Fiches Belges

The Public Prosecutor's Office Amsterdam, the Centre for International Legal Assistance, is the designated authority to receive and to execute the incoming EAWs. The Amsterdam Court for International Legal Assistance is the central competent authority to decide upon the EAWs. The wanted person can consent to his immediate surrender until the day of the courtsession. He cannot withdraw his former consent. In the accelerated procedure the person may chose whether or not to waive the specialty rule. When it concerns an EAW for the purpose of prosecution of a wanted person and it regards a national or resident who has been given equal status as a national, we will require a guarantee for return before the court will decide on the EAW. In case the court applies the ground for refusal based on Article 4 par 6 FD EAW - situation of an EAW for execution of a sentence, that regards a national or a resident who has been given equal status as a national - and refuses the surrender, the court will at the same time order the transfer of the execution of the sentence in the Netherlands and order the incarceration, if the surrender detention of the wanted person had been suspended awaiting the decision on the EAW. In case there is a pending Dutch criminal proceedings, the actual surrender may be postponed, in order to finalize the Dutch criminal case. A temporary surrender can be initiated, in which the minister of justice and security will set the conditions that have to be agreed upon by the issuing authority

The Framework Decision 2002/584 has been implemented by the Dutch Surrender Act, in Dutch: Overleveringswet, of 29 April 2004

If the wanted person consents to his immediate surrender, the court of Amsterdam decides on the surrender. The actual surrender will take place within approximately 20 days after the arrest. If the wanted person does not consent to his surrender, the International Legal Assistance Court Amsterdam is the central authority to decide on the EAW. According to Dutch law the court will decide within 60 days after the arrest, and can prolong this timeframe with 30 days. After 90 days, the court may suspend the detention of the wanted person, under conditions, such as to report himself to the police every week or to hand in his passport. In limited situations the Amsterdam court can prolong the detention with 30 days or with 60 days.

English and Dutch For receiving a translation of an EAW, there is a time limit in place of 20 days after the examining judge has decided to prolong the detention, following the arrest by the police (based on Article 19 par. b) Dutch Surrender Act). The Netherlands accepts transmission of EAW translations via SIS.

The Court will decide upon the EAW, within 60 days, or they can prolong till 90 days, after the arrest of the wanted person. In case the court needs more time to decide on the EAW, in some cases the detention of the wanted person will be suspended. The court will still decide on the EAW. After the decision on the EAW, the Amsterdam Prosecutor’s Office will have 10 days to arrange for the actual surrender. If this time frame cannot be met, this period can be prolonged with 30 days.

It is possible to ask for the seizure of goods that the wanted person carried with him/her at the time of the arrest. Regarding seizure, you can fill in paragraph g) in the standard EAW form. If you have reason to believe that the wanted person will try to flee, in order to prevent his actual surrender, after being arrested and after a possible suspension of his detention, please mention this explicitly in the EAW. A suspicion for fleeing from surrender, can arise for instance by the existence of banking accounts abroad, an international network of co-authors where he can hide from justice, premises abroad, a double nationality in a country that does not extradite own nationals etc etc. Also a criminal record in his homeland can indicate that the wanted person may have reason to try to avoid his transfer to the issuing country. According to the Dutch Surrender Act, surrender is permitted for accessory offences since the amendments to this law of the date: 01.04.2021. The legal provision is Article 7 par. 6. The condition is that at least one criminal offence in the EAW meets with the threshold of at least 12 months of imprisonment that may be imposed or at least a minimum of 4 months of imprisonment that already has been imposed on the requested person. The Amsterdam court has also decided to refuse the surrender and to take over the execution of the sentence (based on article 4 par 6 FD 2002/584) with regard to accessory offences that were not punishable according to Dutch criminal law.