Plan to give suspects translation rights

The European Commission today adopted a proposal for legislation that aims to give EU citizens the right to translation and interpretation during criminal proceedings in other member states. It is the first in a series of measures aimed at improving the rights of suspects across the EU through common standards in criminal cases.

“Nobody in the EU should ever feel that their rights and their protections are weakened simply because they are not in their home country,” said Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship. 

 

Under the proposal, suspects would have the right to interpretation when communicating with their lawyers, during questioning by police and at trial. They would also have the right to receive written translations of important documents, for example detention orders or indictments. In December, 13 member states proposed a directive on the same subject that would exempt certain documents from that provision.

 

“We believe that this would weaken considerably the rights of a defendant,” Jonathan Faull, the Commission’s director-general for justice, told reporters today in reference to the member states’ draft.

 

Faull said the Commission’s draft was “complementary” to the one proposed by the 13 member states and the Commission was optimistic that a directive could be adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament in the coming months.

 

Another difference between the two draft directives is that the Commission stipulates a right to legal advice before a suspect waives his right to interpretation and translation.

 

The subject of procedural rights is becoming more pressing as the European arrest warrant has led to an increase in cases involving citizens from other EU member states.

 

The Commission proposed certain procedural rights last July, but the proposal failed to make progress in the Council of Ministers and became void when the Treaty of Lisbon took effect on 1 December. Just before that, member states asked the Commission to split its broader proposal into distinct directives covering smaller areas, of which today’s directive is the first.

 

The next draft directive, to be put forward this summer, is to establish EU standards on information about rights and charges in criminal proceedings.

 

Source: http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2010/03/plan-to-give-suspects-translation-rights/67355.aspx