Search and filter

News Guide

Region 1 selected
Foundations
Institutions
Specific Areas of Crime
Procedural Criminal Law
Cooperation

Publication

Year
Type
Clear all

News

2,402 results

Operation LUDUS II Seizes More than 5 Million Fake Toys 
28 March 2022 (updated 8 months ago)
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl in Issue 1/2022
On 24 March 2022, OLAF and Europol reported on the results of the second edition of operation “LUDUS”. For the first edition → eucrim 1/2021, 13. The operation targets the trafficking of fake toys and other goods. The operation was led by Spanish law … Read more
EU OLAF Europol Counterfeiting & Piracy
Arrangement between OLAF and EUIPO 
16 March 2022 (updated 4 years, 4 months ago)
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
OLAF and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) signed a new Service-Level Agreement. It foresees, inter alia, the development of an IT tool, which will make it easier to share and analyse data related to counterfeiting cases at EU level. Read more
EU OLAF
Cooperation Arrangement between OLAF and Hungarian Prosecutor General 
16 March 2022
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
On 11 February 2022, OLAF reported that it signed a cooperation arrangement with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Hungary. The arrangement lays down practical modalities for closer cooperation in order to protect EU funds from potential fraud in the country. Read more
EU OLAF
Illegal Tobacco Trade Operations in 2021 
16 March 2022 (updated 3 years, 3 months ago)
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl in Issue 1/2022
On 23 February 2022, OLAF informed of the results of its operations against tobacco smuggling in 2021 (for the results in 2020 → eucrim 1/2021, 14). In 2021, world-wide operations involving OLAF were able to seize over 430 million illicit cigarettes in total. The … Read more
EU OLAF
OLAF Support in Dismantling Fake Medicine Network 
16 March 2022
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
On 16 February 2022, a joint operation between OLAF and the Polish police dismantled a gang that dealt with counterfeit medical products, such as medicine to treat erectile dysfunction, anabolic substances and growth hormones. The value of the seized goods is estimated at almost €9 … Read more
EU OLAF
OLAF JIT Uncovers Tomato Swindle 
16 March 2022
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
On 19 January 2022, OLAF reported on the results of a joint investigation team (JIT) involving OLAF, the Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) and the Prosecution Office of the Italian commune of Enna. The investigations revealed practices of a criminal group that defrauded EU agricultural … Read more
EU OLAF
CJEU again Finds Romanian Judicial System Flawed 
10 March 2022
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
The CJEU delivered a judgment on the Romanian rules and practice to hinder ordinary courts to assess compatibility of national provisions with EU law. According to the judges in Luxembourg, EU law precludes a national rule under which national courts have no jurisdiction to examine the conformity with EU law of national legislation which has been held to be constitutional by a judgment of the constitutional court of the Member State. Read more
EU Fundamental Rights Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
Eurojust Helps Unveil Major Fraud Case with EU’s Agricultural Funds 
3 March 2022
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
On 23 February 2022, Eurojust reported on the results of a joint investigation team that involved Romanian and Italian prosecutors and OLAF. The investigations dismantled an organised crime group which defrauded the EU of at least €800,000 in the sector of agricultural funds. The case … Read more
EU OLAF Eurojust Protection of Financial Interests
AG Opinion on Public Access to Information on Beneficial Owners 
21 February 2022
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
In his opinion of 20 January 2022, AG Giovanni Pitruzzella concluded that the fourth anti-money laundering (AML) Directive as amended by the fifth AML Directive is partly invalid. In essence, the case addresses the question of balancing transparency requirements with respect for fundamental rights. Read more
EU Money Laundering
Spotlight AG: PNR Directive is in Line with EU Charter 
18 February 2022 (updated 4 years, 2 months ago)
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl in Issue 1/2022
In his opinion replying to a reference for preliminary ruling by the Belgian Constitutional Court, AG Pitruzzella concluded that, in essence, the EU's PNR Directive is compatible with the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Only one point in the definition of PNR data in the Annex of the Directive is too broad and thus inapplicable. The duration of retention must however be limited to what is strictly necessary. Read more
EU Data Protection
EP Study on Politically Motivated Interpol Red Notices 
17 February 2022
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
On 7 February 2022, the LIBE Committee discussed a study which analysed the EU’s possibilities to protect EU citizens from politically motivated Interpol Red Notices. Read more
EU Police Cooperation
CJEU: Fines for Failure to Declare Assets Abroad Can Be Disproportionate 
17 February 2022
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl
On 27 January 2022, the CJEU declared Spanish legislation, which allows the imposition of high fines if a Spanish tax resident failed to comply with mere obligations to declare or purely formal obligations regarding his/her overseas assets, not in line with the principle of free movement of capital. Read more
EU Tax Evasion
Spotlight CJEU Dismisses Actions against Rule-of-Law Conditionality to Safeguard the EU Budget 
16 February 2022 (updated 2 years, 7 months ago)
Thomas Wahl Thomas Wahl in Issue 1/2022
On 16 February 2022, the CJEU dismissed the actions brought by Hungary and Poland that sought annulment of Regulation 2020/2092 “on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget”. The CJEU mainly rejected three pleas put forward by the applicants. The CJEU confirmed the legal basis, the non-circumvention of the "Article 7 procedure", and the compatibility with the principle of legal certainty. Read more
EU Rule of Law Protection of Financial Interests
Updated Rules Reinforcing Governance of Schengen Area 
29 January 2022 (updated 4 years, 3 months ago)
Dr. Anna Pingen Dr. Anna Pingen in Issue 4/2021
On 14 December 2021, the Commission proposed updated rules to reinforce the governance of the Schengen area. The Commission stressed that the Schengen area is one of the biggest achievements of European integration. It has been repeatedly put to the test in recent years by … Read more
EU Schengen
Commission Proposal for Better Protection of the Environment by Means of Criminal Law 
29 January 2022 (updated 4 years, 3 months ago)
Dr. Anna Pingen Dr. Anna Pingen in Issue 4/2021
On 15 December 2021, the Commission adopted a proposal for a new EU directive to crack down on environmental crime. In this way, the Commission intends to fulfil a key commitment of the European Green Deal.The proposal aims to make protection of the … Read more
EU Environmental Crime
Initiative to Extend List of EU Crimes to Hate Speech and Hate Crime 
29 January 2022 (updated 4 years, 6 months ago)
Dr. Anna Pingen Dr. Anna Pingen in Issue 4/2021
On 9 December 2021, the European Commission published an initiative to extend the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime. The initiative follows a set of EU actions already in place to counter illegal hate speech and violent extremist ideologies and terrorism … Read more
EU Racism and Xenophobia