Beyond mutual recognition: the rules of joint investigation teams

Abstract

The “Joint Investigation Teams” (JITs) are a new and effective tool for cooperation in criminal matters, based on a “spirit of solidarity” in carrying out cross-borders criminal investigations: synergistic forms of cooperation between both judicial andpolice authorities of the different Member States (or even non-EU Countries, if there are legal bases), which coordinate their actions and share the results obtained. JITs constitute an unprecedented form of judicial assistance: “non-rogatorial”, “hybrid”, “operational” and “self-sufficient” from an organizational point of view. Based on an agreement between competent authorities – both judicial (judges, prosecutors, investigative judges) and law enforcement – of two or more States, JITs are established for a limited duration and for a specific purpose, to carry out criminal investigation in one or more of the involved States. Despite the many advantages, the critical issues are not few: the balance between fight against international crime and right of defense; the lack of proper measures to approximate EU Member State’s criminal law and the resulting problem of admissibility of evidence collected abroad in the national trial; the interactions with other new cooperation tools, (MAE, EIO, etc.), with respect to which JITs can often act as an initial mechanism for an investigative activity that can be developed more widely.