Trayan Beshkov v Sofiyska rayonna prokuratura.
Date: 2017-09-21
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In order to answer that question, it must be observed that Article 1(1) of Framework Decision 2008/675 provides that the purpose of that framework decision is to determine the conditions under which previous convictions handed down in one Member State against a person are taken into account in the course of new criminal proceedings brought in another Member State against the same person and for different facts.
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To that end, Article 3(1) of that Framework Decision, read in the light of recital 5 thereof, obliges Member States to ensure that, when such criminal proceedings are brought, previous convictions handed down in other Member States, in respect of which information has been obtained under applicable instruments on mutual legal assistance or on the exchange of information extracted from criminal records, are taken into account to the extent that previous national convictions are taken into account under national law, and that the legal effects attached to them are equivalent to those attached to previous national convictions, in accordance with national law, whether in relation to questions of fact or questions of substantive or procedural law.
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Article 3(2) of that Framework Decision adds that that obligation is to apply at the pre-trial stage, at the trial stage itself and at the time of execution of the conviction, in particular with regard to the applicable rules of procedure, including the rules relating to the definition of the offence, the type and level of the sentence, and the rules governing the execution of the decision. Thus, recitals 2 and 7 of that Framework Decision state that a national court must be able to take account of convictions handed down in other Member States including how arrangements for enforcement might be implemented and that the effects of those convictions should be equivalent to the effects of national decisions at each of those procedural stages.
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To that end, it is appropriate, as is open to the Court in accordance with the Court’s settled case-law (judgment of 21 December 2016, Ucar and Kilic, C‑508/15 and C‑509/15, EU:C:2016:986, paragraph 51 and case-law cited), to reformulate the second question referred as seeking in essence to ascertain whether 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, in particular, Articles 463 to 466 of the Code of Criminal Procedure at issue in the main proceedings, be implemented, and, if it does not preclude that possibility, whether that Framework Decision precludes national legislation that provides that that procedure may be initiated solely by the competent national authorities, but not by the convicted person.
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Nonetheless, as stated in recital 2 of the Framework Decision, the aim of Framework Decision 2008/675 is to implement the principle of mutual recognition of judgments and judicial decisions in criminal matters, a principle enshrined in Article 82(1) TFEU, which replaced Article 31 EU, on the basis of which that Framework Decision was adopted. As the Advocate General stated in points 30, 31 and 64 of his Opinion, that principle precludes the possibility that it should be a prerequisite of account being taken, in the context of that Framework Decision, of a previous conviction handed down by a court of another Member State, that a national procedure for prior recognition, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, be implemented, and also the possibility of that previous conviction being, in that procedure, reviewed (see, by analogy, judgment of 9 June 2016, Balogh, C‑25/15, EU:C:2016:423, paragraph 54).
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Article 3(3) and recital 13 of Framework Decision 2008/675 expressly proscribe such a review, since previous convictions handed down in other Member States must be taken into account in the terms in which they were handed down.
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Therefore, contrary to what is argued by the Austrian government, while recital 13 also states that that Framework Decision respects the diversity of domestic solutions and procedures required for taking into account a previous conviction handed down in another Member State and does not prevent a Member State from issuing a decision, if necessary, in order to attach the equivalent legal effects to that conviction, the adoption of such a decision cannot, however, in any event, involve the implementation of a national procedure for prior recognition such as that at issue in the main proceedings.