Today, the European Commission decided to refer Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to correctly transpose into its national legislation the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer and to communicate upon arrest ( Directive 2013/48/EU ).
In January 2017, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Bulgaria for incomplete transposition of the Directive. Following the replies from Bulgaria, the case was closed in October 2023. This case concerned the notification of transposing measures and the completeness of the transposition that has to be addressed at a first stage of the monitoring by the Commission. Further issues were identified regarding the correctness of the transposition. In this respect, the Commission concluded that Bulgaria has incorrectly transposed the scope of the rights under the Directive. In addition, Bulgaria has incorrectly transposed measures on the effective participation of a lawyer during an interrogation. Moreover, Bulgaria failed to correctly transpose the rules concerning derogations from the right to a lawyer for the interest of an investigation.
The Commission has therefore sent a letter of formal notice to Bulgaria in March 2024. In response, Bulgaria has sufficiently addressed some of the concerns, namely regarding measures on information provided to the appropriate responsible adult when a child is deprived of its liberty. The Commission has then sent a reasoned opinion in October 2024 calling on Bulgaria to address the remaining grievances. After analysing the replies, the Commission considers that Bulgaria continues to fall short of the requirements of the Directive. The Commission has therefore decided to refer Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Background
The Directive on the right of access to a lawyer and to communicate upon arrest is one of the six Directives that make up the EU's legal framework on common minimum standards for fair trials ensuring that the rights of suspects and accused persons are sufficiently protected. It strengthens Member States' trust in each other's criminal justice systems and thus facilitates mutual recognition of decisions in criminal matters.
