Proceedings brought by Centraal Justitieel Incassobureau, Ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie (CJIB).
Date: 2019-12-05
26


It should be noted as a preliminary point that, according to settled case-law, in the procedure laid down by Article 267 TFEU providing for cooperation between national courts and the Court of Justice, it is for the latter to provide the national court with an answer which will be of use to it and enable it to decide the case before it. To that end, the Court should, where necessary, reformulate the questions referred to it. The Court may also find it necessary to consider provisions of EU law which the national court has not referred to in its questions (judgment of 7 August 2018, Smith, C‑122/17, EU:C:2018:631, paragraph 34 and the case-law cited).
29


It must be noted, as a preliminary point, that, as is apparent in particular from Articles 1 and 6, and from recitals 1 and 2, the Framework Decision is intended to establish an effective mechanism for cross-border recognition and execution of final decisions requiring a financial penalty to be paid by a natural person or a legal person following the commission of one of the offences listed in Article 5 of the Framework Decision (judgment of 14 November 2013, Baláž, C‑60/12, EU:C:2013:733, paragraph 27).
30


It is true that, in the case where the certificate referred to in Article 4 of the Framework Decision, which accompanies the decision requiring payment of a financial penalty, suggests that fundamental rights or fundamental legal principles as enshrined in Article 6 TEU may have been infringed, the competent authorities of the executing State may refuse to recognise and execute such a decision where one of the grounds for non-recognition and non-execution listed in Article 7(1) and (2) of the Framework Decision arises, and may also so refuse under Article 20(3) of that decision (judgment of 14 November 2013, Baláž, C‑60/12, EU:C:2013:733, paragraph 28).
31


In view of the fact that the principle of mutual recognition, which underpins the Framework Decision, means that, in accordance with Article 6 of that decision, the Member States are, as a rule, obliged to recognise a decision requiring payment of a financial penalty which has been transmitted in accordance with Article 4 of the Framework Decision without any further formality being required, and to take without delay all the measures necessary for its enforcement, the grounds for refusal to recognise or enforce such a decision must be interpreted restrictively (judgment of 14 November 2013, Baláž, C‑60/12, EU:C:2013:733, paragraph 29 and the case-law cited).
35


By thus referring to the legislation of the Member States, the EU legislature left it to the Member States to decide on the manner in which the person concerned is to be informed of his right to contest the case, of the period for such a legal remedy and of when that period begins, provided that the notification is effective and the exercise of the rights of the defence is guaranteed (see, by analogy, judgment of 22 March 2017, Tranca and Others, C‑124/16, C‑188/16 and C‑213/16, EU:C:2017:228, paragraph 42).
38


In that regard, the principle of the effective judicial protection of individuals’ rights under EU law, referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU, is a general principle of EU law stemming from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, which has been enshrined in Articles 6 and 13 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed in Rome on 4 November 1950 (‘the ECHR’), and which is now reaffirmed by Article 47 of the Charter (judgment of 27 February 2018, Associação Sindical dos Juízes Portugueses, C‑64/16, EU:C:2018:117, paragraph 35).
39


Ensuring actual and effective receipt of decisions, that is to say their notification to the person concerned, and sufficient time to bring an appeal against such decisions and prepare that appeal is a requirement that is necessary to ensure respect for the right to effective judicial protection (see, to that effect, judgments of 26 September 2013, PPG and SNF v ECHA, C‑625/11 P, EU:C:2013:594, paragraph 35, and of 2 March 2017, Henderson, C‑354/15, EU:C:2017:157, paragraph 72).
45


In order to ensure the effectiveness of the Framework Decision and, in particular, respect for fundamental rights, the authority of the Member State issuing the penalty is obliged to provide that information (see, by analogy, judgment of 25 July 2018, Generalstaatsanwaltschaft (Conditions of detention in Hungary), C‑220/18 PPU, EU:C:2018:589, paragraph 64).
48


In addition, Article 5(1) of the Framework Decision expressly provides that that decision also applies to financial penalties imposed in respect of offences relating to ‘conduct which infringes road traffic regulations’, regarding which the Court has, moreover, previously observed that such offences are not subject to homogenous treatment in the various Member States, some of which classify them as administrative offences while others treat them as criminal offences (judgment of 14 November 2013, Baláž, C‑60/12, EU:C:2013:733, paragraphs 34 and 46).