Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation by the Member States of Framework Decision 2008/675/JHA of 24 July 2008 on taking into account of convictions in the Member States of the European Union in the course of new criminal proceedings

In a genuine area of justice based on mutual trust, the European Union has taken action to ensure that citizens are protected against crime across the European Union, while also ensuring that citizens’ fundamental rights are respected when they find themselves involved in criminal proceedings, whether as a victim or a defendant.

In the European Union, where people can move and settle freely, this objective of maintaining and developing a genuine European area of justice requires that convictions against persons sentenced in one Member State are taken into account in another Member State in order to prevent future crimes. Equally, if new crimes are committed by the same offender, subject to preserving fairness of the proceedings, this behavioural factor should be taken into account in the framework of new criminal proceedings.

It is indeed in the interests of effective criminal justice, including the protection of victims of crime, within the European Union, that all Member States have rules in place to take into account, at all stages of the criminal proceedings, whether a person is a first offender or whether s/he was already sentenced in another Member State. To be in a position to assess the offender’s criminal past is essential for the effective conduct of new criminal proceedings, in particular to ensure informed decisions on pre-trial detention or bail, and to have full information available at sentencing stage.

It was against this background that Framework Decision 2008/675/JHA of 24 July 2008 on taking into account of convictions in the Member States of the European Union in the course of new criminal proceedings was adopted. This Framework Decision allows judicial authorities in one Member State to take account of final criminal judgments given by the courts in other Member States. It determines the conditions under which, in the course of criminal proceedings against a person, previous convictions handed down against the same person for different facts in other Member States are taken into account by these authorities. In the context of new criminal proceedings, Member States must ensure that previous convictions handed down in another Member State are duly taken into consideration under the same rules as national previous convictions.

This Framework Decision replaces Article 56 of the Council of Europe Convention of 28 May 1970 on the International Validity of Criminal Judgments concerning the taking into consideration of criminal judgments, as between Member States’ parties to that convention. The information regarding previous convictions can be obtained through an EU system of the exchange of information extracted from the criminal record (ECRIS). The purpose of this report is to provide a preliminary evaluation of the national transposition laws already received by the Commission.

See also:
- Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation by the Member States of Framework Decision 2009/948/JHA of 30 November 2009 on prevention and settlement of conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction in criminal proceedings

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: European area of justice: European Commission calls on Member States to reinforce rules on free circulation of previous convictions and cross-border crime http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-european-area-of-justice-european-commission-calls-on-member-states-to-reinforce-rules-on-free-circulation-of-previous-convictions-and-cross-border-crime/

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