Question 11.
Do you have any good practices to pass on, that you have not already mentioned? (N.B. This question is particularly important, given that one of the sections of the final report will focus on good practices.)
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Austria
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An important issue is access to the files of the case in way so that the costs are affordable. Paper copies are too expensive in Austria (62 cents per page). Therefore, in some major cases (often white collar crime), the court file is scanned and given on CD ROM (or USB stick) to the parties (which usually very cheap).
Moreover, the ministry of justice together with the ministry of the interior seek to devise technical means to grant online access to court files. Such online access is already standard in civil procedures; as soon as online access to criminal files is possible, the defence lawyers can look into the files on a daily basis. However, it is yet unknown when the system will be deployed.
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Belgium
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No.
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Bulgaria
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No, I do not have good practices to pass on, other than those I have already mentioned.
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Croatia
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No.
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Cyprus
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As mentioned above in a nutshell I believe that the establishment of the Independent Authority for the Investigation of Allegations and Complaints against the Police in 2006 is a good practice because even though we have more or less the legal framework demanded by the European Union in reality there are problems in complying with the law.
Furthermore an inclusion of the right to communicate with the said independent authority in the legislation and also an expansion of the current IAIACAP which will include permanent criminal investigators, translators, photographers and other personnel will increase the confidence of the Public that the Police is under constant scrutiny and they comply with all the provisions of the Law. This will improve the administration of Justice and the protection of fundamental human rights.
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Czech Republic
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No.
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Estonia
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Providing access to materials by way of submitting an electronic copy of the case file could be useful, provided however that the material has true electronic properties (i.e. it is properly indexed, searchable, etc). Unfortunately, the Estonian authorities do not apply this in practice, and our electronic copies are simply scanned PDF-files which in essence are not much different from paper documents.
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Finland
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France
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In France, we have decided to register during every custody a note to the file considering the access to the file is not granted and does not put the lawyer in such a position that he or she can effectively defend his or her client.
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Germany
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Greece
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The field of translation and its infrastructure should be enhanced. Greece due to its geographical complexity is difficult to provide translators in all parts of the country. Also, efforts have been made to comply with the duty of providing copies of the files free of charge, to those who can’t afford the fee. The effort mainly focuses on providing documents translated free of charge and in a language understood by the accused.
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Hungary
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No.
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Ireland
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This will rest entirely on how broadly “information” is interpreted, potentially by a referral to CJEU
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Italy
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Latvia
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No.
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Lithuania
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There are no examples of good practises to pass on.
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Luxembourg
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A Good Practise would be the one to give immediate and full acces of all material proof of the case to the lawyer before this one has to assist the person under proceedings, so that his assistance would become real and effective, and not hypothetic and illusionary.
That authorities such as police and investigating authorities ask for an exclusion of this communication of all acts still under execution (demande d’exclusion de tous devoirs en cours d’exécution de cet accès au dossier) is of pure and easy understandable evidence.
However, this argumentation of pursuing authorities should not become an argument to refuse the complete access to the file and so hamper the activity of defence.
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Malta
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No Information
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Poland
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One of the most significant things seems to be the development of consciousness and knowledge about the right to information (its particular aspects) both of officials of investigation and criminal justice administration and members of society (by professional trainings organized for investigation and criminal justice practitioners and by information campaigns addressed to the society). In concrete criminal proceedings the good practice could be offering for a person who has just obtained information on his or her rights a reasonable time to assimilate it in a tranquil atmosphere and a possibility to ask the competent authority the questions connected to the aspects of the right to information as a procedural safeguard of other rights – the right to defence and the right to the fairness of criminal proceedings (the right to a fair trial).
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No comments.
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Romania
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Slovakia
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Slovenia
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Spain
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No good practise to share.
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Sweden
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See examples of practices mentioned above.
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The Netherlands
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UK
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England and Wales
See previous answers in questionnaire.
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Scotland
Scotland has both a national police force, Police Scotland, and a national public prosecuting authority, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The Code of Practice issued by the Lord Advocate under the 2011 Act sets out the roles and responsibilities of both the police and the Crown. This ensures (i) “joined up thinking” as between the police and the Crown and (ii) consistency of practice across Scotland, which is commendable.
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Northern Ireland
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