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I. Introduction After many years of reflection and preparation, negotiations on the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (hereinafter EPPO)1 commenced three years ago.2 The proposal is well known to readers of the eucrim journal. During the course of negotiations in the Council of the European Union, the proposal has evolved substantially and in a number of ways, now envisaging a collegiate structure, shared competences between the EPPO and national authorities, and wide autonomy on the part of the European Delegated Prosecutors handling the cases, accompanied by supervisory powers vested in…

The last few years have seen the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (“Frontex”) grow ever more central to European efforts to control the external borders. The Agency moved from a merely coordinating and supporting role to a much more operational one. Frontex now engages …

EU legislation on administrative penalties has prompted an intense discussion in Estonia on whether to resurrect a measure from the past, namely administrative penalties. These penalties were abolished in Estonia in 2002, with all minor offences since then being classified as misdemeanours. Proponents of the …

Where does the protection of human and fundamental rights stand in Europe, particularly in the European Union of the 28 European Member States? Where can the « common heritage of political traditions, ideals, freedom and the rule of law », which is evoked in the …

As part of its efforts to ensure better law-making at the EU level, together with the other EU institutions, the European Parliament is paying increasing attention to the added value of European action (“European added value”) as well as the costs of not taking action …

Dear Readers, Several anniversaries were recently celebrated in relation to the EU, in general, and to the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (ASFJ), in particular: 60 years since the signature of the Treaty of Rome, 20 years since the enactment of the principle of mutual recognition, 10 years since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. The dynamic European landscape is giving rise to an increasing number of actors and instruments in judicial cooperation in criminal matters, with undeniable repercussions for the Member States. This can be seen not only from a legal/judicial perspective but also from…

The indiscriminate use of social networking for interpersonal relationships has increased the possibilities to engage in behaviour that affects the private and personal lives of citizens in general and minors in particular. Offences such as child grooming have been incorporated into the Spanish Criminal Code, …

The vast differences among the national standards for granting legal aid pushed the European Commission to propose common minimum rules in order to harmonize this right. This initiative was intended to ensure the effectiveness of the right of access to a lawyer, because the right …

After giving a brief overview of the major developments in the harmonization of procedural safeguards for suspected and accused persons in the European Union, this article focuses on the legal reforms that were necessary to implement four of the six adopted EU Directives on procedural …

This article examines the origin, foundations and main features of the proposal of the European Union to facilitate cross-border access to electronic evidence, which was presented by the European Commission in April 2018. The creation of advanced solutions for the transnational gathering of electronic evidence …