Transposition into national law of 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

Abstract

The present study is an analysis of the problematic aspects of the transposition into national law of Directive (EU) 2016/343 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at trial in criminal proceedings, as regards the provision of the presumption of innocence, in essence articles 1 to 7 of the Directive.

First of all, the measures taken by the Romanian state to transpose the Directive are presented; complex draft laws that would have made major changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, but also draft laws that were eventually passed into law. The author then proceeds to a chronological analysis of the provisions of the Directive and how they are reflected in the national legislation, highlighting provisions or practices that do not provide sufficient guarantees for persons suspected or accused of committing an offence. The study is completed by the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Romania, which has adopted decisions with an impact on the field of the presumption of innocence.

Finally, it is considered that the current state of transposition of Directive 2016/343, following the closing of the infringement proceedings against the Romanian state, is broadly completed, the national legislation suffering rather from deficiencies in terms of effective application and proper interpretation.