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This news item continues the overview of rule-of-law development in Poland (as far as they relate to Europen law) from 1 January to 30 April 2023. They follow-up the last update in → eucrim 4/2022, 222-223.

On 18 April 2023, the CJEU took another important decision on the handling of EAWs if fundamental rights of the requested person are at stake. It decided that a manifest risk endangering the person’s health can justify temporary suspension of his/her surrender. The executing judicial authority is obliged to ask the issuing authority for information concerning the conditions in which it intends to prosecute or detain that person.

The CJEU ruled in the legal battle between the Spanish Supreme Court and Belgian courts regarding the surrender of escaped Catalan politicians after the illegal referendum in Catalonia in 2017. The CJEU clarified that Belgian courts could not refuse the Spanish EAWs on the ground that the criminal court in Spain does not have jurisdiction to try the persons concerned. The judgment has huge importance on fundamental rights checks in the EAW mechanism.

On 14 February 2023, the Council adopted a decision authorising Member States to ratify, in the interest of the EU, the Second Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention). The protocol will improve cross-border access to electronic evidence to be used in criminal proceedings. On 17 January 2023, the EP already gave its consent as required by the TFEU.

After its resolution of 15 December 2022, the EP endorsed further measures in February 2023 that support the overcoming of the "Qatargate" scandal. Next to short-term measures and an extended mandate of the ING2 committee, MEPs call for reforms ensuring better transparency, accountability and integrity of the EU institutions.

On 1 March 2023, the EPPO presented its annual report for 2022. It is the first annual report that provides the picture of a full calendar year after the EPPO had started to exercise its competence on 1 June 2021.

In an open letter, the ECBA makes statements on the first case dealing with the interpretation of the EPPO Regulation before the CJEU. The case was referred by the Oberlandesgericht Wien (Austria) and poses the question as to which extent the courts of the assisting European Delegated Prosecutor (EDP) can verify an investigative measure under their national law when it was authorised in the Member State of the EDP handling the case.

The European Court of Auditors has started working on an audit to assess the Commission’s actions in protecting the EU’s financial interests and the sound financial management of the EU budget against rule of law breaches.

In its judgment of 26 January 2023, the CJEU ruled that the systematic collection of biometric and genetic data of any accused person in order for them to be entered in a police record is contrary to the requirement of ensuring enhanced protection with regard to the processing of sensitive personal data.

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 justice and home affairs and on the protection of the EU’s financial interests. The overview covers the period from November 2022 to December 2022.