Dear all,
Welcome to our MEIOR Newsletter!
With this Newsletter we would like to share with you updates and reflections on recent developments in legislation and case law concerning the European investigation order (EIO) as well as on the progress of our research.
Our discussion and analysis—both with regard to the European Union (EU) level and to the national level—of the past months have been marked by the concerns that the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Gavanozov II (C-852/19) has triggered with regard to national legal frameworks and judicial cooperation dynamics. The requirement for jurisdictions in EU countries to have legal remedies in place against the issuing of an EIO for searches, seizures and even witness hearings through videoconferencing has raised (eyebrows and) questions as to the concept of legal remedy, the individual rights at stake, and the qualities a judicial authority must have to afford an effective remedy.
We would also like to highlight legal queries arising from the EncroChat hack. Through a Trojan software developed by French and Dutch experts, data from crypto phones—many of them used by criminals involved in drug crimes–could be obtained and shared with other enforcement agencies. After a German authority issued an EIO to be able to use the data in criminal proceedings, a court in Berlin has lodged a reference for preliminary ruling with the CJEU inquiring whether the transfer from one MS to another of data gained through the hack in question is in line with EU law. The German court asked for clarifications on the required degree of judicial control in the issuing state, the necessity and proportionality checks, the respect of the principle of equivalence, and the possibility to exclude evidence gathered in violation of EU law.
We will attentively follow the developments regarding these issues and analyse them in blog posts and scientific articles that will be published and/or linked on our Project website. We will send you a brief Alert Newsletter every time we publish something new!
With this first communication we would also like to draw your attention to our restructured website. There, you will soon find blogposts and articles and information on legal instruments concerning cross-border evidence gathering—the EIO Directive and national implementation laws—relevant EU and national case law, recent scholarly analysis. As the project progresses, additional content relating to the practice of cross-border evidence gathering—interviews with practitioners and, soon, a handbook—will be uploaded.
We would like to thank you for your interest in the MEIOR Project and we look forward to coming back to you soon with our next Newsletter.
With best wishes,
The MEIOR Team
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