European investigation order

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The European Investigation Order (EIO) is an agreement between judicial authorities of all member states of the European Union . It regulates the cross-border ordering of coercive measures , i.e. the implementation of police or judicial measures of an issuing state for implementation in an executing state. The legal basis is Directive 2014/41 / EU of April 3, 2014.

Aim of an EEA

The aim is to obtain evidence in criminal proceedings . This can involve taking executive action against suspected or accused persons . Judicial authorities can be instructed to produce evidence. It also regulates the temporary transfer of detainees, questioning by video or telephone conference or the use of the European arrest warrant to transfer people (also temporarily) to courts .

Procedure

  1. The EIO must be validated in the issuing state by a judicial authority, a court, an investigating judge or a public prosecutor.
  2. If the measure requires judicial authorization in the executing State, this must be obtained.
  3. The issuing authority must provide a description of the criminal act and the “applicable provisions of the criminal law of the issuing state”. Investigative measures must be implemented no later than 90 days after they have been issued.
  4. The executing authority must implement an EIO sent to it as if the investigative measure had been ordered by an authority in the executing state.

A refusal of recognition or a postponement are only possible if the ordered measures are not allowed by local authorities either.

Rejection of an EEA

An EIO can be rejected

  • if national security interests are at risk
  • if classified information from intelligence or intelligence services would have to be released.
  • if the persons concerned have “immunities or privileges”.
  • if the " freedom of the press and freedom of expression in other media" are affected.

Distribution of costs for an EEA

Any costs incurred are to be borne by the executing state. If this evaluates the expenditure as "exceptionally high", it can be renegotiated in order to share costs or to change the EEA.

history

For many years some EU member states have provided supranational legal assistance in criminal matters even without the EIO. The directive was enacted in 2009 in the five-year Stockholm Program . The EU Parliament approved the directive in 2014. The directive was published on May 1, 2014 in the Official Journal of the EU. The EU member states had three years to transpose them into national law. Ireland and Denmark do not follow suit.

In Germany, the guideline was implemented in Sections 91a ff. Of the Law on International Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (IRG).

criticism

The German Association of Judges criticizes the European investigation order on two points:

  1. So far, the procedural rules of the EU member states have largely differed. For example, German criminal procedural law knows a judge's reservation . A dissolution of the legal binding of investigative measures in the executing Member State can lead to arbitrariness even in the case of serious interventions.
  2. Each individual case must be checked against the standard of the European concept of proportionality or national law. The intended simplification of cross-border investigations is largely eliminated.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Directive 2014/41 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 3, 2014 on the European Investigation Order in criminal matters , accessed on January 27, 2018
  2. ^ Opinion of the German Association of Judges on the European Investigation Order in criminal matters - partial general orientation of July 17, 2011 of the Council of Ministers (Ratsdok.-Nr .: 11735/11). (No longer available online.) German Association of Judges, archived from the original on June 6, 2014 ; Retrieved June 5, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.drb.de