Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Making progress on the European Union agenda on procedural safeguards for suspects or accused persons – strengthening the foundation of the European area of criminal justice

It is a well-known maxim that ‘justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done’. In the European area of justice, the corollary is that citizens must not only have the right to a fair trial anywhere in the European Union, but be confident of this when exercising their right to move freely in the European Union. The judicial authorities in the Member States also need to be able to trust each other’s justice systems to work fairly.

To develop this area of justice based on mutual recognition and mutual trust, the Commission was asked to submit proposals to strengthen the procedural rights of suspects or accused persons. This political mandate for a strong focus on strengthening citizens’ rights in criminal proceedings, to ensure the right to a fair trial across the European Union, resulted in the Commission’s Procedural Rights Agenda.

The present package is the continuation of a successful legislative programme. Step by step, very good progress has been made and the European Union has adopted three Directives on procedural rights:
- A Directive on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings was adopted in 2010 and must be transposed by 27 October 2013.
- A Directive on the right to information in criminal proceedings followed in 2012, and must be implemented by 2 June 2014.
- A Directive on the right of access to a lawyer and the right to communicate upon deprivation of liberty was adopted in October 2013. This measure is at the core of the Procedural Rights Agenda.

This Communication introduces a package of five legal measures to make progress on the Procedural Rights Agenda and to further strengthen the foundation for the European area of criminal justice.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)820: Follow the progress of this communication through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:820:FIN

ESO: Background information: The Right to… - a Fair Trial! Commission wants more safeguards for citizens in criminal proceedings http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-the-right-to-a-fair-trial-commission-wants-more-safeguards-for-citizens-in-criminal-proceedings/

---