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Following the entry into force of Directive 2023/977 on the exchange of information between the law enforcement authorities of Member States (→ eucrim Spotlight of 12 July 2023), civil liberties organisation Statewatch voiced criticism over the new legislation. The NGO pointed out that “Europol's …

On 4 April 2023, OLAF presented the results of its operations against tobacco smuggling in 2022. International operations involving OLAF during 2022 led to the seizure of 531 million contraband cigarettes. The majority had been illegally produced within the EU.

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 January 2023 to the end of June 2023. It connects to previous overviews, which were published in the eucrim issues of 2022.

A new Directive establishes a modern legal basis for the exchange of information between the EU Member States' law enforcement authorities. It will repeal the 2006 "Swedish Initiative". The Directive is founded on five principles and the future exchange of law enforcement information should be effectuated via a system of Single Points of Contact.

This news item gives an overview of the recent developments regarding the finalisation of interinstitutional negotiations on the EU rules to gather e-evidence in criminal matters. Negotiations on a legal framework between the EU and the USA on this matter were resumed in March 2023.

On 5 April 2023, the Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation on the transfer of proceedings in criminal matters between Member States. The aim of the proposal is to generate more efficient criminal proceedings as well as better administration of justice within the EU.

In its judgment of 2 March 2023, the ECJ clarified that a German tax office responsible for criminal matters and tax investigation (Steuerfahndung) cannot issue European Investigation Orders (EIOs) without a judge, a court, an investigating judge or a public prosecutor having validated the EIO in advance.

According to the opinion of the AG, Volkswagen cannot be punished twice for "Dieselgate" in Italy after having paid a fine in Germany in the same context, because there has not been sufficient coordination between the penalty proceedings in both States.

According to the ECJ, a Member State can exempt certain offences affecting its national security from the scope of the transnational ne bis in idem. This can also concern the offence of forming a criminal organisation in which the person prosecuted participated has engaged exclusively in financial crime, in so far as the action of that organisation intended to punish harm to the security or other equally essential interests of that state.

In a report, released on 13 March 2023, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) found loopholes in transparency and detecting situation at risk if it comes to conflicts of interests. ECA’s report focuses on how conflicts of interests as an irregularity affecting the EU budget have been addressed in agricultural and cohesion policy – the EU’s biggest spending areas.