European Protection Order - new measure supporting freedom of movement in EU

European Protection Order (EPO) it is new legislation project of EU. EPO is defined as „a judicial decision relating to a protection measure issued by a Member State and aiming at facilitating the taking by another Member State, where appropriate, of a protection measure under its own national law with a view to the safeguard of the life, physical and psychological integrity, freedom or sexual integrity of a person.‟

The Order aims to extend the protection afforded by a measure adopted in one Member State to another Member State to which the protected person moves. So as to prevent a new crime being committed against the victim in the executing State.

The aim of EPO is to:

1.      prevent a victim of the crime from initiating new proceedings or producing evidence in the executing State and

2.       ensure that the protected person receives equivalent protection to that granted under the initial protection measure. 

A revised draft of the proposal was circulated by the Presidency to the relevant Council working party on 24 February 2010. The draft incorporates recommendations by the Council's Legal Service. Consequently, amendments have been made to the wording of the proposal in order to take into account the slight change to its legal basis. On 30 March the UK Government opted into this Directive. A draft report on the proposed Directive was published jointly by the Committees on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Women‟s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) on 20 May 2010. Carmen Romero López MEP, co-rapporteur of the report, stated that despite the main aim of the European Protection Order being to help women fleeing abroad from physical, emotional or sexual abuse, this issue affected all victims, not just women. Some concerns were raised however firstly about the legal ramifications given the effect of existing legislation in some Member States and secondly how a person at risk should be defined. On 23 April 2010, Commission Reding challenged the legal basis of the proposal. 

see more on www.ecba.org - European Criminal Bar Assoctiation

Michael Dudkowiak