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On 3 April 2014, Directive 2014/41/EU regarding the European investigation order in criminal matters was finally approved. This instrument seeks to overcome the present fragmentary regulation on the gathering and transfer of cross-border evidence and improve the efficiency of the international judicial cooperation among the …

While the right to lawyer-client confidentiality has long been recognised as a fundamental right enshrined in the right to legal assistance and the right of defence, its practical implementation does not seem to provide adequate safeguards. Many EU Member States still lack clear rules on …

Dear Readers, Recital 5 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget serves as a reminder that the EU’s legal structure is based on the fundamental premise that “each Member State shares with all the other Member States, and recognizes that they share with it, a set of common values on which the Union is founded, as stated in Article 2 TEU.” This commitment to complying with the Treaties, including the fundamental principles of the rule of law, justifies mutual trust between the Member States. Each and every Member State…

This article seeks to provide arguments in support of legislative action on mutual admissibility of evidence and electronic evidence in criminal proceedings at the EU level. To this end, it will first describe the status quo and then the main features of a corresponding proposal …

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) sought to extend the guarantees for criminal procedure enshrined in Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to administrative offences which are criminal in nature when it established the Engel criteria. It aimed to prevent …

Strengthening the rule of law – and in particular judicial independence – has been on the EU agenda for several years and it is still a high priority. The situation in Poland and Hungary has confirmed that the measures provided in the Treaties are not …

Dear Readers, Since the launch of the project to establish a European Public Prosecutor’s Office, concerns have continuously been voiced over the standard of protection of fundamental rights in criminal proceedings. The criticism is directed at the European Union firmly moving towards a more efficient prosecution, but disregarding the need for strengthening the protection of fundamental rights in transnational criminal proceedings. It has been constant during the past decades, gaining momentum after implementation of the 2002 Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant (FD EAW). The Commission could no longer ignore the critical voices being raised by academics, human rights...

In the context of the European Union’s area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ), “the need to strike the right balance” between the effectiveness of criminal prosecution and cooperation in criminal matters, and the protection of fundamental rights, but also between the primacy of EU …