The principle of opportunity is a principle in Dutch law (opportuniteitsbeginsel), Swedish law, Slovenian law and French law, which says that a crime will be punished only if its prosecution is considered opportune. This means that public prosecutors have the discretion to cancel the prosecution of a crime. Cancelling the prosecution of a crime is called a sepot or seponering (in Dutch). Cancelling the prosecution of a crime is mentioned in the First Book, First Title, Fourth Section of the Dutch Criminal Procedure Code (Art. 12, 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, 12e, 12f, 12g, 12h, 12i, 12j, 12k, 12l, 12m, 12n, 12o, 12p, 13 and 13a).
In countries that do not recognise the principle of opportunity, it can be considered a felony to cancel the prosecution of a known felony.
There are three sorts of cancellation of prosecution:
If the prosecution of a crime is cancelled, it can still be resumed later (the ne bis in idem principle does not apply to sepots), except if the Public Department has made a formal communication to the crime suspect that the suspect is no longer prosecuted (then prosecution cannot be resumed according to administrative law trustworthiness principle).
According to Article 12 of the Dutch Criminal Procedure Code, a person with a direct concern in the prosecution of a crime may fill at a court of law a complaint against the cancellation of the prosecution. If the council chamber of the court decides that the crime should be prosecuted, it will have to be prosecuted.