European Commission calls on Italy and Poland to correctly transpose EU rules on the right of access to a lawyer and to communicate upon arrest

The European Commission calls on Italy and Poland to correctly transpose EU rules on the right of access to a lawyer and to communicate upon arrest.

The European Commission decided to open an infringement procedure by sending a letter of formal notice to Poland (and to send a reasoned opinion to Italy for failing to correctly transpose into their national legislation the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer and to communicate upon arrest (Directive 2013/48/EU). 

The deadline for Member States to transpose the Directive was 27 November 2016. The Directive is one of the six Directives that make up the EU's legal framework on common minimum standards for fair trials, ensuring that the rights of suspects and accused persons are sufficiently protected. It strengthens Member States' trust in each other's criminal justice systems and thus facilitates mutual recognition of decisions in criminal matters.

The Commission considers that certain national transposition measures notified by the two Member States fall short of the requirements of the Directive.  For instance, in both Member States, potential possibilities to derogate from the right of access to a lawyer go beyond the limits required by the Directive, and the requirement to inform the holder of parental responsibility or other appropriate adult of the deprivation of liberty of a child has not been correctly transposed.

The Commission is therefore sending a letter of formal notice to Poland which now has two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.

The Commission has also decided to issue a reasoned opinion to Italy, which now has two months to respond and take the necessary measures. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union. (source europa.eu/ photo:freepik.com)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Delivery Delay Clause in Residential Construction Contracts: Consumer Protection in Cyprus and Europe

Image
By Giorgos Kazoleas, LL.M., Lawyer, Managing Partner at Legal Experts Cyprus The purchase or construction of a new residence is one of the most significant financial and personal decisions a consumer can make. Residential construction contracts or agreements for the sale of property under construction are a crucial and defining element of the entire process, as certain terms they may contain can be detrimental to the buyer. One of the most critical aspects is the contractual delivery time of the project and the provision for delay, through the so-called delivery delay clause. The Delivery Delay Clause: Its Role and Legal Nature The delivery delay clause (also known as a penalty clause in the event of default) is a term usually included in the contract that specifies a predetermined compensation amount that the contractor or seller must pay to the buyer for every day, week, or month of delay beyond the agreed delivery date. The purpose of the clause is twofold: -Compensatory: ...
Read more

Two prisoners punished for singing anthems and reading out poems in prison: Violation of the freedom of expression

Image
In Chamber's judgment in the case of Mehmet Çiftçi and Suat İncedere v. Turkey (applications nos. 21266/19 and 21774/19) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.  The case concerned the sanction of one month’s deprivation of means of communication imposed on the applicants by the prison management for singing anthems and reading out poems (in December 2016) in memory of the prisoners who had lost their lives during the “Return to life” operation conducted by the authorities in prisons in December 2000.  The Court found that the disciplinary sanction imposed on the applicants constituted interference with their right to freedom of expression. It held that, notwithstanding the mildness of the sanction imposed on the applicants, the Government had not demonstrated that the reasons cited by the national authorities as justification for the measure complai...
Read more

The civil courts did not violate the right of access to a court by refusing a document which had not been submitted in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure

Image
In Chamber judgment in the case of Efstratiou and Others v. Greece (application no. 53221/14) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been no violation of Article 6 (right to a fair trial / right of access to a court) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The applicants in this case considered that the refusal by the court of appeal and the Court of Cassation to take account of evidence which they considered as decisive for the outcome of the case had been excessively formalistic. Those courts had considered that the documents in question had not been presented to the court of appeal in accordance with the requirements of Article 240 of the Greek Code of Civil Procedure. The Court held, in particular, that the statement given by a witness for the applicants at the hearing before the court of appeal, had fairly accurately reflected the substance of the document (a sworn statement), which the court of appeal had dismissed on the grounds that it ha...
Read more

The struggle for truth against time and limitation period in the light of two paternity court cases

Image
By George Kazoleas, Lawyer Two recent cases, one by the European Court of Human Rights and the other by the Athens Court of First Instance with similar facts, show once again that justice can dispel the darkness caused by human deceit having as a result the distortion of real facts. Against time and limitation Time, was essentially the reason why the courts in Serbia denied the 50-year-old Peda Boljevic the right to know the truth about who his biological father was. Until 2011 he believed that A was his real father but when he died, Boljevic discovered in old court rulings around 1970 that A could not be his biological father. So, at the beginning of 2012, he filed a lawsuit with his mother, invoking the old decisions by also adding the argument that back then there was no DNA test, but today this could be done based on a court decree. The courts in Serbia, both the court of first instance and the court of appeals, rejected his application as lapsed, after so many years. In particular...
Read more

Consumer credit agreements: In the event of failure to comply with the obligation to provide information, a bank may be deprived of its right to interest

Image
The Court of Justice in its Judgment in Case C-472/23 (Lexitor) regarding the consumer credit agreements, ruled that, in the event of failure to comply with the obligation to provide information, a bank may be deprived of its right to interest.  This may be the case even where the individual seriousness of the infringement of that obligation and its consequences for the consumer are likely to vary from case to case. Lexitor is a Polish debt collection agency to which a consumer assigned rights arising from a credit agreement concluded with a bank. That company claims that the bank failed to fulfil its obligation to provide information to the consumer when the agreement was concluded. It brought an action before a Polish court seeking payment from the bank of a sum of money corresponding to the interest and charges paid by that consumer.  In supports of its claim, Lexitor submits, first, that the annual percentage rate of charge (APRC [1]) was overstated; in its view, one of th...
Read more

Greek Administrative Court rules state liable for Covid-19 vaccine side effects due to "excessive sacrifice"

Image
Greece: The Administrative Court of First Instance of Athens, in its decision no. 4202/2025, has ruled that the Greek State is liable for damages sustained by an individual due to side effects following a preventive "COVID-19" vaccination. This landmark decision was issued in a compensation lawsuit filed against the Hellenic Republic. The Case: Seeking Compensation for Vaccine-Related Harm The lawsuit was brought by a plaintiff seeking compensation for material damage and moral harm (non-pecuniary damage), alleging that they suffered severe side effects after their preventive COVID-19 vaccination with a specific vaccine. The initial claim was for €461,835.26, but this amount was subsequently restricted during the proceedings. The plaintiff based their claim on two legal grounds: Article 105 of the Introductory Law of the Civil Code (EισNAK): This article concerns the State's liability for compensation arising from illegal acts or omissions of its organs in the exe...
Read more

Cyprus Family Law: Spouse's claim for contribution in post-marital acquisitions

Image
by Giorgos Kazoleas, Lawyer* The regulation of property issues between spouses after divorce or separation is one of the main problems and is most commonly related with the issue of the contribution of one spouse to the increase in the other’s property. According to Cypriot Family Law, in the event that the marriage is dissolved or annulled, or in the event of separation of the spouses, in case the property of one spouse has increased, the other spouse, if he/she contributed in any way to this increase, is entitled to bring an action before the Court and demand the return of the part of the increase that comes from his/her own contribution.[1] The contribution of one spouse to the increase in the property of the other is presumed to amount to one third of the increase, unless a greater or lesser contribution is proven.[2] “Contribution” means any form of contribution by the spouses to the acquisition or creation of property and includes the care of the family home and family memb...
Read more