Luxembourg, 10/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Friday 10 June, the justice ministers made progress over the details of the European investigation order, which will facilitate cross-border investigations by allowing evidence to be exchanged between the member states and the execution of specific parts of investigations, such as hearings or searches of premises. The ministers agreed on the outlines of this European investigation order and will tackle the special measures, specifically the resources required for the investigations, over the next six months.
Basically, this tool will allow a member state which is investigating a case with a cross-border dimension to issue a European investigation order detailing the type of measures and evidence it is looking for and send it to the other member states, which will have to execute this decision, under the principle of the mutual recognition of decisions.
The compromise reached by the ministers also contains reasons for a member state to refuse to comply, for example when this decision concerns an individual who has already been found guilty in the same case. However, it will be possible to pursue an investigation on the same case but for a different individual, a Hungarian source explained. This possibility of continuing the investigations despite the existence of a previous condemnation was one of the requests made by France, which was therefore able to find a satisfactory response.
The special measures, such as telephone tapping, seizing objects and searching premises, will be dealt with under the Polish Presidency but, according to a diplomat, the work will be “concluded within six months”. The European Parliament co-decides on the subject and it is expected that the dossier will be finalised in 2012. (S.P./transl.fl)