QUALIFICATION OF THE REQUEST TO TAKE OVER CRIMINAL PROCEDURE IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL JUDICIAL COOPERATION

Abstract

As a manifestation of the ne bis in idem principle at the interstate level, the transfer of criminal proceedings is one of the forms of international judicial cooperation in criminal matters that avoids the conduct of parallel proceedings that could lead to prosecution, trial and even conviction a person in different states for committing the same act. Starting from a non-unitary practice aspect regarding the qualification of requests to take proceedings (in the sense of requests to take criminal proceedings or requests to take trial), this study addresses the issue of transfer of proceedings in criminal matters, as regulated in international legal instruments and in the Romanian special law on international judicial cooperation in criminal matters (Law no. 302/2004, republished in 2019). The research methods used in the study are: documentation, observation and scientific analysis (comparative analysis of both legal regulations and solutions of judicial practice). The paper aims to contribute to the uniform interpretation and application of the provisions on the transfer of proceedings in criminal matters, in particular in the relationship between the Member States of the European Union, given that the regulation of those procedures in national legislations is not always similar. The conclusion is that the relations of judicial cooperation in criminal matters between the Member States of the European Union, including through the transfer of criminal proceedings, must be based on mutual trust in internal judicial systems, as a corollary of the principle of mutual recognition.