Chapter I: Flagrant crimes and offences

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Article 63

French Code of Criminal ProcedureIn force
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Updated 8 Nov 2023

I.-Only a judicial police officer may, ex officio or on the instructions of the public prosecutor, place a person in police custody.

As soon as the measure begins, the judicial police officer informs the public prosecutor, by any means, of the person's placement in police custody. He shall inform him of the reasons justifying, pursuant to Article 62-2, this placement and inform him of the classification of the facts that he has notified to the person pursuant to 2° of Article 63-1. The Public Prosecutor may change this classification; in this case, the new classification is notified to the person under the conditions provided for in the same article 63-1.

II.-The duration of police custody may not exceed twenty-four hours.

However, police custody may be extended for a further period of up to twenty-four hours, with the written authorisation of the Public Prosecutor, giving reasons, if the offence that the person is suspected of having committed or attempted to commit is a felony or misdemeanour punishable by a prison sentence of one year or more and if extending the measure is the only way to achieve at least one of the objectives mentioned in 1° to 6° of Article 62-2 or to allow, in cases where there are no premises in the court covered by Article 803-3, the presentation of the person before the judicial authority.

The public prosecutor may make his authorisation subject to the person being brought before him. This presentation may be carried out by the use of an audiovisual means of telecommunication.

III -If, before being placed in police custody, the person has been apprehended or has been subject to any other measure of constraint for the same acts, the time at which police custody commences shall be set, for the purposes of complying with the time limits laid down in II of this article, at the time from which the person was deprived of liberty. If the person has not been subject to a prior restraint measure, but is placed in police custody immediately following a hearing, this time is set at the time the hearing begins.

If a person has already been placed in police custody for the same acts, the duration of the previous periods of police custody is counted against the duration of the measure.

Mariela Petrova

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Mariela Petrova

Mariela Petrova

Avocate au Barreau de Paris

Toque #C2396

15+ Years In Corporate Practice

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