French Code of Criminal Procedure
In forceAs an exception to Article 706-153, the judicial police officer may be authorised, by any means, by the public prosecutor or by the investigating judge to seize, at the advanced expense of the Treasury, a sum of money paid into an account opened with an institution authorised by law to maintain deposit accounts or digital asset accounts mentioned in Article L. 54-10-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code. The liberty and custody judge, to whom the matter has been referred by the public prosecutor, or the investigating judge shall decide by reasoned order whether to maintain or release the seizure within ten days of it being carried out.
The order made pursuant to the first paragraph is notified to the Public Prosecutor, the account holder or the owner of the digital asset and, if known, to third parties with rights to this account or asset, who may refer it to the Investigating Chamber by declaration at the court registry within ten days of notification of the order. This appeal does not have suspensive effect. The appellant is only entitled to have the documents relating to the seizure he is contesting made available to him. If they are not appellants, the account holder and third parties may nevertheless be heard by the investigating chamber, without however being able to claim that the proceedings will be made available.
When the seizure relates to a sum of money paid into an account opened with an institution authorised by law to keep deposit accounts or to digital assets mentioned in the same article L. 54-10-1, it applies indiscriminately to all the sums credited to this account or to all the digital assets held at the time of the seizure and up to, where applicable, the amount indicated in the seizure decision.
