EU

The Belgian Council Presidency, which will last from July to December 2010, will undertake a broad study on the effectiveness of existing EU criminal justice measures and the possible need to replace many of them with new Lisbon Treaty legislative instruments. 

In 2008 the Commission conducted a public consultation on this issue, to which the Bar responded, suggesting that a practical solution could be to create a European Provisional Order. That idea was picked up in the EP’s own April 2009 resolution on the consultation, and the Legal Affairs Committee of the EP is now looking in more detail at prompting the Commission to issue a legislative proposal giving it effect. The Bar is active on the file. 

The Bar Council recently responded to the Commission’s Green Paper on the possible extension of the European Evidence Warrant, to cover evidence that is not yet in existence (e.g. taking a witness statement) or that exists but is not directly available without further action (e.g. obtaining DNA samples). The existing EEW is widely seen in practice as too limited in scope. The Bar is calling for defence rights to be dealt with first, and for provision to facilitate the obtaining of defence evidence cross-border too. At the time of writing it is not yet clear whether the Commission will issue its own proposal, or be beaten to it by a Member State proposal on the issue of obtainability of evidence, which is also in the works. 

The EP is due to adopt its draft report on this April 2009 proposal at the May Plenary session. See:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp? 

id=5769082 

By the time of reading, the Council should have adopted conclusions on "the eradication of violence against women in the EU", in line with a call from the European Parliament in 2009. One of the measures is a proposal for a directive establishing the European Protection Order, allowing victims of domestic violence to move to another EU Member State without losing the benefit of a protective measure (e.g. a non-molestation order) issued in the original Member State. The issue is complicated however, by the fact that such cases are variously treated as criminal, civil, or a hybrid, by the Member States. The Spanish Presidency is pushing for progress. See: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st17/st17513.en09.pdf 

By the time of reading, the European Parliament will have opined on a proposal for the EU to conclude the 2007 International Convention aimed at ensuring a more effective recovery of child support and other forms of family (or similar relationship) maintenance. (Procedure reference CNS (2009)0100) See: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/draftReportsCom.do?language=EN&body=JURI

The Services Framework Directive (“the SFD”) (2006/123 EC), which aims to simplify and enhance the cross-border provision of services within the EU, for the benefit of both the consumer and the service provider, entered into force on 28 December 2009. As regards its application to the legal profession, successful lobbying by the Bar and other representatives of the profession during its EU legislative passage, ensured that the directive is complementary, but without prejudice, to the existing lawyers regime, i.e. the Lawyers’ Services Directive (77/249/EEC and the Lawyers’ Establishment Directive (98/5/EC). Accordingly, the SFD imposes some simplification of the administrative procedures and is intended to improve the accessibility, quality and quantity of information available, both to providers and users of legal services, but should not otherwise interfere with the existing regime. The SFD has been implemented into UK law by the Provision of Services Regulations 2009. See:http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/draft/ukdsi_9780111486276_en_1

At the end of 2009 the JHA Council adopted a resolution setting out a “Roadmap” of 6 separate measures intended to protect the procedural rights of suspects and defendants in the criminal justice system. See: 

http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st15/st15434.en09.pdf  The first of these measures, (A) on the right to translation and interpretation was the subject of a 2009 Commission proposal, but as it was not formally adopted by Council before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, it has lapsed. The other measures foreseen in the roadmap are:
B. Information about rights and about the charges;
C. Legal Aid and legal advice;
D. Communication with relatives, employers and consular authorities;
E. Special safeguards for vulnerable persons
F. A green paper on the right to review the grounds for detention. 

The Commission is now under pressure to issue a new proposal for measure A, as well as at least one of the others, during 2010. 

At the end of 2009, the Council adopted Conclusions setting out “Model Provisions, guiding the Council’s criminal law deliberations” to be used by the EU legislator when inserting criminal law provisions into EU legislative instruments adopted in pursuit of EU policies (e.g. environmental protection) The idea is to have agreed positions on contentious issues that arise repeatedly, e.g. the definition of intent, or what constitutes criminal behaviour.http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/jha/111543.pdf

The Commission has just closed a public consultation on possible ways to improve access to information on businesses across the EU; and more effective application of the company law directives. See: 

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2009/interconnection_of_business_registers_en.htm