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Before the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union of 1991, the cooperation in matters of internal security took place at the level of international relations between particular Member States − in the legal sense, outside the European Communities.1 The Treaty on European Union formed the architecture of European integration by attaching different forms of intergovernmental cooperation to Community policies. In this way, the three-pillar system was established. The cooperation between the EU Member States was described as “the cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs.” This area includes police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters…

Introduction The Lisbon Treaty aims at further developing an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers, and the prevention and combating of crime is seen as one of the premises in order to strengthen the creation of such an area (Article 3 TEU). Member States are faced with crises of criminality in the era of globalisation: following economic and social trends, crime tends to assume a transnational dimension and a complex structure, and individual States cannot manage to deal with this phenomenon. Moreover, freedom of circulation within the EU can lead to further difficulties in fighting criminality. This…

Dear Readers, The Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force at the end of 2009, mandates the Union to establish a true European area of justice reinforcing mutual trust and enabling mutual recognition of Member States’ judicial decisions. This will require, among other considerations, elements as diverse as the strengthening of Eurojust, the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the reform of the European Anti Fraud Office (Office Européen de la Lutte Anti-Fraude − OLAF), and common minimum standards in the justice process (such as fair trial rights, fair prison conditions, and rights for victims of crime). At the…

The very least that one can say or write about the cooperation in criminal matters between the EU and the US is that it has intensified since 2001. The EU and its bodies that deal with criminal matters – Eurojust and Europol – have concluded agreements with US authorities. However, the data protection provisions in several of these agreements have raised eyebrows. The exchange of personal data is a crucial tool in judicial and law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters. The EU as an entity, but also Eurojust and Europol, entered into negotiations with the US in order to regulate…

Introduction The processing of personal data has become an inherent part of the daily life of Europeans, for example when booking a flight ticket, transferring money, applying for a job, or just using the Internet for private purposes. Nobody wants to miss out on the advantages of modern technologies. Sometimes individuals provide their personal data simply because they choose to do so. But sometimes data is collected without consent and often without the knowledge of the individuals concerned. The protection of personal data is becoming more and more relevant as technology develops and the possibilities increase to use and misuse…

Dear Readers, The decision by the eucrim editors to dedicate this entire issue to data protection confirms that data protection is increasingly relevant and also at the heart of European criminal law. An area of freedom, security and justice without internal borders can only exist if the national police and judicial authorities are able to exchange information as needed to fulfil their tasks. The use and exchange of information relating to persons also requires a solid and consistent system of data protection, not least because of technological developments. The term “surveillance society” is often used as a metaphor for a…

Introduction – The Relevance and Importance of the Criminal Charge Question Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) asset freezing entails the suspension of access to financial assets of persons or organizations who and which are considered to be engaged in committing or facilitating the commission of terrorist acts. The listing-decisions that precede the asset freezes also entail the prohibition of making assets available to the target individual or organization. Doctrinally, asset freezes are temporary administrative law measures with preventive security purposes, issued non-judicially and not reliant on criminal standards such as a conviction or indictment and which can therefore be issued in…

Introduction The common approach to fight crime is to collect evidence, charge the defendant in a criminal trial and, if proven guilty, to impose criminal sanctions such as fines or imprisonment. Most legal systems also provide for the possibility to confiscate the proceeds of crime following a criminal conviction. As organised crime has evolved, attempts have been made by governments and international institutions to fight it through this traditional criminal law approach. In order to be better able to obtain a criminal conviction of organised criminals, the criminalisation of money laundering is perhaps the most known measure. However, the common…

The legal organization of Dutch environmental criminal law The penalization of environmental offences in the Netherlands differs from the penalization of classic offences such as murder or theft. Except for an occasional environmental offence in the Criminal Code and except for the applicability of, for example, forgery in environmental cases, penalization of environmental offences takes place via the Economic Offences Act. At the time that this Act was realized in 1950 its purpose was to protect the restoration of the economic order after the Second World War and it initially only comprised economic offences. From the seventies onwards the legislator…

On 24 April 2026, Eurojust published its Annual Report for 2025 highlighting a continued expansion of the Agency’s operational activities, judicial cooperation work, and international role in combating serious cross-border crime. The report has been published both as a pdf version for download and as …