Fair Trials has developed Strategic Litigation packs designed to give practical advice, mainly to defence practitioners, on how to use EU law in criminal proceedings. Specific packs have been developed for: Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Portugal.
The documents intend to provide a brief and accessible overview of the basic principles of EU law and the Charter and their application in national proceedings. They also provide guidance on the main steps of the preliminary reference procedure before the CJEU and how to argue for such reference in domestic cases. Finally, the packs include several practical examples (template arguments) on how to incorporate EU law in defence submissions in criminal proceedings in relation to key defence rights. The templates are based on key issues defence lawyers face in many Member States – access to case materials in pre-trial detention proceedings, access and quality of interpretation and translation, and access to a lawyer before police questioning.
Access the Strategic Litigation Packs here:
