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EU Criminal Law

EU Criminal Law. Introduction , Lisbon Treaty. EU criminal legislation. EU cannot adopt a general EU criminal code However , EU criminal legislation can add, within the limits of EU competence, important value to the existing national criminal law systems. Importance of EU criminal law.

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EU Criminal Law

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  1. EU CriminalLaw Introduction, LisbonTreaty

  2. EU criminallegislation • EU cannot adopt a general EU criminal code • However, EU criminal legislation can add, within the limits of EU competence, important value to the existing national criminal law systems

  3. Importanceof EU criminallaw • Seriousorganised crime is committed across borderspreventmisuseof those EU countries with the most lenient legal systems and 'safe havens'. • By adopting minimum procedural rights standards and making the fight against crime more efficient, EU criminal law fosters citizens' confidence in the security throughout the EU • Common rules strengthen mutual trust between EU countriesandfacilitate cooperation and mutual recognition of judicial measures. • EU criminal law helps to prevent and punish serious offencesagainst EU law in certain policy areas (e.g. environmentprotection)

  4. MAASTRICHT TREATY 1992 2nd pillar: Foreign and Security Policy Intergovernmental cooperation 3rd Pillar: Justice and Home Affairs  Mixed method, relied mainly on intergovernmental cooperation • 1st pillar: EC/EUROATOM • Regulated the legal, political and economic structure of EC • Joined internal and external policies: • -free movement of goods • -agriculture • -environment • … • Supranational character • Direct effect

  5. AMSTERDAM TREATY 1997 • 3rd Pillar is converted to Police andJudicialCooperationinCriminalMatters: • Drug trafficking and weapons smuggling • Terrorism • Trafficking in human beings • Organised Crime • Therestofthe 3rd Pillarwastransfered to the 1st Pillar: customs, asylum, visa, EU fraud…

  6. Lisbon Treaty 2007 • Enteredintoforce: 1st December 2009. • Amends: - TEU (1992 MaastrichtTreaty) • - TEEC (1957 Rome Treaty)  TFEU • Abolishedthe 3-pillarstructureandcreated a unified legal system • Abolishedframeworkdecisions (no directeffect)  directives (directeffect)

  7. Sourcesof EU CrimLaw SourcesofprimarylawSourcesofsecondarylaw -actsofMemberStates: -actsof EU institutions: Treaty on the EU, Regulations, Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. Directives, Decisions, Opinions, Recommendations.

  8. Chap. 4 of TFEU:JudicialCooperationinCriminalMatters • Art. 82: mutual recognition of judgments and judicial decisions • Art. 83: SubstantiveCriminalLaw • Art. 84: measures to promote and support the action of Member States in the field of crime prevention • Art. 85: EUROJUST • Art. 86: EuropeanPublicProsecutor’s Office

  9. Article 82 TFEU • Judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the Union shall be based on the principle of mutual recognition of judgments and judicial decisions and shall include the approximation of the laws andregulations of the Member States inspecificareasofcriminallaw. • Minimum rules for criminalmatterswithcross-borderdimensionbymeansofdirectives

  10. Article 83 TFEU • Minimum rulesdefiningparticularlyseriouscrimeswith a cross-borderdimensionandestablishingsanctions: terrorism, trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of women and children, illicit drug trafficking, illicit arms trafficking, money laundering, corruption, counterfeiting of means of payment, computer crime and organised crime • +othercrimesthatmeetthecriteria

  11. Fundamentalaspectsof national systems (83/3) • Ordinary legislative procedure: Commission (proposal) I CouncilofMinisters &Parliament (codecision) • Incaseof a collisionwithfundamentalaspectsof national criminaljusticesystem, ordinary procedure canbe (temporarly) suspendedbyreferringthedraft to theEuropeancouncil

  12. Article 84 TFEU • The EuropeanParliament and the CouncilofMinisters, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, may establish measures to promote and support the action of Member States in the field of crime prevention, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States.

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