Case C‑390/16

Criminal proceedings

against

Dániel Bertold Lada

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Szombathelyi Törvényszék)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Judicial cooperation in criminal matters — Framework Decision 2008/675/JHA — Taking account in new criminal proceedings of a previous conviction in another Member State — Special procedure for recognition of a conviction in another Member State — Review and legal reclassification of the earlier decision — Principle of mutual recognition — Article 82(1) TFEU)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber), 5 July 2018

Judicial cooperation in criminal matters — Taking account of convictions in the Member States of the European Union in new criminal proceedings — Framework Decision 2008/675 — Taking account of a previous conviction by a court of another Member State conditional on the implementation of a national procedure for prior recognition of the conviction — Not permissible

(Art. 82 TFEU; Council Framework Decision 2008/675)

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, read in the light of Article 82 TFEU, must be interpreted as precluding the taking into account in a Member State, in new criminal proceedings brought against a person, of a final judgment previously handed down by a court of another Member State convicting that person of other offences being conditional on a special procedure for prior recognition, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, by the courts of the first Member State.

More particularly, that framework decision, as recital 2 states, aims to implement the principle of mutual recognition of judgments and judicial decisions in criminal matters, enshrined in Article 82(1) TFEU, which replaced Article 31 TEU, on the basis of which the framework decision was adopted. That principle precludes the taking into account, in the context of that framework decision, of a previous conviction by a court in another Member State being conditional on the implementation of a national procedure for prior recognition, and precludes that conviction being reviewed in that procedure (see, to that effect, judgment of 21 September 2017, Beshkov, C‑171/16, EU:C:2017:710, paragraph 36 and the case-law cited).

Article 3(3) of Framework Decision 2008/675 thus expressly proscribes any review such as that at issue in the main proceedings, since previous convictions in other Member States must be taken into account in the terms in which they were handed down (see, by analogy, judgment of 21 September 2017, Beshkov, C‑171/16, EU:C:2017:710, paragraph 37).

That being so, even though Framework Decision 2008/675 precludes a review such as that at issue in the main proceedings that may lead to a reclassification of the criminal offence and an alteration of the sentence imposed in another Member State, it must be stated that the framework decision does not prevent the Member State in which the new criminal proceedings take place from being able to lay down rules for taking into account previous convictions handed down in that other Member State, since the sole purpose of laying down such rules is to determine whether it is possible to attach to those convictions legal effects equivalent to those that attach to previous national convictions in accordance with national law.

(see paras 38-40, 48, operative part)