Luxembourg has enacted a new law on a criminal settlement procedure known as a judgment upon consent. This procedure, which mainly aims at reducing the workload of the judicial authorities dealing with criminal matters, allows for an agreement between the public prosecutor and the person suspected of having committed an offence which on the one hand establishes an admission of guilt and on the other hand determines the criminal sanctions to be applied, subject however to the review and approval of the criminal courts.

Such an agreement, if approved, always leads to a conviction: out-of-court settlements are not possible and such conviction will be entered in such person’s criminal record. Whether or not this new regime will prove a success remains to be seen, and will most likely depend on how it will be applied in practice by the public prosecutor’s office and the criminal courts.

This newsflash will provide you with an overview of the key characteristics of the new procedure: “judgement upon consent” (jugement sur accord). Should you wish to read the full newsflash, please click the link below: