Criminal investigations in Belgium will now be able to use the latest DNA techniques, giving the Justice Department substantially greater powers.

Belgium’s DNA databases of convicts, missing people, traces and suspects have about 150,000 unique DNA profiles. It has access to the DNA databases of another 23 countries, together holding millions of other profiles. When genetic material is recovered in a crime case or disappearance, it is compared with the profiles in all these databases.

However, until now only direct matches between traces and a suspect could be made, meaning the DNA profile of the suspect must already exist in one of the databases. A suspect can also be identified based on a partial match with the DNA profile of a family member, but there had not been any legal framework for this.

Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) welcomed the decision: “Our investigators must be able to use modern, promising and powerful DNA-based investigation techniques. We owe this to victims and relatives.”

Family search and longer retention

The “family search” is now possible, which could indicate a direct familial link. “If the DNA profile of a close relative is already in one of the databases, this could provide a breakthrough in the investigation of murders and sexual offences,” Van Tigchelt said.

However, the family search can never serve as sole evidence but should instead be seen as a tool to help investigators gather further evidence through other methods. No one can be obliged to give DNA in the context of a family search and only first-line searches are allowed (of siblings, children and parents).

The law also allows more DNA searches based on the Y chromosome, which occurs only in men. This is an important link in criminal investigations into sexual offences as it allows investigators to distinguish the DNA of the male offender from that of the victim. This profile is now compulsorily analysed and stored in the database. “This will make our country one of the first with such a system,” Van Tigchelt noted.