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The Evolving Nature of Financial Regulation Until the early 1970s, the various national systems of banking regulation had largely monetary objectives. Controls on commercial banking activity (including administratively set interest rates, quantitative limits on credit expansion, and reserve requirements) were imposed for the purpose of preventing the over- or under-expansion of the money and bank credit supply. In addition, in many countries, including the UK and France, the state sought to direct the flow of available credit towards certain economic areas and activities, and away from others. Another policy concern related to the conditions of competition within the banking industry;…

In the aftermath of the economic crisis, that began in 2007 in the U.S.A. and spread to the European economy, weakening the EU, every discussion about its causes and how to address them was linked to the absence of a suitable supervisory1 framework. The EU has been accused of lacking sufficient legal tools both at a precautionary level as well as for crisis management.2 Even though the internal market of financial services had been making progress, up until 2007 there were no truly centralized3 mechanisms and tools to supervise financial activities, identify their complexity, their risks and the interconnections between…

The EPPO was established by Regulation 2017/1939, which entered into force on 20 November 2017, under enhanced cooperation to fight crimes affecting the Union budget. The Office is currently in the set-up phase with the aim of becoming operational at the end of 2020. On …

Twenty years have passed since the EU heads of state and government came together in Tampere and agreed that the principle of mutual recognition should become the cornerstone of judicial cooperation in criminal matters between the EU Member States. This was followed by the adoption …

After implementation of Directive 2014/41 by the EU Member States (bound by the Directive) in 2017 and the first half of 2018, the European Investigation Order (EIO) has become the core instrument for obtaining evidence located in another EU Member State. The EIO simplifies and …

The European Investigation Order (EIO) is a major step forward in judicial cooperation in criminal matters within the EU. It has become the main legal tool to gather trans-border evidence, replacing the traditional MLA conventions mainly used for this purpose so far. It co-exists with …

I. An Unprecedented Problem in EU Law: Inaudito reo Criminal Proceedings The right to personal participation in criminal proceedings and the problem of in absentia procedures have lain at the core of the EU legislative agenda over the last several years. Before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, Framework Decision 2009/299/JHA amended, inter alia, the EAW Framework Decision, tightening the conditions under which defendants can be surrendered to other Member States in proceedings instituted in the accused’s absence.1 Although this legislative intervention also contributed to the process of indirect harmonisation of criminal procedure law, initiated under the former…

I. Introduction Customs fraud is a growing phenomenon, which causes significant damage to the Union’s financial interests. The losses resulting from some of the most common types of customs-related fraud (i.e., misdeclaration of origin, misdescription of goods, and misuse of the transit system) are estimated at around €185 million per year.1 Under Article 325 of the TFEU, it is the responsibility of the Union – as well as its Member States – to protect the EU’s financial interests. Given the scale of the problem, coupled with the growing threat of transborder crime, the importance of combating customs fraud and ensuring…

The recently adopted Directive on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at trial in criminal proceedings1 (hereafter: Directive on the Presumption of Innocence)2 applies exclusively to natural persons.3 This is in contrast to previously adopted directives of the Roadmap for strengthening procedural rights in criminal proceedings4 which applied to suspected or accused persons and did not explicitly exclude legal persons.5 Therefore, one could argue that legal persons could benefit from the implementation of relevant provisions of the previously adopted directives of the Roadmap6 but that they cannot infer rights from…

One of the main goals of imprisonment is to facilitate the reintegration of offenders into socie-ty. This is better achieved if offenders are sent to prison where they would like to settle upon release. Since German nationals are serving prison sentences in Taiwan and Taiwanese …