The Request for Mutual Assistance and the European Investigation Order – Is the Modern Legal Assistance Instrument Better than its Predecessor

Abstract

Abstract European evidence law is a quite sensitive topic and has always been the cause of much debate by practitioners and academics. Theoretical and physical borders do not matter for transnational crime. The intensive mobility of people and the evolution of world trade with goods and services create favorable conditions for the cross-border crime to develop. Therefore, it is of a great importance to take far-reaching steps to an upgraded mechanism for obtaining evidence in and from the Member States. This article examines the application of two mutual legal assistance instruments – the request for mutual assistance, which was established by the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 1959, the EU Mutual Legal Assistance Convention of2000 with its 2001 Protocol, and Arts. 48 to 53 of the Schengen Agreement, and the European Investigation Order introduced by the Directive 2014/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters. The main objective of this research is to emphasize the advantages and disadvantages of both judicial cooperation mechanisms. A comparative analysis of both operational tools is an appropriate way to assess which one is related to more procedural savings and how both of them deal with the protection of human rights. Thus, the modern instruments for judicial cooperation in the area of transnational evidence-gathering as an international response to crimes with cross-border dimensions can be adequately valued.