Considerations on COM(2005)91 - Taking account of convictions in the Member States of the EU in the course of new criminal proceedings - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2005)91 - Taking account of convictions in the Member States of the EU in the course of new criminal proceedings. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2005)91  |
| date | July 24, 2008 |
(2) On 29 November 2000 the Council, in accordance with the conclusions of the Tampere European Council, adopted a programme of measures to implement the principle of mutual recognition in criminal matters[6]. Measure 2 of the programme provides for the “adoption of one or more instruments establishing the principle that a court in one Member State must be able to take account of final criminal judgments rendered by the courts in other Member States for the purposes of assessing the offender's criminal record and establishing whether he has re-offended, and in order to determine the type of sentence applicable and the arrangements for enforcing it”. The purpose of this Framework Decision is to determine the conditions in which a conviction handed down in another Member State must be capable of being taken into account in the course of criminal proceedings against the same person for different facts in another Member State.
(3) Some Member States attach effects to convictions handed down in other Member States, whereas others take account only of convictions handed down in their own courts. Equal treatment of all citizens of Europe must be secured to remedy this situation.
(4) The principle that the Member States must attach to a conviction handed down in other Member States effects equivalent to those attached to a conviction handed down in their own courts must be affirmed, whether those effects be regarded by national law as matters of fact or of law. But this Framework Decision does not seek to harmonise the consequences attached by the different national legislations to the existence of previous convictions.
(5) The effects of a conviction handed down in another Member State must be the same as the effects of a national decision at the pre-trial stage of criminal proceedings, at the trial stage or at the time of execution of the sentence. Where national legislation attaches legal effects to the existence of a previous conviction, national transposal legislation must determine the extent to which equivalent effects are attached to a decision given in another Member State.
(6) The entry in the criminal record of a Member State of convictions against nationals or residents handed down in another Member State must be governed by the same rules as if it had been handed down by a national court and may not cause persons convicted in other Member States to be treated more unfavourably than those who have been convicted by national courts.
(7) This decision is to replace the provisions concerning the taking into consideration of criminal judgments in the Convention of 28 May 1970 on the International Validity of Criminal Judgments.
(8) This Framework Decision respects the principle of subsidiarity provided for by Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 5 of the Treaty establishing the European Community insofar as it aims to approximate the laws and regulations of the Member States, which cannot be done adequately by the Member States acting unilaterally and requires concerted action in the European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in the latter Article, this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
(9) This Decision respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised by Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union and restated by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.