Transfer of proceedings in criminal matters

Key points

The EESC

• welcomes the European Commission's initiative aiming to create a common regime for the transfer of criminal proceedings between Member States, thereby avoiding the duplication of criminal proceedings in respect of the same acts, and reducing impunity owing to prosecutions not being pursued;
• considers that certain points should be added or corrected as it:
  • believes that there should be an express reference to both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as to other legislation that seeks to protect fundamental rights;
  • draws attention to the fact that the proposed regime should not be used to enable suspects/accused persons to conveniently obtain access to a more favorable legal regime;
  • welcomes the decision to implement common digital tools, but considers necessary to maintain paper-based communication channels not to exclude those who do not have access to IT resources;
  • believes that the entire translation process should be carried out with the utmost rigor (the use of artificial intelligence without human intervention should not be permitted), and that a right to appeal on the grounds of inadequate translation should be possible;
  • believes that there should be training for all professionals working in this area, as well as for other stakeholders, such as translators;
  • considers that provision should be made for a method for resolving negative conflicts over jurisdiction in the event of this law being applied;
  • highlights the fact that the possibility should be removed whereby the requesting authority, in the event that a transfer is accepted, can send only part of the file and not the whole file.