CHAPTER IVSPECIFIC PROVISIONS FOR CERTAIN INVESTIGATIVE MEASURES
Article 24Hearing by videoconference or other audiovisual transmission
1.
Where a person is in the territory of the executing State and has to be heard as a witness or expert by the competent authorities of the issuing State, the issuing authority may issue an EIO in order to hear the witness or expert by videoconference or other audiovisual transmission in accordance with paragraphs 5 to 7.
The issuing authority may also issue an EIO for the purpose of hearing a suspected or accused person by videoconference or other audiovisual transmission.
2.
In addition to the grounds for non-recognition or non-execution referred to in Article 11, execution of an EIO may be refused if either:
(a)
the suspected or accused person does not consent; or
(b)
the execution of such an investigative measure in a particular case would be contrary to the fundamental principles of the law of the executing State.
3.
The issuing authority and the executing authority shall agree the practical arrangements. When agreeing such arrangements, the executing authority shall undertake to:
(a)
summon the witness or expert concerned, indicating the time and the venue of the hearing;
(b)
summon the suspected or accused persons to appear for the hearing in accordance with the detailed rules laid down in the law of the executing State and inform such persons about their rights under the law of the issuing State, in such a time as to allow them to exercise their rights of defence effectively;
(c)
ensure the identity of the person to be heard.
4.
If in circumstances of a particular case the executing authority has no access to technical means for a hearing held by videoconference, such means may be made available to it by the issuing State by mutual agreement.
5.
Where a hearing is held by videoconference or other audiovisual transmission, the following rules shall apply:
(a)
the competent authority of the executing State shall be present during the hearing, where necessary assisted by an interpreter, and shall also be responsible for ensuring both the identity of the person to be heard and respect for the fundamental principles of the law of the executing State.
If the executing authority is of the view that during the hearing the fundamental principles of the law of the executing State are being infringed, it shall immediately take the necessary measures to ensure that the hearing continues in accordance with those principles;
(b)
measures for the protection of the person to be heard shall be agreed, where necessary, between the competent authorities of the issuing State and the executing State;
(c)
the hearing shall be conducted directly by, or under the direction of, the competent authority of the issuing State in accordance with its own laws;
(d)
at the request of the issuing State or the person to be heard, the executing State shall ensure that the person to be heard is assisted by an interpreter, if necessary;
(e)
suspected or accused persons shall be informed in advance of the hearing of the procedural rights which would accrue to them, including the right not to testify, under the law of the executing State and the issuing State. Witnesses and experts may claim the right not to testify which would accrue to them under the law of either the executing or the issuing State and shall be informed about this right in advance of the hearing.
6.
Without prejudice to any measures agreed for the protection of persons, on the conclusion of the hearing, the executing authority shall draw up minutes indicating the date and place of the hearing, the identity of the person heard, the identities and functions of all other persons in the executing State participating in the hearing, any oaths taken and the technical conditions under which the hearing took place. The document shall be forwarded by the executing authority to the issuing authority.
7.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that, where the person is being heard within its territory in accordance with this Article and refuses to testify when under an obligation to testify or does not testify the truth, its national law applies in the same way as if the hearing took place in a national procedure.