Criminal Law and Policy in the European Union

Author(s):  
Samuli Miettinen
2020 ◽  
pp. 557-579
Author(s):  
Marios Costa ◽  
Steve Peers

This chapter examines the European Union (EU) home affairs law and policy, known in EU law as ‘the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ)’. It discusses the provisions of EU law on immigration and asylum (refugees and subsidiary protection) regulating the entry and residence of non-EU citizens, distinguishing between legal and unauthorised entry (controls at the border and expulsion and detention of irregular migrants), and the protection given to third -country nationals by a range of legislative measures. It also introduces the legal framework for the EU’s criminal justice policies, including the link between substantive criminal law and other EU policies.


2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 1017-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurens van Puyenbroeck ◽  
Gert Vermeulen

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


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (2020) ◽  
pp. 9-24
Author(s):  
Ioana Maria COSTEA ◽  

Our study proposes a two-step analysis of the concept of VAT fraud, a time limit represented by the adoption of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law. Through our analytical approach, which uses the comparative method meticulously under the auspices of the limited interpretation imposed by criminal law, specific hypotheses are revealed regarding the forms of tax evasion in the European Union framework for the operation of value added tax. Equally, the study seeks to identify the blind spots of national law and the directions for refining tax evasion legislation.


Author(s):  
Anna Danilovskaia

The object of this research is competition policy and criminal law policy with regards to protection of competition in Europe that are similar to the Russian approach of countering infringement on fair competition. Legislation on competition is dynamically developing in all countries, which causes corresponding changes in their criminal law policy. For improving the effectiveness of cartel detection, many countries endorsed leniency policy for cartels, as well as make amendments to their laws due to proliferation of unfair competition, particularly on the Internet, as well irregularities in tendering. The analysis of modern sources of competition and criminal law of Germany, Great Britain and France, as the first European countries that developed the rules aimed at protection of competition, can be valuable for understanding the concept of protection of competition adopted by the world community, as well as its European model. The consists in broadening the existing knowledge on criminal law protection of competition in Europe, acquired as a result of comprehensive research of the legislations of the European Union, Germany, Great Britain and France in the area of protection of fair competition with consideration of recent amendments, including leniency policy for cartels. The author concludes that Europe has a developed criminal law mechanism for counteracting anticompetitive behavior, which is characterized by a range of prohibited acts, application of versatile criminal law measures to the persons guilty of such infringements, differentiated approach to the questions of their criminal liability, and substantial main and additional sanctions applicable to not only physical entities, but also legal entities in some countries. The obtained results can be useful in lawmaking, scientific and educational activity.


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