One of the biggest successes of the Czech Presidency in the criminal-law area was the agreement reached among the EU justice Ministers on an instrument which should prevent double criminal proceedings against the same person for the same crime. This Framework Decision on prevention and settlement of conflicts of jurisdiction in criminal proceedings was brought up from the initiative of the Czech Presidency and of other four states. The Czech Presidency has achieved an agreement on this instrument in an extremely short time period of three months. The framework decision will, above all, prevent European citizens being prosecuted on a parallel basis in two or more states. Currently, every accused person has to both watch and bring this in defense up himself. Furthermore, judicial authorities will have a new duty to contact institutions of other Member States in the case if they have reasonable grounds to believe that parallel criminal proceedings may be conducted in these states. Hereby bureaucracy will be reduced and both human and financial resources will be spared.
The Ministry of Justice reached a big success also in the e-Justice area. It played an active role for example in the support of the use of videoconferencing devices in cross-border matters. "Videoconferences mean a big contribution for justice; in a vast majority of cases they bring both the speedup and the simplification of the legal proceeding, as well as considerable time and financial savings. Besides, in some Member States this technology is used also for examinations in prisons which reduces the security risks during transports. Last but not least, using videoconferences often levels down stress situations by victims, above all children," the Minister Daniela Kovářová said.
In December this year also the European eJustice portal should be launched on the preparation of which the Czech Presidency held an intense focus. The portal should be the only place in the internet which would contain complex information on the access to the law and justice in all Member countries. Simultaneously it should contain interactive applications for searching in electronic registers and finding competent courts in the entire EU. It will enable e.g. the access to criminal, insolvency and commercial registers, land registers and integrated databases of interpreters, translators and legal professionals within the European justice area. "The forthcoming Swedish Presidency resolved the justice electronisation as an absolute priority. It will continue in all the entered projects to finish them as soon as possible," the Vice Minister Tomáš Boček stated.
In the area of civil justice, the negotiations were successfully completed on two Regulations thanks to which concluding of bilateral agreements by Member States with third countries in the area falling within the exclusive Community external competence would be soon possible. It is for the first time ever when Member States are enabled to exercise authority which had previously been transferred to the Community. Whereas it concerns the authority questions it is regarded as the cardinal step in the EU law. Specifically, it concerns agreements in the matters of determination of the applicable law within the international treaties and within torts, or in the family-law field. Both Regulations should enter into force by the end of this year.
Moreover, a big success in the commercial-law area is the novelization of a Directive concerning mergers and divisions of joint stock companies, which considerably decreases the administrative and financial burden of companies. "The Draft eliminates the useless companies´ expenses in case of simplified mergers or divisions, e.g. a general assembly meeting needs not to be summoned any longer, and the duty of submitting reports by governing or executive bodies is reduced. It also reacts to the current developments in the area of modern communication technologies and it simplifies the life of companies by enabling them to use internet websites for publication of documents and e-mail for their sending," explained the Minister of Justice. Thanks to these provisions companies could save up to 165 millions EUR in a year. The Member States have to implement the Directive to their national laws by 30 June 2011 at the latest.
Petra Střítecká,
Spokesperson for the Czech EU Presidency