Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Union' Court of Justice

Date: 11/09/2023

Subject: According to the Court, Directive 2012/13/EU on the right to information in criminal proceedings precludes national case-law which enables a court or tribunal ruling on the substance in a criminal case to use a legal classification of the acts at issue which differs from that initially used by the public prosecutor’s office without informing the accused person of the new envisaged classification in due time, at a point and under conditions which would enable him or her effectively to prepare his or her defence, and, accordingly, without offering that person the opportunity to exercise his or her rights of defence specifically and effectively with regard to that new classification. In that context, the fact that that classification cannot entail the application of a more severe penalty than the offence of which the person was initially accused is entirely irrelevant. However, according to the Court, Directive (EU) 2016/343 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings, as well as Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, do not preclude a piece of national legislation which enables a court or tribunal ruling on the substance in a criminal case to use, on its own initiative or in response to a suggestion from the accused person, a legal classification of the acts at issue which differs from that initially used by the public prosecutor’s office, provided that that court or tribunal has informed the accused person of the new envisaged classification in due time, at a point and under conditions which have enabled him or her effectively to prepare his or her defence, and has thus offered that person the opportunity to exercise his or her rights of defence specifically and effectively with regard to the new classification thus used

Parties: BK (Requalification de l’infraction)

Classification: Justice - Art. 47 Fair trial, public hearing - Art. 48 Presumption of innocence - Rights of defence

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