Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2017:386
Date: 2017-05-17
Language of the case: Bulgarian
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in criminal matters;Police cooperation;Area of freedom, security and justice
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Bulgaria

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber), 21 September 2017 1. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters — Taking account of convictions in the Member States of the European Union in the course of new criminal proceedings — Framework Decision 2008/675 — Scope — National procedure concerned with the imposition, for the purposes of execution, of an overall custodial sentence that also takes into account the sentence imposed following a previous conviction handed down by a court of another Member State — Included (Council Framework Decision 2008/675) 2. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters — Taking account of convictions in the Member States of the European Union in the course of new criminal proceedings — Framework Decision 2008/675 — Taking into account a previous conviction handed down in another Member State subject to implementation of a national procedure for prior recognition of that conviction — Not permissible (Council Framework Decision 2008/675) 3. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters — Taking account of convictions in the Member States of the European Union in the course of new criminal proceedings — Framework Decision 2008/675 — National procedure concerned with the imposition, for the purposes of execution, of an overall custodial sentence that also takes into account the sentence imposed following a previous conviction handed down by a court of another Member State— Altering the arrangements for enforcing the sentence imposed following a previous conviction handed down by a court of another Member State — Not permissible (Council Framework Decision 2008/675) 1. Council Framework Decision 2008/675/JHA of 24 July 2008 on taking account of convictions in the Member States of the European Union in the course of new criminal proceedings must be interpreted as meaning that it is applicable to a national procedure that is concerned with the imposition, for the purposes of execution, of an overall custodial sentence that takes into account the sentence imposed on a person by a national court and also that imposed following a previous conviction handed down by a court of another Member State against the same person for different facts. (see para. 29, operative part 1) 2. Framework Decision 2008/675 must be interpreted as precluding the possibility that it should be a prerequisite of account being taken, in a Member State, of a previous conviction handed down by a court of another Member State that a national procedure for prior recognition of that conviction by the courts with jurisdiction in the former Member State, such as that laid down in Articles 463 to 466 of the Nakazatelno-protsesualen kodeks (Code of Criminal Procedure), be implemented. (see para. 40, operative part 2) 3. Article 3(3) of Framework Decision 2008/675 must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which provides that a national court, seised of an application for the imposition, for the purposes of execution, of an overall custodial sentence that takes into account, inter alia, the sentence imposed following a previous conviction handed down by a court of another Member State, may alter for that purpose the arrangements for execution of that latter sentence. (see para. 47, operative part 3)