Subject-matter and Territorial Jurisdiction

Generally speaking, subject-matter and territorial competence of the public prosecution service follows the subject-matterl and territorial competence of courts, unless a special legal regulation stipulates otherwise.

Territorial competence is regulated by Section 18 of Criminal Procedure Code. According to this provision the procedure is conducted by the court in the district of which the crime was committed.

If the place of commission of the crime cannot be determined or if the crime was committed abroad, the procedure is conducted by the court in the district of which the accused lives, works or stays. If these places cannot be determined or if they are outside of the territory of the Czech Republic, the procedure is conducted by the court in the district of which the effect of the crime became apparent.

Subject-matter competence is laid down in Section 16 of the Criminal Procedure Code, generally in a way that unless this Code stipulates otherwise, District courts and thus the District Public Prosecutor’s Offices conduct proceedings in the first instance. Regional Courts and thus Regional Public Prosecutor’s Offices conduct proceedings in the first instance only on the following criminal offences:

  • where the law prescribes a sentence of imprisonment, the lower limit of which is at least five years, or for which an exceptional sentence may be imposed;
  • manslaughter, murder of a newborn child by mother, illicit removal of tissue and organs, illicit disposal of tissue and organs, removal of tissue, organ and performing transplantation for a consideration, unauthorized disposal of human embryo and human genome, trafficking in human beings;
  • committed by investment tools accepted for trading on a regulated market or requested to be accepted for trading on a regulated market, or counterfeits and forgeries, if the statutory characteristic of such criminal offences is the infliction of substantial damage or gaining substantial profit;
  • breach of regulations on the rules of economic competition manipulation with the quotation of investment tools, abuse of information or position in business relations, harming financial interests of the European Union, breach of regulations on export control of goods and technologies of dual use, distortion of data and non-keeping of records of foreign trade with military material without authorization or license, breach of obligations in relation to issuing a license for foreign trade with military material, development, manufacture and possession of forbidden means of combat;
  • sabotage, abuse of representation of state and international organization, espionage, jeopardizing classified information, collaboration with enemy, relations jeopardizing peace, use of forbidden means and methods of combat, pillage in the area of military operations.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has subject matter competence to file an indictment for criminal offenses harming the financial intetrests of the EU.

The subject matter competence of the High Public Prosecutor’s Office in pre-trial proceedings is determined by Section 15 of the Regulation no. 23/1994 Coll., on the Rules of Procedure of the Public Prosecutor’s Office System, on establishing branch offices of certain Public Prosecutor’s Offices and on the details regarding actions performed by prosecutor trainees. The High Public Prosecutor’s Office is competent to handle certain economic and financial crimes, where damage exceeds 150 million CZK, crimes against peace and war crimes, terrorist crimes etc.

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