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In a recommendation of 15 June 2023, the EP sets up EU standards for the use of spyware. The recommendations endorse the conclusions drawn by the Pegasus scandal which was investigated by a respective Committee of Inquiry since May 2022.

This news item continues the reporting on key EU reactions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 in view of the impact on the EU's internal security policy, criminal law, and the protection of the EU’s financial interests. The overview covers the period from beginning of July 2023 to the end of September 2023. It connects to previous overviews, which were published in the eucrim issues of 2022 and 1/2023.

On 6 September 2023, in Cases T-270/22 and T-272/22, the General Court of the European Union (GC) dismissed the actions brought by Dmitry Alexandrovich Pumpyanskiy and Galina Evgenyevna Pumpyanskaya against the restrictive measures adopted against them by the Council.By decision of the Council …

In May and August 2023, the Commission updated the EU list of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. Currently, 132 jurisdictions worldwide are subject to review and assessments by the EU institutions since their AML/CFT standard is low.

On 19 September 2023, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted guidelines on the application of Art. 37 of Directive 2016/680. The guidelines provide practitioners with clarification which conditions must be met if appropriate data protection safeguards in a third country or international organisation are assessed that would allow a data transfer from the EU for law enforcement purposes.

According to Advocate General Ćapeta the execution of a European Arrest Warrant issued against a mother of small children may be refused when that is in the best interest of the child. Such a refusal is possible only if, after having contacted the issuing authority, the executing authority does not have sufficient information in order to be absolutely certain that the execution of the EAW would not go against the best interest of the child.

On 21 September 2023, the ECJ delivered a judgment that assessed whether facts are identical if a criminal carried out a fraudulent pyramid scheme in Spain and Portugal. The judges in Luxembourg were of the opinion that this does not seem the case under the circumstances at issue.

According to the ECJ's Grand Chamber judgment, the option of refusing to execute a European Arrest Warrant in order for the sentence to be executed in the Member State of residence must be equally applicable to third-country nationals The judicial authority must assess whether there is a legitimate interest justifying the execution in its territory of the sentence imposed in the issuing Member State.

On 12 July 2023, the Commission proposed that the EU will have in place more far-reaching minimum standards for victims of crime. The legislative initiative amends the 2012 Victims' Rights Directive (2012/29). The amendments aim at improving support, access to information and justice, and the obtainment of compensation. Targeted measures will also be introduced for vulnerable victims, such as children or people with disabilities.

The Italian competition and market supervisory authority can no longer impose an administrative fine on Volkswagen (VW) for the installation of inadmissible defeat devices in their diesel vehicles after VW had received and paid a fine from the public prosecutor's office in Germany in the meantime and in the same context. This was decided by the ECJ in Case C-27/22 on 14 September 2023, following Advocate General Sanchez-Bodona's opinion of 30 March 2023.