Case C-545/26: Action brought on 23 May 2026 – European Commission v Republic of Bulgaria
Date: 2026-05-23
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European arrest warrant, charge, criminal law, criminal proceedings, infringement of EU law, legal aid, national implementing measure, rights of the defence








C_202603517EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2026/3517


13.7.2026






Action brought on 23 May 2026 – European Commission v Republic of Bulgaria


(Case C-545/26)

(C/2026/3517)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: I. Zalogin and H. Leupold)

Defendant: Republic of Bulgaria

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:






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declare that the Republic of Bulgaria has failed to fulfil its obligations under Directive 2013/48/EU (1) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013 on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in European arrest warrant proceedings, and on the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty and to communicate with third persons and with consular authorities while deprived of liberty, by failing correctly to transpose provisions of the directive:






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Article 2(1): scope;










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Article 3(3)(b): effective participation of the lawyer during questioning;










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Article 3(6)(b) (in conjunction with Article 3(3)): derogations from the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings.














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order the Republic of Bulgaria to pay the costs.





Pleas in law and main arguments

In breach of Article 2(1) of Directive 2013/48/EU, Bulgarian law does not recognise the status of a suspect and links the right of access to a lawyer to a formal act (a formal accusation being made in respect of a person) or to deprivation of liberty, whereas the directive is to apply to any suspect or accused person at the latest from the time when that person is made aware, irrespective of whether that person has been deprived of liberty.
In breach of Article 3(3)(b) of Directive 2013/48/EU, Bulgarian law does not guarantee the effective participation of a lawyer during questioning at the stage of the investigation by the authorities of the Ministry of the Interior, the customs authorities, the Military Police and the State Agency for National Security (DANS). Article 122(2) of the Nakazatelno protsesualen kodeks (Code of Criminal Procedure) governs only the presence of a lawyer, but not the right of a lawyer to participate effectively during questioning, in particular to ask questions and make statements; nor is the recording procedure in respect of such participation governed thereby.
In breach of Article 3(6)(b) (in conjunction with Article 3(3)) of Directive 2013/48/EU, the Bulgarian legislation, more specifically Article 219(7) and the third sentence of Article 122(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, permits questioning to take place without the participation of a lawyer in situations which are not covered by the exhaustive list of derogations set out in the directive and in the absence of a voluntary and unequivocal waiver of the right of access to a lawyer within the meaning of Article 9 of the directive.


(1)  
            OJ 2013 L 294, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/3517/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)