Official Journal of the European Union

C 72/7

(Case C-414/20 PPU) (<span class="oj-super oj-note-tag">1</span>)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Urgent preliminary ruling procedure - Judicial cooperation in criminal matters - European arrest warrant - Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA - Surrender procedures between Member States - Article 6(1) and Article 8(1)(c) - European arrest warrant issued on the basis of a national measure putting a person under investigation - Concept of an ‘arrest warrant or any other enforceable judicial decision having the same effect’ - No national arrest warrant - Consequences - Effective judicial protection - Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union)

(2021/C 72/09)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Interested party:

Spetsializirana prokuratura

Operative part of the judgment

1.Article 6(1) of Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States, as amended by Council Framework Decision 2009/299/JHA of 26 February 2009, must be interpreted as meaning that the status of ‘issuing judicial authority’, within the meaning of that provision, is not conditional on there being review by a court of the decision to issue the European arrest warrant and of the national decision upon which that warrant is based.

2.Article 8(1)(c) of Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, must be interpreted as meaning that a European arrest warrant must be regarded as invalid where it is not based on a ‘[national] arrest warrant or any other enforceable judicial decision having the same effect’ for the purposes of that provision. That concept covers national measures adopted by a judicial authority to search for and arrest a person who is the subject of a criminal prosecution, with a view to bringing that person before a court for the purpose of conducting the stages of the criminal proceedings. It is for the referring court to determine whether a national measure putting a person under investigation, such as that on which the European arrest warrant at issue in the main proceedings is based, produces such legal effects.

3.Where no provision is made in the legislation of the issuing Member State for an action to be brought before a court for the purpose of obtaining review of the conditions under which a European arrest warrant was issued by an authority which, whilst participating in the administration of justice in that Member State, is not itself a court, Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, read in the light of the right to effective judicial protection enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as permitting the national court hearing an action seeking to challenge the lawfulness of the continued pre-trial detention of a person who has been surrendered pursuant to a European arrest warrant issued on the basis of a national measure that cannot be regarded as a ‘[national] arrest warrant or any other enforceable judicial decision having the same effect’ for the purposes of Article 8(1)(c) of that framework decision, and in the context of which a plea in law is raised alleging that that European arrest warrant is invalid in the light of EU law, to find that it has jurisdiction to conduct such a review of validity. Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, read in the light of the right to effective judicial protection enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, must be interpreted as not requiring that a finding by the national court that the European arrest warrant at issue has been issued in breach of Article 8(1)(c) of that framework decision, in so far as it is not based on a ‘[national] arrest warrant or any other enforceable judicial decision having the same effect’ for the purposes of that provision, has the effect of releasing the person placed in pre-trial detention following his or her surrender by the executing Member State to the issuing Member State. It is therefore for the referring court to decide, in accordance with its national law, what consequences the absence of such a national measure, as a legal basis for the European arrest warrant at issue, may have on deciding whether or not to keep the accused person in pre-trial detention.

Language of the case: Bulgarian

(1) OJ C 390, 16.11.2020.