On Thursday 25 July, the European Commission referred the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union for inadequate transposition of the directives on criminal procedural rights.
The Czech Republic and Hungary have not correctly transposed Directive 2013/48/EU guaranteeing the right of access to a lawyer and the right to communicate after arrest. The deadline for transposition was 27 November 2016.
The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the Czech Republic on 23 September 2021, followed by a reasoned opinion on 28 September 2023. According to the Czech Republic’s replies, the Commission maintains that one of the provisions of the Directive relating to possible derogations from the right of access to a lawyer has not been correctly transposed.
For Hungary, a letter of formal notice was sent on 12 November 2021, followed by a reasoned opinion on 14 July 2023. Despite the Hungarian responses, the Commission considers that the derogations for investigative reasons and the waiver of the right of access to a lawyer have still not been correctly transposed.
Bulgaria is being referred to the Court of Justice for failure to correctly transpose Directive 2012/13/EU on the right to information in criminal proceedings, including information on rights, the declaration of rights in European arrest warrant proceedings and access to file documents.
As the deadline for transposition was 2 June 2014, a letter of formal notice was sent on 23 September 2021, followed by a reasoned opinion on 28 September 2023. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)