Judicial settlement system extended

On 14 April 2011, the Belgian Parliament approved an important adjustment to the existing system of judicial settlement in criminal matters (art. 216bis CCP) in order to facilitate its application in tax fraud and white collar crime cases in general.

Settlements bring an end to on-going police investigations and avoid criminal conviction via payment of a fine and, where necessary, compensation of the victim. Under the existing regulation, the settlement option was excluded for offences punishable with a prison sentence of five years or more (for example forgery of documents). For all other offences, it could only be applied before the case was filed, i.e. sent to an investigating magistrate or to the court.

Following the legislative amendment, the Prosecutor can now propose a settlement for all offences where he would only claim a financial penalty (and, depending on the case, confiscation). Forgery of documents, which is at the heart of most fraud cases, cannot be taken into consideration for settlement under the new regulation. The legislative attempt to include forgery has been put on hold by the submission of the amending law to the Council of State.

Also, under the new regulation, settlements are no longer subject to time limitations, and can be initiated until the last judicial decision becomes final. Consequently, a settlement remains an option after preliminary investigation, during the court hearings and up to the last ruling. As a result, all offences that require a more thorough investigation (search, seizure …) by the investigating magistrate are now included within the scope of the law.

As before, settlements can only be initiated by the Prosecutor and require the agreement of the victim and, depending on the case, the tax or social security administration. The charges will only be dropped after all conditions are met, i.e. after payment of the fine and, depending on the case, after deposit of the indicated goods and payment of damages, social security or tax contributions (including interest).

The new system aims at avoiding the costs, workload and long proceedings related to complex files in cases where a financial penalty involving damage compensation is considered to be sufficient.

The amendment regarding judicial settlement entered into force on 16 May 2011.