The German Public Prosecutor as (no) judicial authority within the meaning of the European Arrest Warrant: A case note on the CJEU’s judgment in OG (C-508/18) and PI (C 82/19 PPU)
| Author | Kai Ambos |
| DOI | 10.1177/2032284419891515 |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Case Notes |
Case Note
The German Public Prosecutor
as (no) judicial authority within
the meaning of the European
Arrest Warrant: A case note
on the CJEU’s judgment in OG
(C-508/18) and PI (C 82/19 PPU)
Kai Ambos
University of Go
¨ttingen, Germany
Abstract
The judgment analysed concerns a request for a preliminary ruling by the Irish Supreme Court that
casts doubtsupon the judicial natureof the German Public Prosecutor’s Officeas the issuing authority
of a European ArrestWarrant. On the same day, another judgment was passed on a parallel request
for a preliminaryruling by the same court concerning the Lithuanian Prosecutor General. The Court
disqualifies, the German Prosecution Office in this regard but accepts the judicial character of the
Lithuanian one. The gist of the issue is the (material) independence of the two Prosecution services
which the Court denies regarding the former since it can be subjected to external directives by the
executive branch (Minister of Justice). The Judgment applies mutatis mutandis also to other Prose-
cution services being subject to external directives and to other instruments of mutual recognition
which need a ‘‘judicial authority’’ to be issued (e.g. theEuropean Investigation Order).
Keywords
European Arrest Warrant, CJEU’s judgment, OG (C-508/18), PI (C 82/19 PPU), German Public
Prosecutor, (no) judicial authority
1. The judgment concerns a request for a preliminary ruling by the Irish Supreme Court that
casts doubts upon the judicial nature of the German Publi c Prosecutor’s Office as the
issuing authority of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW).
1
On the same day, another
Corresponding author:
Kai Ambos, University of Go
¨ttingen, Platz der Go
¨ttinger Sieben 5, 37073 Go
¨ttingen, Germany.
E-mail: kambos@gwdg.de
1. CJEU, Judgment of 27 May 2019 – C-508/18 and C 82/19 PPU, OG and PI [2019], ECLI: EU: C:2019:456.
New Journal of European Criminal Law
2019, Vol. 10(4) 399–407
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/2032284419891515
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