Preliminary ruling for a criminal jurisdiction

The Committee may be asked to provide a preliminary ruling in the context of criminal proceedings. If a case record contains data collected by an intelligence service via a specific or exceptional method, and if this information is contained in a non-classified report, the competent magistrate may, on its own initiative, at the request of the public prosecution service or at the request of the data subject, request advice on the legality of the way in which the information was collected by the intelligence services.

Assistance with a parliamentary inquiry

The Committee may be asked by the Chamber of Representatives to conduct investigations in the context of a parliamentary inquiry.

This possibility was used for the first time in 2016 by the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee tasked with investigating the circumstances leading up to the terrorist attacks of 22 March 2016 at Brussels-National airport and the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels, which entrusted several investigation missions to the Committee.

Assistance to the judicial authorities

The Committee’s Investigation Service may be asked by the judicial authorities to investigate felonies and misdemeanours of which members of State Security, GISS and CUTA are suspected. The assistance of the Investigation Service may also be requested in the context of an investigation into a felony or misdemeanour of which members of CUTA’s supporting services are suspected, but only if this relates to their obligation to transmit information to CUTA.

The Investigation Service can also act on its own initiative.