Bid to enforce criminal penalties across EU

Date: 20/07/2000

By John Shelley

FRANCE has suggested introducing a 'European criminal record' and Union-wide bans on driving as part of an action plan setting out how judgements made in one country should be recognised in all 15 member states.

Paris is proposing that people found guilty of serious crime should appear on a database available to judges across the EU. It is also floating the idea of setting up a European disqualification register so that bans on, for example, driving or working in certain professions could ultimately be enforced in every member state. "Failure to comply with certain disqualifications could be considered an offence at Union level," suggests its draft report on the mutual recognition of legal rulings.

Mutual recognition is one of the most complex but potentially far-reaching commitments which EU leaders signed up to at last October's special summit on justice and home affairs in Tampere. Governments see getting court decisions recognised across the Union as one of the main aims of their drive to boost cooperation between judiciaries and police forces.

The French are hoping that after early discussions on their proposals at an informal meeting of interior ministers next week, they will be able to get a final version of their action plan agreed by the end of this year, leaving future presidencies to work on detailed legislation.

Paris' report outlines what mutual recognition would mean in practice in a wide range of areas: fines imposed in one member state could, for example, be collected in any other; judges would be able to freeze the assets of a suspected criminal anywhere in the EU; and those jailed abroad could return to their own country to serve their sentence.

It could also mean the virtual abolition of extradition proceedings, with much simpler rules put in place to allow suspects to be summoned for trial abroad. If member states refused, they could be obliged to enforce the foreign court's ruling themselves. "The future instrument could apply a new principal to such situations, 'either extradite or enforce the sentence'," suggests the paper.

The report outlines 16 different areas of co-operation which need to be agreed, with each potentially requiring its own legislation. These include measures to ensure people cannot be tried twice for the same crime in different countries, that cross-border calls for evidence can be acted on quickly, and that each member state can provide post-sentencing follow-up services such as probation and parole.

But civil liberties groups have expressed serious concern about mutual recognition, arguing that it would enhance law enforcers' powers without providing guarantees that foreign nationals will get the same treatment as residents or that translators will always be available.

Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino is due to present an initial paper on one part of the plan, the mutual recognition of sentences, next week.

France has suggested introducing a 'European criminal record' and Union-wide bans on driving as part of an action plan setting out how judgments made in one country should be recognised in all 15 Member States, in a draft report on the mutual recognition of legal rulings.