Chapter II: Regional centres specialising in environmental offences

I.-Within the jurisdiction of each court of appeal, the territorial jurisdiction of a judicial court is extended to the jurisdiction of the court of appeal for the investigation, prosecution, trial and judgment of offences, excluding those mentioned in articles 706-75 and 706-107 of this code, provided for by the code de l'environnement, by the code forestier, in Title V of Book II of the Rural and Maritime Fishing Code, in 1° and 2° of I of Article L. 512-1 and Article L. 512-2 of the Mining Code, as well as the article 76 de la loi n° 2014-1170 du 13 octobre 2014 d'avenir pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et la forêt, dans les affaires qui sont ou apparaient complexes, en raison notamment de leur technicité, de l'importance du préjudice ou du ressort géographique dont elles s'étend.

This jurisdiction extends to related offences. A decree will draw up a list of these courts, which will include a section of the public prosecutor's office and specialised investigative and trial panels to deal with these offences.

The public prosecutor, the examining magistrate and the criminal court of these courts exercise concurrent jurisdiction with that resulting from the application of articles 43, 52, 382, 706-2 and 706-42 of this code.

Where they have jurisdiction to prosecute and investigate offences falling within the scope of this article, the public prosecutor and the investigating magistrate shall exercise their powers throughout the jurisdiction of the court of appeal.

The court seised shall remain competent regardless of the jurisdiction of the court of appeal.

The public prosecutor and the investigating magistrate shall exercise their powers throughout the jurisdiction of the court of appeal. The court before which the case is brought retains jurisdiction regardless of the offences used in the settlement or judgment of the case, subject to the application of the provisions of articles 181 and 469. If the facts constitute a contravention, the investigating magistrate shall order the case to be referred to the competent police court pursuant to article 522. The public prosecutor at a judicial court other than those mentioned in this article may, for offences falling within the scope of this article, request the investigating magistrate, under the conditions and in accordance with the procedures set out in articles 704-2 and 704-3, to relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the investigating court of the judicial court with extended territorial jurisdiction pursuant to this article.

II. II.-Under the conditions and in accordance with the procedures set out in the second to last paragraphs of article 706, category A or B civil servants reporting to the ministers responsible for the environment, agriculture and the economy, as well as persons holding, in subjects defined by decree, a national diploma attesting to training of a duration at least equal to four years of higher education after the baccalaureate who meet the conditions for access to the civil service and can provide evidence of a minimum of four years' professional experience, may perform the duties of an assistant specialising in environmental matters.