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

In a genuine area of justice based on mutual trust, citizens can legitimately expect safety and security and to be protected against crime across the European Union, while at the same time having confidence that their fundamental rights are respected when they find themselves involved in criminal proceedings as defendants.

The European Union has put in place various tools to fight cross-border crime more effectively. Criminal activities may take place in the territory of several Member States: for instance the preparation of a crime can be carried out in one Member State, while the crime can be committed in another Member State; its perpetrators can be arrested in a third Member State and the assets of the crime transferred to a fourth Member State. This leads to situations where potentially several Member States are competent to conduct criminal investigations in respect of the crime and proceedings against the alleged perpetrators. This poses challenges not only in terms of coordination and effectiveness of criminal prosecutions, but also with regard to respect for the fundamental principle of criminal law, also enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ("the Charter"), that a person may not be prosecuted and convicted twice for the same offence.

The European Union adopted Framework Decision 2009/948/JHA of 30 November 2009 on prevention and settlement of conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction in criminal proceedings, which aims to prevent unnecessary parallel criminal proceedings concerning the same facts and the same person in the European Union.

It is in the interests of effective criminal justice within the European area of justice to ensure that criminal proceedings are conducted in the best-placed Member State, for example in the State where the major part of the criminality occurred, where the majority of the loss was sustained or where the suspected or accused person or victims have significant interests. This jurisdiction must be chosen in a transparent and objective way in order to safeguard legal certainty for citizens and in order to improve judicial cooperation in criminal matters between authorities that may exercise parallel competence.

This Framework Decision is the first important step in European Union law on prevention of conflicts of jurisdiction. In the context of the internationalisation of crime within the European Union, this measure provides added value by improving the proper functioning of the European area of justice. It therefore also contributes to the efficient administration of criminal justice in the Member States. 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 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

• 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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