Libro Primero · Título III Capítulo III. Comunicación

When a procedural act must be executed through another authority, the tribunal may entrust its performance by suplicatorio, exhorto, despacho or oficio, according as it is addressed respectively to a tribunal of higher, equal or lower hierarchy or to authorities that do not belong to the Judicial Branch.

The agent of the Public Prosecutor's Office who is in charge of the investigation may require another public official of his category to carry out proceedings outside his jurisdiction.

When an act must be executed by another authority, or when there is a need to entrust certain procedural measures to another, the request that is addressed shall include:

1)The public official of the Public Prosecutor's Office or tribunal requesting the procedural measure.

2)The identification data of the proceedings to which it refers.

3)The procedural measure requested, with all the data necessary to carry it out.

4)The citation of the corresponding law, according to the rules applicable to the procedure; and

5)The time limit within which the procedural measure must be carried out when, by legal imperative or due to the particularities of the case, it is necessary to carry it out urgently within a determined period.

In case of urgency, a telegram or other immediate means of telecommunication shall be used.

All authorities and public entities shall lend their cooperation to the Public Prosecutor's Office, to the tribunals and to the police, and shall process without delay the requests they receive from them.

Requests addressed to foreign tribunals or authorities or those received from them shall be processed through diplomatic channels, in the manner established by international treaties and customs or, failing that, by the laws of the country.

When the processing of a request addressed to the Public Prosecutor's Office or to a tribunal is delayed or rejected, the requesting tribunal or public official of the Public Prosecutor's Office may address the President of the Judicial Branch or the Head of the Public Prosecutor's Office, respectively, who, if appropriate, shall order or arrange for such processing, without prejudice to applying the respective sanctions or reporting the omission to the corresponding disciplinary authority.

Every jurisdictional decision shall be deemed communicated at the time of the oral hearing at which it is issued, without need for any subsequent act. Summonses and convocations to hearings may be made in the most expeditious manner, whether by telephone, fax, electronic mail or other means that facilitates and ensures the holding of the hearing.

The notifications shall be effected by the notifying officer or, failing that, by the secretary.

When a notification must be effected outside the seat of the tribunal, it shall be effected by means of exhorto, despacho, suplicatorio or carta rogatoria, as the case may be, when it exceeds the municipal perimeter, unless it is more practical to effect it personally.

The Public Prosecutor's Office and defense counsel may be notified in their respective offices or at the tribunal; the remaining parties, at the tribunal and, exceptionally, at the place designated by them.

If the accused person is deprived of liberty, they shall be notified personally at the tribunal or at the place of their detention, as determined.

Upon appearing in the proceedings, the parties shall designate a house or place to receive notifications, within the perimeter of the town in which the tribunal has its seat.

If the parties have an agent under a mandate, notifications shall be made only to them, unless the law or the nature of the act requires that the parties also be notified.

Notification shall be made by delivering to the interested party an authorized copy of the decision, showing the identification of the proceedings in which it was issued.

When the notification is made personally in the tribunal, the respective decision shall be read in full to the notified person or he shall be allowed to read it and a record shall be made in the judicial file, with indication of the place, day and time at which notification is made, identification of the decision and of the folio where it appears in the proceedings, signature of the notified person or indication that he did not want or was unable to sign or that, for not knowing how to do so, he leaves his fingerprint, and the signature of the notifier, with indication of having left a copy of the decision with the interested party.

Personal notifications outside the tribunal shall be made in the same manner indicated in the preceding article. However, if the interested party is not present, the notification writ may be delivered to any person over eighteen years of age who resides in the house, preference being given to the relatives of the interested party, or to their dependents. If no one is found, the writ may be delivered to a neighbor who accepts the obligation to cause it to reach the interested party immediately, warning him of the liability incurred for failure to comply.

If none of this can be accomplished, the notifier shall affix the writ to one of the doors of the house, in the safest and most protected place.

The notifier shall record such circumstances in the notification record.

When the person to be notified has failed to designate a place for that purpose or the place where such person is located is unknown, the decision shall be made known by posting on the tribunal's notice board, without prejudice to appropriate measures to ascertain the residence of the person being notified. When the tribunal deems it advisable, it shall order the publication of edicts in a newspaper of wide circulation.

The decisions issued during the hearings and those issued immediately after the debates shall be made known by reading of the decision or in the manner provided for particular cases.

Interested persons may request a copy of the decisions.

The notification shall be invalid when:

1)There is error regarding the identity of the notified person.

2)The decision was notified in incomplete form.

3)The record omitted to state the date or the destination given to the notification slip, or any of the prescribed signatures is missing.

The parties may deem themselves notified of any decision and from that moment it takes effect with respect to them.

In notifications, neither reasoning nor the filing of remedies shall be admitted, except in cases expressly established by law.

When the presence of any person is necessary to carry out an act, or a notification, the Public Prosecutor's Office or the judge or the tribunal shall summon that person at his or her domicile or residence or at the place where that person works.

Summonses and notifications shall be carried out by personnel of the Public Prosecutor's Office, of the Trial Court or tribunal that summons or intends to notify.

The summons shall contain:

1.The tribunal or the public official before whom that person must appear.

2.The reason for the summons.

3.The identification of the procedure.

4.Place, date and time when that person must appear.

At the same time that person shall be warned that unjustified failure to appear shall cause his or her conveyance by the public force, that he or she shall be liable for the costs incurred, the applicable criminal and disciplinary sanctions imposed by the competent tribunal, and that, in case of impediments, he or she must inform whoever summons him or her by any means, immediately justifying the reason.

The participation of the National Civil Police is limited solely to complying with the order issued by competent authority to convey by the public force the person who, having been legally summoned, fails to appear for the act or notification for which that person was summoned.

Unjustified failure to appear shall immediately trigger enforcement of the warning, a fine of ten to fifty quetzales being imposed on him or her in such case, without prejudice to the liabilities he or she may incur.

When, notwithstanding prior summons, there is a well-founded danger that the summoned person will go into hiding or attempt to obstruct by any means the ascertainment of the truth, disobeying the order of the tribunal, his or her conveyance may be ordered by judicial order and for the time indispensable to carry out the act.

Hearings shall be granted when the law so provides, notifying the decision.

Any hearing that has no fixed time limit shall be deemed granted for three days.