When an initial decision has been rendered by a criminal court, it can, under certain conditions, be challenged. The case is then re-examined and re-judged by a court of appeal. The appeal procedure is thus based on the existence of different levels of jurisdiction.

An appeal is possible when the decision specifies that it is rendered in first instance.

Some judgments are not subject to appeal, notably judgments rendered in last resort by the police court when the sanction concerns contraventions of classes 1 to 4 (art. 546 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). Only an appeal to the Court of Cassation is possible. The Court of Cassation does not re-judge the case but examines the correct application of the law.

The party appealing a decision is the ‘appellant’ and the person defending in the appeal instance is the ‘respondent’.

The appeal judges can:

• Fully or partially confirm the judgment rendered in the first instance;
• Modify or annul the judgment rendered in the first instance.

The appeal may concern all or part of the decision and is possible for all parties to the trial. In criminal matters, the right to appeal belongs to the Public Prosecutor and the Attorney General, to the convicted person and to the civil party. However, the right of appeal of the latter is limited to provisions relating to their compensation; they cannot appeal on the criminal provisions pronounced.

To be admissible, the appeal must be made within certain time limits, which are not the same depending on the types of decisions rendered.

Appeal Time Limits in Criminal Matters

Principal Appeal

In correctional matters, as in criminal matters, the time limit for appealing a judgment is ten (10) days (art. 498 and 380-9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).

The time limit for appeal is twenty-four (24) hours in the following cases (art. 501 and 712-11 of the Code of Criminal Procedure):

• When the court rules on a request for release;
• When it rules on a request for lifting or modifying judicial control or home detention under electronic surveillance.
• When it concerns orders of the judge for the enforcement of sentences or the court for the enforcement of sentences mentioned in articles 712-5, 712-8, 713-43 and, 713-44 and 720, namely sentence reductions, release authorizations, execution of a measure of semi-liberty, outside placement or home detention under electronic surveillance, release under constraint in particular.

Incidental Appeal

In case of an appeal by one of the parties, the other party or parties may also appeal a judgment: they then have an additional period of five (5) days (art. 500 Code of Criminal Procedure; Cass. crim. 9 Dec. 2015, n°14-87390). This means that an incidental appeal can be made within a period of 15 days.

Calculation of the Time Limit

The time limit runs from:

• The pronouncement of the adversarial judgment; or
• The notification of the court decision, which consists of bringing the judgment rendered against them to the knowledge of the opposing party, in the following cases (art.498 Code of Criminal Procedure):

1. If the party was not present or represented at the hearing in the case where they or their representative had not been informed of the day when the judgment would be pronounced;
2. For the defendant judged in their absence, whose lawyer did not have a representation mandate signed by the defendant;
3. When the defendant’s lawyer was not present while they were supposed to represent them;
4. The defendant regularly summoned who does not appear at the hearing without being excused.

Any time limit expires on the last day at twenty-four (24) hours. The time limit that would normally expire on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday or non-working day is extended until the following working day (art. 801 C. proc. pénale).

Example: A contradictory judgment was pronounced on Friday, November 4th. You have 10 days to appeal, until Monday, November 14th. The Court of Cassation has ruled that a litigant who proves, through a bailiff’s report, the material impossibility of completing the act after the court registry’s closure, had the possibility to regularize it the following day (Cass. 2nd civ. October 4, 2001 n°00-14.705).

The twenty-four (24) hour appeal period expires at midnight on the day following the day the order was notified. According to Article D49-39 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, ‘When the order is notified by registered letter, this period expires at midnight on the day following the signing of the acknowledgment of receipt; in the absence of a signature, this period begins to run fifteen days after the letter is sent’.

Effects of the Appeal

The execution of the judgment is suspended, meaning that the sentence is not implemented, except for exceptions provided in Article 506 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, notably:

• If the judge rules on the granting of damages to the civil party, they may award an enforceable provision;
• If the person is detained, the detention may be maintained by the judge, with a reasoned decision;
  When the correctional court issues a detention warrant, it may, under certain conditions, accompany it with provisional execution;
• The execution of a police sentence or a non-custodial correctional sentence may be suspended or split for serious medical, family, professional, or social reasons.

Recourse to a Lawyer

A lawyer is not mandatory to file an appeal except when the first judgment was rendered by a Court of Assizes (Articles 274 and 317 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).

Request for Legal Aid and Interruption of the Appeal Period

Regardless of the first instance court that rendered the decision, a request for legal aid interrupts the appeal period. This means that a new period, of the same duration as the initial period, will start to run from the date on which the applicant for legal aid can no longer contest the decision on their request or, in case of an appeal, from the date on which the decision relating to this appeal was notified to them (Article 43 of Decree No. 2020-1717 of December 28, 2020).

However, the request for legal aid must be formalized before the declaration of appeal.

The right of access to a judge excludes, in fact, that the appeal period can run as long as a final decision has not been made on a request for legal aid filed within this period (ECHR October 6, 2011, No. 52124/08, Staszkow v. France).

APPLICABLE REFERENCES

Articles 380-1 to 380-8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) (appeal of an Assize Court judgment); Articles 380-9 to 380-13 of the CCP (form of appeal for an Assize Court judgment); Articles 496 to 509-1 of the CCP (appeal of a correctional judgment); Articles 546 to 549 of the CCP (appeal of police court judgments).