Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Union' Court of Justice

Date: 11/23/2021

Subject: According to the Court, EU law precludes the supreme court of a Member State from declaring, following an appeal in the interests of the law, that a request for a preliminary ruling which has been submitted to the Court by a lower court is unlawful on the ground that the questions referred are not relevant and necessary for the resolution of the dispute in the main proceedings, without, however, altering the legal effects of the decision containing that request. The principle of the primacy of EU law requires that lower court to disregard such a decision of the national supreme court. Moreover EU Law precludes disciplinary proceedings from being brought against a national judge on the ground that he or she has made a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice. The Court affirmed that Directive 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings requires Member States to take concrete measures in order to ensure that the quality of the interpretation and translations provided is sufficient to enable the suspect or accused person to understand the accusation against him or her and in order that that interpretation can be reviewed by the national courts. Finally, according to the Court, Directive 2010/64 and Directive 2012/13/EU on the right to information in criminal proceedings, read in the light of Article 48(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, preclude a person from being tried in absentia when, on account of inadequate interpretation, he or she has not been informed, in a language which he or she understands, of the accusation against him or her or where it is impossible to ascertain the quality of the interpretation provided and therefore to establish that he or she has been informed, in a language which he or she understands, of the accusation against him or her

Parties: IS (Illégalité de l’ordonnance de renvoi)

Classification: Justice - Art. 48 Rights of defence

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