The article analyses the ECJ’s judgment in Bonda (C-489/10), which addressed whether exclusions and reductions of agricultural aid under EU law constitute criminal penalties. The Court confirmed that such measures are specific administrative instruments linked to participation in aid schemes and aimed at protecting the EU budget, not criminal sanctions. Consequently, the ne bis in idem principle does not preclude subsequent criminal proceedings for the same conduct. The authors discuss the reasoning of the ECJ, its reference to ECtHR case law on the notion of “criminal proceedings,” and the implications for applying ne bis in idem under both the Charter and the ECHR in national proceedings.

This article analyses the evolution and functioning of international monitoring mechanisms established to evaluate states’ implementation of anti-corruption instruments. After outlining the main global and regional conventions adopted since the mid-1990s, including those of the OAS, EU, OECD, Council of Europe, and the United Nations, the paper examines the diverse peer-review systems that accompany them, such as the OECD Working Group on Bribery, GRECO, the UNCAC Implementation Review Group, and MESICIC. While these mechanisms share a mutual-evaluation logic, they differ significantly in scope, procedural rigor, transparency, and political impact. The article highlights growing concerns about duplication, administrative burden, and insufficient coordination among the various evaluation bodies, especially as the EU prepares to launch its own Anti-Corruption Report. It argues that improved cross-referencing, streamlined review cycles, and structured cooperation, potentially through a joint international platform, are essential to avoid overlaps and enhance the effectiveness of global anti-corruption monitoring.

This article examines the ongoing reform of the European Union’s anti-corruption mechanism against the backdrop of a large and vulnerable EU budget and persistent shortcomings in protecting the Union’s financial interests. It identifies two core weaknesses of the current framework centred on OLAF: the lack of effective criminal follow-up by national prosecuting authorities and recurrent concerns over the compatibility of OLAF’s investigative practices with fundamental procedural rights. The article analyses the Commission’s post-Lisbon reform initiatives, including proposals to strengthen OLAF’s investigative efficiency and accountability, improve cooperation with national authorities, Eurojust and Europol, and develop a more integrated administrative–criminal law approach. Particular attention is paid to the envisaged establishment of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) under Art. 86 TFEU as a potential game-changer for prosecutions of offences affecting the EU’s financial interests. The contribution argues that, if properly implemented, the combined package of enhanced OLAF supervision, better coordination, and a … Read more

This article examines how Council of Europe (CoE) member states address the manipulation of sports results, notably match-fixing, through their criminal law systems and what role future international instruments should play. Building on CoE Recommendation CM/Rec(2011)10 on the promotion of integrity in sport, it maps existing national approaches, showing that some states have introduced specific offences targeting manipulation of sports results, while others rely on general provisions on fraud, corruption, money laundering, or illegal gambling. The contribution highlights that, in practice, authorities largely consider existing criminal law frameworks sufficient, even though investigations and prosecutions remain uneven across Europe and complicated by the transnational nature of match-fixing and related betting schemes. It also explores jurisdictional issues and potential conflicts of jurisdiction in multi-country cases. Against this background, the article argues that any future CoE convention on match-fixing should prioritise coordinated preventive, regulatory, and cooperative measures rather than detailed harmonisation of criminal … Read more

This article examines the European Union’s role and obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), to which the EU acceded in 2008 as the only regional economic integration organisation. It first outlines the scope and structure of UNCAC and its implementation architecture, including the Conference of the States Parties and the peer-review Implementation Review Mechanism. The article then analyses the specific legal position of the EU: its declaration of competences (pre- and post-Lisbon), the partial and evolving nature of its UNCAC obligations, and the practical consequences for representation and voting. Particular attention is paid to the EU’s failure so far to join the UNCAC review mechanism, despite being a State Party, and to the legal, institutional, and political challenges this raises – notably the need to update the EU’s declaration of competence, to define which provisions and institutions should be reviewed, and to arrange an appropriate review set-up. … Read more

This article analyses the criminal offence of unjustified set-off in Italian tax law, introduced alongside the offence of non-payment of VAT by Legislative Decree No. 74/2000 (Sects. 10-ter and 10-quater) to counter increasingly common forms of tax evasion. It explains set-off as a legal mechanism (vertical vs. horizontal set-off under Sect. 17 of Legislative Decree No. 241/1997) and shows how the abuse of horizontal set-off through non-existent or non-applicable tax credits enables concealed non-payment of taxes, including in VAT carousel fraud schemes. The contribution examines the constitutive elements of the offence: the use of fictitious or ineligible credits via Form F24, failure to pay amounts exceeding €50,000 per tax period, the required mens rea (including contingent intent), the temporal moment of commission, and the position of intermediaries. It further outlines the parallel administrative offence regime, the speciality principle governing the interaction between criminal and administrative sanctions, and the mitigating effects … Read more