French Code of Criminal Procedure
In forceI.-Service by electronic means under the provisions of the last paragraph of II of Article 803-1 may take place either when they are made to the Public Prosecutor, or when they are made at the request of the Public Prosecutor, under the conditions set out in this article, without prejudice to compliance with the conditions set out in Articles 550 to 555 and 564 à 566.
Service is effected via dematerialised exchange platforms that send a notice of availability to the addressee inviting him or her to download the document served and a notice of receipt by the addressee when he or she downloads the document. A record is kept of these notices.
II.-Service is effected on the Public Prosecutor in accordance with the procedures set out in an agreement between the Ministry of Justice and the National Chamber of Judicial Commissioners.
Receipt, on the public prosecutor's electronic mailbox, of the notice of availability of the document shall give rise to the issue of an electronic acknowledgement of receipt, which shall, where applicable, start the time periods provided for in this code. However, where service is received outside working days or after 5 p.m., the time limits do not begin to run until the next working day. Any notice of service sent to an electronic address that is not on the list of addresses communicated by the Ministry of Justice pursuant to the agreement provided for in the first paragraph of this II shall be inadmissible.
III.-Where the summons for service sent by the Public Prosecutor to the Commissioner of Justice concerns a criminal proceedings file for which the addressee of the service has expressly consented to electronic communication, the Commissioner of Justice may effect service in accordance with the procedures set out in this III.
The commissioner of justice shall send to the addressee, at the address chosen by the latter, an electronic notice of availability on a dedicated platform for dematerialised exchanges of the document that is the subject of service, inviting the addressee to download this document, this notice indicating the date and, where applicable, the time of availability. The date and time of service by electronic means are those of the dispatch of the notice of availability. However, with regard to the addressee, service only takes effect from the day the document is downloaded or, at the latest, at the end of the period referred to in the fourth paragraph of this III.
This downloading must be carried out using methods that guarantee the reliability of the identification of the person, the integrity of the document, the security, confidentiality and preservation of the transmission and make it possible to establish the date of downloading with certainty.
When the download occurs within five days of the transmission of the document, it is equivalent to personal service.
In other cases, service is deemed to have been effected at the person's domicile on the sixth day after the dispatch of the notice of availability provided for in the second paragraph of this III and the court commissioner sends the person, in accordance with paragraphs two or four of Article 558, a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or a simple letter with a receipt. The provisions of paragraphs three, five and six of article 558 then apply. Pursuant to paragraph six of article 558, if the writ is a summons to appear, it may only produce the effects referred to in the third and fifth paragraphs of article 558 of the Code of Criminal Procedure if the period between, on the one hand, the day on which the document was downloaded and, on the other hand, the day indicated for the appearance before the criminal or police court is at least equal to that set, taking into account the distance from the home of the person concerned, by article 552.
IV.-The terms of application of this article shall be specified by order of the Minister of Justice.
