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The Regional Court of Berlin referred several questions to the CJEU on the activities of law enforcement authorities in conjunction with the cracking of the EncroChat communications service. They relate to the interpretation of the EIO Directive. The Berlin court believes that the collection of data in the EncroChat operation was unlawful and that the data cannot be used as evidence in German criminal proceedings against persons who used EncroChat for criminal activities.

In a case that involves convictions in the context of the riots at the G8 summit in Genoa (Italy), the CJEU had occasion to determine the scope of the condition of double criminality in European arrest warrant cases. According to the judges in Luxembourg the executing authority does not need to assess the accordance of the legal interests protected by the criminal laws of the issuing and executing State.

On 28 October 2022, the CJEU held that a Serbian (a third country national) cannot be extradited from Germany to the United States if he had already been convicted for the same acts as those in the extradition request in another EU country (here: Slovenia). Art. 54 CISA also applies to non-EU citizens and must be taken into consideration even though a bilateral extradition treaty had limited the principle ne bis in idem to judgments handed down in the requested State only.

According to an opinion of 20 October 2022 by AG Szpunar, declarations made on the basis of Art. 55(1) CISA, which permit Member States to make exceptions from the ban of double jeopardy in Art. 54 CISA, no longer apply. They are not provided for by law and, moreover, Art. 55(1) CISA does not respect the essence of the principle ne bis in idem. The declarations should be put to rest.

On 7 October 2022, US President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order which is another step in the EU-US efforts to establish a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework. The Commission will now draft an adequacy decision and launch the EU's process for its adoption.

In a case concerning French legislation on the access of retained data for the purposes of combating copyright infringements on the internet, AG Szpunar took the view that access to civil identity data linked to IP addresses is compatible with EU law if such data are the only means to identify a suspect.

On 20 September 2022, the CJEU decided that French legislation providing for the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic data for the purpose of combating market abuse offences is incompatible with EU law. In addition, a national court cannot restrict the temporal effects of a declaration that national legislation providing for such retention is invalid.

On 20 September 2022, the CJEU (Grand Chamber) ruled that the German legislation on data retention is incompatible with EU law. The judges in Luxembourg reiterated that EU law precludes national legislative measures which provide, on a preventive basis, for the purposes of combating serious crime and preventing serious threats to public security, for the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data.

On 13-14 October 2022, the Justice and Home Affairs Council met in Luxembourg. The war in Ukraine was again in the focus. Topics included the judicial responses and the fight against impunity in Ukraine, the situation of Ukrainian refugees in the EU and the implications of the war on internal security. In addition, the ministers discussed several other justice and home affairs topics.

At their meeting on 13 October 2022, the Minister of Justice of the EU Member States discussed a note from the Czech Council Presidency that deals with judicial training and its impact on access to justice in the context of the rule of law.