Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Rights of Access to a Lawyer and of Notification of Custody to a Third Person in Criminal Proceedings
| DOI | 10.1177/203228441100200303 |
| Date | 01 September 2011 |
| Published date | 01 September 2011 |
| Subject Matter | Dedicated Section |
New Journal of Eur opean Crimina l Law, Vol. 2, Issue 3, 2011 259
PROPOSAL FOR A DIRECTIVE OF
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND
OF THE COUNCIL ON THE RIGHTS OF ACCESS
TO A LAWYER AND OF NOTIFICATION
OF CUSTODY TO A THIRD PERSON
IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
Note from Belgium, France, Ireland,
the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
Belgium, France, Irela nd, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom recal l their
agreement to the Roadmap for s trengthening procedural r ights of suspects and
accused persons in cr iminal proceedi ngs, agreed by the Counci l and rati ed in t he
Stockholm Prog ramme approved by the Eu ropean Council in December 2009. ey
also conrm t heir commitment more broadly to the development of an area of
freedom, sec urity and justice, begun by the Treaty of Amsterdam and furt hered by
the Treaty of Lisbon, which made t his one of the ke y objectives of the European
Union.
ese Member States also welcome that, as set out in the Roadmap, the Commission
has proposed a Directive on the rig ht of access to a lawyer in crimi nal proceedings
and the right to communicate upon arrest, with the objective of establishing minimum
standards to give these rig hts real and practical eect. ere is no doubt that the right
of access to a lawyer is one of the key elements of a defendant’s right to a fair tria l. An
instrument establishing minimum sta ndards in this area will be of i mportance for
every suspected and accused person subject to criminal proceed ings in the Union and
for e very crim inal invest igation and prosecution conducted by Member State
authorities. It w ill contribute to strengtheni ng mutual trust between the Member
States. For these reasons, it is ess ential to get this Directive right.
Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom would
therefore like to express and explain their serious reservations about the Commission’s
approach in preparing thi s proposal which, as published, would present substa ntial
diculties for the eective conduct of criminal proceedings by their i nvestigating,
prosecuting and judicia l authorities.
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