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The principle of opportunity is a principle in Dutch law , German law , Swedish law, Slovenian law and French law. It is that a crime will be punished only if its prosecution is considered opportune. Therefore, 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 and is mentioned in the First Book, First Title, Fourth Section of the Dutch Criminal Procedure Code.
In countries that do not recognise the principle of opportunity, the cancellation of the prosecution of a known felony can itself be considered a felony.
There are three sorts of cancellation of prosecution:
A crime whose prosecution is cancelled can still be resumed later , unless the Public Department has made a formal communication to the crime suspect that the suspect is no longer prosecuted.