Legal aid provision

The role of victim support services in providing legal aid - including formal legal aid as well as more general legal assistance to crime victims - in individual EU Member States varies based on the legal framework and historical development.

Austria is the only EU Member State where the responsibility is fully transferred to victim support services which are contracted by the state, whereas in 14 EU Member States, public authorities fulfil this role. In the remaining cases, the responsibility is shared according to various models, such as distinguishing between legal advice that is provided by victim support services and legal representation that can only be provided by legal practitioners sanctioned by the state. In some Member States, victims' entitlement to legal aid may be restricted to certain categories of victims, offence types or subject to economic means testing. This information is not reflected in this table, which aims at providing a general overview of models of legal aid provision in EU Member States.

 

Legal aid provision
  State as main provider of legal aid Victim support services main provider of legal aid Both state and victim support services have a role in providing legal aid
AT    
BE    
BG    
CY    
CZ    
DE    
DK    
EE    
EL    
ES    
FI    
FR    
HR    
HU    
IE    
IT    
LT    
LU    
LV    
MT    
NL    
PL    
PT    
RO    
SE    
SI    
SK    
UK    
Total 14 1 13

Overview of models of legal aid provision in EU Member States

 
 

Source: FRA, 2014

  State is the main provider of legal aid
  Victim support services are the main providers of legal aid
  Both state and victim support services have a role in providing legal aid