On 3 October 2025, the Dutch EJN contact points invited Belgian EJN contact points for an EJN meeting in Rotterdam, thanks to an EJN grant and the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office. The aim was to discuss a few topics that have our mutual interest and to emphasize the role of EJN in addressing the fight against cross-border crime.
The first topic that was addressed related to Dutch - in many cases juvenile - offenders who commit serious crimes, such as arson and explosions, in Belgium and work as extractors from the main ports. In the Netherlands a policy document has been drafted and will be unrolled nationwide in order to achieve uniform and effective handling of requests for the transfer of proceedings and the surrender of minors.
The second topic was the EU Regulation on the transfer of criminal proceedings 2024/3011. The Belgian delegate presented the implementation of the EU-Regulation and the possible changes this will bring to our daily practice.
The third topic regarded the national procedure of an EIO and specifically the temporary transfer of the seized documents and goods. We talked about the importance of explicit motivation for the exception of immediate temporary transfer of evidence and the way the national courts weigh such motivations when a complaint is made by an individual. Related to this topic was the seizure of evidence and the right of non-disclosure of the seized material related to the professional legal privilege of the defense. In many financial criminal cases and money laundering cases defense lawyers state that the right of non-disclosure is violated by the seizure of big digital datasets.
Our experience was that these discussions deepened the EJN contact points’ understanding of the above mentioned topics and of each others national system. We were grateful to all EJN contact points that contributed to our meeting, including Mr. Vasilis Sarigiannidis, who represented the EJN Secretariat.