The first Association was formally constituted in Rome in October 1990. Today, there are 32 associations altogether, representing all the Member States (except Cyprus), plus Croatia, San Marino, Switzerland, and Turkey. AGON, the bulletin of the Associations, was first published in April 1993. It was replaced by eucrim in 2006. The Associations meanwhile function as a network and serve as a forum in the field of European criminal law and the protection of the financial interests of the European Union. They are made up of representatives from the legal and judicial professions (academics and practitioners) as well as other law… Read more

The article examines the investigative role of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the procedural rights implications arising from its anti-fraud activities.

The legal organization of Dutch environmental criminal law The penalization of environmental offences in the Netherlands differs from the penalization of classic offences such as murder or theft. Except for an occasional environmental offence in the Criminal Code and except for the applicability of, for example, forgery in environmental cases, penalization of environmental offences takes place via the Economic Offences Act. At the time that this Act was realized in 1950 its purpose was to protect the restoration of the economic order after the Second World War and it initially only comprised economic offences. From the seventies onwards the legislator… Read more

Introduction The common approach to fight crime is to collect evidence, charge the defendant in a criminal trial and, if proven guilty, to impose criminal sanctions such as fines or imprisonment. Most legal systems also provide for the possibility to confiscate the proceeds of crime following a criminal conviction. As organised crime has evolved, attempts have been made by governments and international institutions to fight it through this traditional criminal law approach. In order to be better able to obtain a criminal conviction of organised criminals, the criminalisation of money laundering is perhaps the most known measure. However, the common… Read more

Introduction – The Relevance and Importance of the Criminal Charge Question Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) asset freezing entails the suspension of access to financial assets of persons or organizations who and which are considered to be engaged in committing or facilitating the commission of terrorist acts. The listing-decisions that precede the asset freezes also entail the prohibition of making assets available to the target individual or organization. Doctrinally, asset freezes are temporary administrative law measures with preventive security purposes, issued non-judicially and not reliant on criminal standards such as a conviction or indictment and which can therefore be issued in… Read more

The article traces the genesis and content of Directive 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings – the first criminal law measure adopted under the Lisbon Treaty and the initial step in the Council’s Roadmap on procedural rights. It outlines the background of failed earlier initiatives, the political dynamics between the Commission, Member States, and the European Parliament, and the negotiations that led to the final text. The Directive sets common minimum standards for interpretation and translation, including communication between defendants and their lawyers, translation of essential documents, and quality assurance. It represents a landmark in strengthening fair trial rights and an early test case for post-Lisbon EU criminal law legislation.