

Both, the national correspondent and the tools correspondent to the EJN work at the International Department for Criminal Matters of the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic.

The EJN contact points in the Czech Republic are appointed and dissmised by the minister of justice. The national correspondent to the EJN is also appointed and dissmised by the minister of justice.

The EJN contact points in the Czech Republic are mostly centralized at the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic and at the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Czech Republic which are the central authorities for international judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Legally vested powers of both authorities in the field of judicial cooperation and centralization of specialization and knowledge of contact points present a guarantee that the contact points are capable of effectively coordinating international cooperation on the entire territory of the Czech Republic. The EJN contact points in the Czech Republic are in close contact with each other. In case the request received by an EJN contact point from another Member State does not fall in competence of a contact point it was addressed to, the request will be forwarded to the competent contact point and the requesting contact point will be informed thereof.

 Judicial authorities competent to receive the European Arrest Warrant

1° European Arrest Warrant has to be served to the regional public prosecutor`s office in whose region the person whose surrender is sought resides or was arrested.

1.  Mestské státní zastupitelství v Praze

(Municipal State Prosecutor`s Office in Prague)

nám. 14. ríjna 2188/9

150 00 Praha 5

Tel.:  +420 257 111 611         

Fax:  +420 257 111 723

E-mail: podatelna@msz.pha.justice.cz

2. Krajské státní zastupitelství v Brne

(Regional State Prosecutor`s Office in Brno)

Mozartova 3

601 52 Brno

Tel.: +420 542 427 427

Fax: +420 542 215 004

E-mail: podatelna@ksz.brn.justice.cz 

3. Krajské státní zastupitelství v Praze

(Regional State Prosecutor`s Office in Prague)

Husova 11

110 01 Praha 1

Tel.:    +420 222 111 700

Fax: +420 222 220 075

E-mail: podatelna@ksz.pha.justice.cz 

4. Krajské státní zastupitelství v Ústí nad Labem

(Regional State Prosecutor`s Office in Ústí nad Labem)

Palác Zdar, Dlouhá 1

400 85 Ústí nad Labem

Tel.:  +420 477 105 900

Fax:  +420 477 105 999

E-mail: podatelna@ksz.unl.justice.cz 

5. Krajské státní zastupitelství v Ostrave

(Regional State Prosecutor`s Office in Ostrava)

Na Hradbách 21

729 01 Ostrava

Tel.:  +420 595 131 511

Fax:  +420 596 118 544

E-mail: :   podatelna@ksz.ova.justice.cz 

6. Krajské státní zastupitelství Českých Budějovicích

(Regional Public Prosecutor’s Office in České Budějovice)

Goethova 2

370 70 České Budejovice

Tel.:  +420 386 798 111

Fax:  +420 386 798 140

E-mail: posta@ksz.cbu.justice.cz 

7. Krajské státní zastupitelství v Plzni

(Regional Public Prosecutor’s Office in Plzeň)

Veleslavínova 38

306 36 Plzeň

Tel.:  +420 377 868 511

Fax:  +420 377 868 512

E-mail: podatelna@ksz.plz.justice.cz 

8. Krajské státní zastupitelství v Hradci Králové

(Regional Public Prosecutor`s Office in Hradec Králové)

Zieglerova 189

500 39  Hradec Králové

Tel.: +420 495 054 211

Fax: +420 495 512 946

E-mail: ksz@ksz.hrk.justice.cz

2° The Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic may be contacted at the address:

Ministerstvo spravedlnosti České republiky

Mezinárodní odbor trestní (International Department for Criminal Matters)

Vyšehradská 16

128 10 Praha 2

Tel.: +420 221 997 435

Fax: +420 221 997 986

E-mail: mot@msp.justice.cz

3° The Supreme Public Prosecutor`s Office may be contacted at the address:

Nejvyšší státní zastupitelství České republiky

Mezinárodní odbor (International Department)

Jezuitská 4

660 55 Brno

Tel.: +420 542 512 330

Fax: +420 542 512 350

E-mail: mo@nsz.brz.justice.cz

4° SIRENE National Headquarters may be contacted permanently (24/7) at the address:

Policejní prezidium České republiky (The Police Presidium of the Czech Republic)

odbor mezinárodní policejní spolupráce (International Police Cooperation Department)

Národní centrála SIRENE (National SIRENE Bureau)

P. O. Box 62/MPS, Strojnická 27

170 89 Praha 7

Tel.: + 420 974 834 210

Fax: + 420 974 716 716

Email: sirene@pcr.cz

5° The authority competent to grant transit through the territory of the Czech Republic is the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic. The request for transit shall be delivered to the following address:

Ministerstvo spravedlnosti České republiky

Mezinárodní odbor trestní (International Department for Criminal Matters)

Vyšehradská 16

128 10 Praha 2

Tel.: +420 221 997 435

Fax: +420 221 997 986

E-mail: mot@msp.justice.cz

6° In case of need the judicial authorities of the requesting state may contact the EJN contact points in the Czech Republic.

7º Time limits for the service of the European Arrest Warrant

European Arrest Warrant shall be delivered to the competent public prosecutor’s office within 20 days since taking the person into preliminary custody (i.e since arresting a person).

The Czech Republic accepts a European Arrest Warrant drawn up in Czech or accompanied by a translation into Czech. With regard to the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic accepts a European Arrest Warrant drawn up in Slovak or accompanied by a translation into Slovak. With regard to the Republic of Austria, the Czech Republic accepts a European Arrest Warrant drawn up in German or accompanied by a translation into German.

The European Arrest Warrant that has been inserted into SIS II is sufficient for the purpose of surrender proceedings therefore the original of the European Arrest Warrant does not need to be sent additionally.