scholarly journals Statute of limitations under the penal law of Bulgaria

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Tonev Girginov
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Foreign Country ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Judicial Cooperation ◽  
Steady Partner ◽  
Criminal Statute ◽  
Penal Law

Ukraine carries out intensive judicial cooperation in criminal matters with other European countries. A typical impediment to granting Ukrainian requests for such cooperation (e.g. extradition from another country, taking over Ukrainian criminal proceedings by the requested foreign country, recognition and enforcement of Ukrainian criminal judgments abroad) is the expiry of the time limitation period [lapse of time] not only under the Ukrainian law but also under the law of the foreign country that Ukraine requests for cooperation. The problem is that the criminal statute of limitations of most European countries is significantly different from the Ukrainian one. In view thereof, Ukrainian criminal lawyers are interested in having some general knowledge of the statute of limitations of other European countries, esp. such as Bulgaria. On the one hand, this foreign country has always been a steady partner of Ukraine in international judicial cooperation. On the other hand, the Bulgarian statute of limitations constitutes a good example of the different type of legal framework for lapse of time that requesting Ukrainian authorities shall necessarily consider.    All penal laws of the contemporary Bulgarian state contained some statute of limitations. These laws are the 1896 Penal Law (repealed), the 1951 Penal Law upgraded to the 1956 Penal Code, after the full codification of this branch of law in Bulgaria (also repealed), and the existing Penal Code of 1968.  The criminal statute of limitations outlines periods when competent state authorities have been inactive. The expiry of these periods (the lapse of time under law) extinguishes the immediate legal consequences of crimes or the punishments imposed by the court for them. In Bulgaria, the statute of limitations consists of substantive penal law provisions. This is a legislative recognition of its substantive nature. The concept that the criminal statute of limitation is a procedural legal institution has been overcome in Bulgarian theory, law and judicial practice. The statute of limitations produces procedural consequences also but they derive from its direct substantive law results as secondary effects. As in most other countries, the penal law of Bulgaria prescribes two types of limitation periods. The first one runs after the commission of the offence. It is also called 'limitation of the offence'; its expiry entails the extinction of the offender’s criminal liability preventing both the imposition of punishment on him/her and his/her conviction status as well.  The second type of limitation period occurs after the imposition of an executable punishment. It is also called 'limitation of the punishment'; its expiry entails the extinction of the punishment imposed only. It does not eliminate the fact that the offender has been convicted. Under the Bulgarian Penal Code, each of the two types of statute of limitations includes not only general time limitations but also absolute ones as well. The former is applicable when the competent state authorities have not undertaken required activities whereas the latter applies only if the competent state authorities have failed to achieve a required result, namely: the imposition of punishment on the offender or the execution of his/her punishment.

scholarly journals Opening a Path towards Sustainable Corporate Behaviour: Public Participation in Criminal Environmental Proceedings

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7886
Author(s):  
Pavel Kotlán ◽  
Alena Kozlová ◽  
Zuzana Machová
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
The Public ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

Establishing criminal liability for environmental offences remains daunting, particularly with regard to the ‘no plaintiff—no judge’ element as a result of which the public seems to be ultimately deprived of the possibility to participate in criminal environmental proceedings. While there is arguably a lack of specific instruments at the European Union (EU) level which would prescribe such legal obligation on the part of the State, there has been a shift in understanding the role of the public and its participation in criminal liability cases, namely under the auspices of the so-called effective investigation and the concept of rights of victims in general. Using the example of the Czech Republic as a point of reference, this article aims to assess the relevant legal developments at both EU and Czech levels to illustrate why the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), essentially acting as public agents, should be granted an active role in environmental criminal proceedings. After examining the applicable legal framework and case law development, the article concludes that effective investigation indeed stands as a valid legal basis for human rights protection which incorporates an entitlement to public participation. Despite that, this pro-active shift is far from being applied in practice, implying that the legislation remains silent where it should be the loudest, and causing unsustainable behaviour of companies.

scholarly journals Medical secrecy: the rights and responsibilities of participants of the medical process

2020 ◽  
pp. 172-174
Author(s):  
N.O. Lisnevska
Keyword(s):  
Medical Information ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Medical Professional ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Confidential Information ◽  
The Right

Background. Medical secrecy (MS) is a set of information about the disease, its treatment, the results of examinations, which became known to certain healthcare workers (HCW) during their professional activities. The attending physician and the nurse who performs the drug administration are most aware of the patient’s condition. The information included in the MS is divided into two types: medical and personal information of the patient, which became known during the performance of medical professional duties. Objective. To describe selected aspects of the MS problem. Materials and methods. Analysis of the legal framework. Results and discussion. Medical information belongs to professional confidential information and should not be disclosed. Even the information about the very fact of seeking medical care belongs to professional confidential information. Unlawful intentional disclosure of MS by a person to whom it became known in the course of its professional duties entails criminal liability. This applies not only to HCW, but also to other staff of medical institutions. It is possible to provide information about the treatment and even the patient’s stay in the hospital to third parties, including relatives of any degree of kinship, only with the patient’s own consent. Exceptions include cases of extreme urgency, such as when a patient is taken to hospital unconscious and relatives can provide information on existing allergies and comorbidities. Of course, in such cases, the necessary disclosure limits should be followed. If a relative or other person wishes to visit a patient in the hospital, he or she should be contacted in person and visited only with personal consent. With regard to law enforcement officers, the answer to the question of whether a particular patient is treated in this institution should be given only in the presence of criminal proceedings and after resolving this issue with the chief physician. It should be noted that medical information concerning the deceased is also confidential and cannot be disclosed. It should not be assumed that the deceased can no longer be harmed, so any liability will be absent. Disclosure of such information is also a crime, on the basis of which criminal proceedings may be started. Recently, the medical legislation in Ukraine was changed, and as of today, the fine for disclosing MT is over UAH 50,000. When treating patients with disabilities, all necessary information should be provided to their parents or carers. When treating children aged 14-18, it is impossible not to provide information about treatment to parents, although this may be contrary to the wishes of the child. An important issue is the provision of information to children who are incapacitated by age, but legally capable. If a 5-year-old child asks questions about his or her health, a doctor or other HCW must answer them in a form that is accessible. A similar situation occurs with mentally ill patients: they are deprived of legal capacity, but they have the right to know about their health. You should also be very careful in keeping medical records. For example, information on viral infections (hepatitis, HIV/AIDS) should not be placed on the cover of the medical history, but inside. Conclusions. 1. MS information is divided into two types: medical and personal information of the patient. 2. Medical information belongs to professional confidential information and should not be disclosed. 3. It is possible to provide information about the treatment and even the patient’s stay in the hospital to third parties, including relatives, only with the patient’s own consent. 4. In the treatment of patients with disabilities, all necessary information should be provided to the parents or carers.

scholarly journals Self-Study, Obtaining or Viewing Terrorist Material Over the Internet: A Legitimacy Test of Consumer-Oriented Criminal Law Provisions in Four Western-European Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-406
Author(s):  
Stéphanie De Coensel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Self Study ◽  
Western European

Abstract The internet is a key source of information, communication and propaganda in the context of terrorism. Policymakers increasingly resort to measures that monitor, control and punish internet-related activity. One type of measures concerns the criminalisation of consumers of certain terrorist material over the internet, ranging from self-study over more specific autonomous provisions. This contribution aims to subject this criminal law approach to a legitimacy test, studying the minimum standards of the European Union, as well as the legal framework of four Western-European countries (i.e. Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom). This critical-legal analysis consists of a remote harm analysis, a human rights assessment and a necessity argument. It is argued that the expansion of the scope of criminal liability to a pre-crime era conflicts with certain premises of criminal law and human rights law.

MAIN SPECIFICATIONS OF ASSESSING ACTIVITIES OF MINOR IMPORTANCE OF IN MODERN CRIMINAL LAW

Law and World ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-95
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Minor Importance ◽  
Detailed Review

The research includes the full and the detailed overview of assessing activities of minor importance in Georgian Criminal Law. The Article 7 of the Criminal Code of Georgia states the following: a crime shall not be an action that, although formally containing the signs of a crime, has not produced, for minor importance, the prejudice that would require criminal liability of its perpetrator, or has not created the risk of such harm. The research includes the main criteria of defining activities as activities of minor importance. The detailed review of Georgian case law is also introduced, as well as, legislation, judicial literature and experience of the other European countries.

Academic Technology Transfer in Poland-30 Years of Growth

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32
Author(s):  
Krystian Gurba
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Support Programs ◽  
Significant Delay ◽  
Academic Technology ◽  
The Status

Organizations managing technology transfer from universities to the private sector, although born in Poland with a significant delay compared to Western European countries, are currently important actors in the Polish innovation system. The article summarizes the process of shaping the role and models of the functioning of these organizations. It discusses the status and functions of technology transfer centers and the institutional environment of academic technology transfer in Poland: legal framework, support programs, and partner organizations. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of cooperation networks in technology transfer and draws attention to specific initiatives focused on technology transfer in the biotechnology and pharmacy sectors.

The Developmental Consequences for Asylum-seeking Children Living With the Prospect for Five Years or More of Enforced Return to Their Home Country

2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.E. Kalverboer ◽  
A.E. Zijlstra ◽  
E.J. Knorth
Keyword(s):  
Home Country ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Member States ◽  
Developmental Risks ◽  
Western European ◽  
Legal Procedures

This study examines the European legal framework and policy on children’s rights and on the development and developmental risks of children from asylum-seeking families who have lived in asylum centres for over five years with the prospect of being forced to return to their home country. The legal procedures and practices of Member States in the Western European countries seem to be far too lengthy, and the standards for reception far too low to protect the children’s positive development.

scholarly journals TOWARDS MINIMUM PROCEDURAL GUARANTEES FOR THE DEFENCE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN THE EU

2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 1017-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurens van Puyenbroeck ◽  
Gert Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Policy ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Judicial Cooperation ◽  
Democratic Rule ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
The Eu

A critical observer would not deny that the practice of European Union (‘EU’) policy making in the field of criminal law in the past decade since the implementation of the Tampere Programme has been mainly repressive and prosecution-oriented.1 The idea of introducing a set of common (minimum) rules, guaranteeing the rights of defence at a EU-wide level, has not been accorded the same attention as the introduction of instruments aimed at improving the effectiveness of crime-fighting. What does this mean for the future of EU criminal policy? Will the EU succeed in the coming years in developing an area where freedom, security and justice are truly balanced? According to several authors, to date the EU has evolved in the opposite direction. As one observer put it:[I]f Procedural Criminal Law arises from the application of Constitutional Law, or indeed if it may be described as “a seismograph of the constitutional system of a State”, then as a consequence the Procedural Criminal Law of the European Union shows the extent of the Democratic Rule of Law, of the existence of a true “Rechtsstaat”, within an integrated Europe. This situation may be qualified as lamentable, as the main plank of the EU's criminal justice policy relates to the simplification and the speeding up of police and judicial cooperation—articles 30 and 31 of the Treaty of the EU—but without at the same time setting an acceptable standard for fundamental rights throughout a united Europe.2

The First Pinochet Case: Immunity of a Former Head of State

1999 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Warbrick ◽  
Dominic McGoldrick ◽  
Hazel Fox
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
State Immunity ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Civil Proceedings ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Reversal Of Fortune

The case of Pinochet has aroused enormous interest, both political and legal. The spectacle of the General, whose regime sent so many to their deaths, himself under arrest and standing trial has stirred the hopes of the oppressed. His reversal of fortune, loss of liberty with a policeman, on the door, has been heralded by organisations for the protection of human rights as one small step on the long road to justice. For lawyers generally, the House of Lords' majority decision of 1998 that General Pinochet enjoyed no immunity signalled a shift from a State-centred order of things.1 It suggested that the process of restriction of State immunity, so effectively begun with the removal of commercial transactions from its protection, might now extend some way into the field of criminal proceedings. And it further posed the intriguing question whether an act categorised as within the exercise of sovereign power, so as to relieve the individual official of liability in civil proceedings, may at the same time, as well as subsequent to his retirement, attract parallel personal criminal liability.

Psychosoziale Prozessbegleitung im Strafverfahren

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ilsner
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Civil Procedure ◽  
Legal Institution ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Legal Innovation ◽  
The Law

The legal status of victims of violent criminality has been in the spotlight during recent decades. The institutionalization of psychosocial assistance in criminal proceedings represents the temporary peak of this development. In this study, the author focuses on the legal innovation, analyzes it fundamentally (especially regarding the recently formulated § 406g StPO), and submits specific reform proposals correspondingly. This research includes four systematically structured chapters, which impart the essential features of the legal institution, elucidate the legal framework, and finally appoint considerations regarding its transfer into the law of civil procedure.

NOWE WYSTĘPKI LICHWY (ART. 304 § 2 I 3 K.K.) W PERSPEKTYWIE FUNKCJI GWARANCYJNEJ PRAWA KARNEGO

2021 ◽  
pp. 22-41
Author(s):  
Magdalena Błaszczyk
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Point Of Reference ◽  
Interest Costs

The paper offers an analysis of new provisions of Article 304 § 2 and 3 of the Polish Penal Code, which define two specific types of the offence of usury. These provisions are intended to protect consumers against excessive financial burden – the interest (§ 3) and non-interest costs (§ 2) – included in the loan they incur. The author examines them critically, taking as a point of reference the guarantee standards of criminal liability resulting from the Constitution. The author performs a “quality control”, which amounts to a dogmatic analysis of the statutory features of new usury offences, which means a kind of quality control of their definitions and verification of the necessity to cover the described behaviours by the sanctioning norms.

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