The notion of the “cost of non-Europe” brings us back to 1988, when a report bearing his name was published by Professor Paolo Cecchini, who had been asked at the time by the Delors Commission to investigate and quantify the untapped potential of the Single Market and to make the economic case for the removal of physical, technical, and fiscal barriers between the, then, twelve Member States of the European Communities.1 Now, in 2016, the Internal Market is perceived by citizens and politicians as a done deal, while the European Union is seen as a complex entity of a somehow… Read more

The European Union performs numerous tasks. In order to carry out these tasks, the Union relies on money that is provided for by the Member States, including customs duties. This article initially describes the principles of the legal framework within which Member States
- levy customs duties;
- investigate criminal offences committed in this context;
- cooperate with one another.
In particular, the article stresses that the levying of customs duties, on the one hand, and criminal prosecution, on the other, serve different purposes, for which the European Union and the national legislators have established separate legal rules. As a consequence, different regulations for administrative procedure, on the one hand, and criminal procedure, on the other, must be simultaneously observed.
The article subsequently deals with Art. 12 of Regulation (EC) No 515/97 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/1525 of 9 September 2015. This new provision seeks to establish that information collected as part of administrative … Read more

One of the main goals of imprisonment is to facilitate the reintegration of offenders into socie-ty. This is better achieved if offenders are sent to prison where they would like to settle upon release. Since German nationals are serving prison sentences in Taiwan and Taiwanese na-tionals are serving prison sentences in Germany, for a number of years both countries have been interested in reaching an agreement that permits the execution of custodial sentences in the other state. Because of Germany's One-China policy, the conclusion of a binding treaty under international law is not an option. Instead, transfers must be regulated in each country's domestic legislation. Taiwanese law additionally requires an agreement with the executing state, which is now contained in the arrangement between the German Institute Taipei and the Taipei Representative Office in Berlin on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Cooperation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentences, signed on … Read more

The recently adopted Directive on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at trial in criminal proceedings1 (hereafter: Directive on the Presumption of Innocence)2 applies exclusively to natural persons.3 This is in contrast to previously adopted directives of the Roadmap for strengthening procedural rights in criminal proceedings4 which applied to suspected or accused persons and did not explicitly exclude legal persons.5 Therefore, one could argue that legal persons could benefit from the implementation of relevant provisions of the previously adopted directives of the Roadmap6 but that they cannot infer rights from... Read more

I. Introduction Customs fraud is a growing phenomenon, which causes significant damage to the Union’s financial interests. The losses resulting from some of the most common types of customs-related fraud (i.e., misdeclaration of origin, misdescription of goods, and misuse of the transit system) are estimated at around €185 million per year.1 Under Article 325 of the TFEU, it is the responsibility of the Union – as well as its Member States – to protect the EU’s financial interests. Given the scale of the problem, coupled with the growing threat of transborder crime, the importance of combating customs fraud and ensuring... Read more