# Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA, Article 20: Right to protection of victims during criminal investigations

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

Without prejudice to the rights of the defence and in accordance with rules of judicial discretion, Member States shall ensure that during criminal investigations:
(a) interviews of victims are conducted without unjustified delay after the complaint with regard to a criminal offence has been made to the competent authority;
(b) the number of interviews of victims is kept to a minimum and interviews are carried out only where strictly necessary for the purposes of the criminal investigation;
(c) victims may be accompanied by their legal representative and a person of their choice, unless a reasoned decision has been made to the contrary;
(d) medical examinations are kept to a minimum and are carried out only where strictly necessary for the purposes of the criminal proceedings.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2012/29/article/20 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-directive-2012-29/article-20
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.