Brussels, 17/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 16 November, the permanent representatives from the EU member states reached a principled agreement on the draft directive guaranteeing throughout the EU the defence's right to information in criminal proceedings. This draft is part of a raft of directives put forward by Commissioner Reding in the criminal legal field. It was presented last June and includes the right to translation and interpretation, and the right to access to a lawyer during periods in custody. A definitive agreement, however, is subject to the drafting of a written declaration from the Council, which means that success with this measure does not determine the result of other dossiers in this field.
The draft directive on information was submitted in July 2010 and stipulates that suspects be informed of their rights when they are arrested, in a language they understand. They will also have to be informed about the charges made against them, the way in which proceedings will take place, their right to translations and interpreters, as well as their right to see a lawyer. They will also need to know that they can have access to their dossier throughout the proceedings. This directive stipulates that these rights are put in writing and sent to the suspect in question. The European Commission has, in this connection, proposed a standard model letter that will be sent to suspects but it will be up to member states themselves whether they choose to use a different written formula.
Although Commissioner Viviane Reding welcomed in a press release on Wednesday this progress made at Coreper, the scope of the agreement is, nonetheless, subject to Council conditions and certain member states do not want the directive to create a precedent for other measures currently being negotiated, such as the measure for having access to a lawyer.
The proposal of 11 June proposes that access to a lawyer starts at the beginning of custody and continues throughout the different stages of the proceedings. Nevertheless, the measure remains controversial and certain countries, such as France and the United Kingdom, consider that this measure goes too far and could impact negatively on the way their own criminal legal systems operate. The measure will also incur costs for the member states. One source indicated that as it stands, this proposal is therefore “unreasonable”.
With the Council's written declaration, the small number of countries mentioned would also like reassurances that if they agree to the right to information, this will not mean that they agree to the entire contents contained within Commissioner Reding's proposal on access to lawyers. The Council will now send the terms of the agreement to the European Parliament and a few more months will still be required before this chapter is finalised. (SP/transl.l)