News item | 16-05-2022 | 10:00
At the beginning of April 2022, the Council of State issued an advice on the bill for the new Code of Criminal Procedure. Today, the advice has become public. The opinion is an important milestone in this legislative project. The Code of Criminal Procedure contains the procedural rules for the investigation, prosecution and trial of criminal offences. The Code is essential for the proper functioning of the rule of law. In its final judgment, the Advisory Division of the Council of State makes a number of comments on the bill and recommends that these be taken into account before the bill is submitted to the House of Representatives. This is called a dictum B.
Modernization
In recent years, work has been done on a new Code of Criminal Procedure because the current code from 1926 has become obsolete and has become a patchwork after about 150 amendments. The new code is a future-proof code that is accessible to people, provides a balanced system of legal guarantees and works in practice for the hundred thousand professionals in the criminal justice chain. In its advice, the Council of State endorses the importance of a new, modernized and accessible code. According to the Council, it increases legal certainty and usability.
Schedule
In the coming period, the Council’s extensive advice will be processed by the Ministry of Justice and Security. The bill is expected to be ready in the fourth quarter of this year. It is then submitted to the House of Representatives. At that time, the ministers Weerwind (Legal Protection) and Yeşilgöz-Zegerius (Justice and Security) provide a substantive response to the advice (the so-called further report) and indicate how the advice has been incorporated in the bill and in the explanatory memorandum.
Progress Report
This week, both ministers will send the seventh progress report on the new Code of Criminal Procedure to the House of Representatives and the Senate. It contains a short summary of the advice of the Council of State, a schedule and the current status of legislative activities, implementation consequences and the implementation structure.