Decision of the Belgian Constitutional Court on the Framework decision on the European arrest warrant

On 22 June 2004, a local NGO «Advocaten voor de wereld» submitted an annulment application of the Belgian legislation on the European arrest warrant to the Belgian Constitutional Court («Cour d’Arbitrage»).

This action is not related to an individual case. Indeed under Belgian law, an annulment action may be brought before the «Cour d’Arbitrage» by any authority designated by statute or by any natural or legal person who has a justifiable interest. This action must be brought within six months of the publication of the challenged regulation. As a general rule, with certain exceptions, the action for annulment does not suspend the application of the challenged regulation until the final decision is issued.

The «Cour d’Arbitrage» has delivered a first judgment on 13 July 2005.

Download at RTF format

European arrest warrant

Download the court decision at PDF format (in french)

Arrêt Cour (fr)