Admissibility of OLAF Final Reports as Evidence in Criminal Proceedings Fabio Giuffrida and Katalin Ligeti (eds.) June 2019 Prof. Peter Alldridge Prof. Martin Böse Koen Bovend’Eerdt Prof. Michele Caianiello Dr. András Csúri Aart de Vries Prof. Ton Duijkersloot Fabio Giuffrida Argyro Karagianni Dr. Giulia Lasagni Prof. Katalin Ligeti Prof. Michiel Luchtman Prof. Anne Schneider Prof. Juliette Tricot Prof. John Vervaele Prof. Rob Widdershoven This project was funded by the European Commission/OLAF under the HERCULE III programme (HERCULE-LT-AG-2017). Name of the action: ‘Admissibility of OLAF final reports as evidence in criminal proceedings — ADCRIM’. The content of this publication represents the views of the authors only and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains. University of Luxembourg © the authors This publication is protected by international copyright law. 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ISBN 978-99959-0-485-2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AC Appeal cases ACPR Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority) ADCRIM ‘Admissibility of OLAF final reports as evidence in criminal proceedings’ (name of the present project) ADLC Autorité de la concurrence (French Competition Authority) AFCOS Anti-Fraud Coordination Service AFSJ Area of Freedom, Security and Justice AG Advocate General AIDP Association Internationale de Droit Pénal AMF Autorité des marchés financiers (French Financial Market Authority) AMR Avis de mise en recouvrement (notice of recovery) AO Abgabenordnung (Fiscal Code) APA Hungarian Act on Administrative Procedure AW-Prax Außenwirtschafts-Praxis BaFin Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) BB Betriebsberater BFH Bundesfinanzhof (Federal Fiscal Court, Germany) BGHSt Bundesgerichtshof (German Federal Court of Justice) BKartA Bundeskartellamt (German Competition Authority) BVerfG Bundesverfassungsgericht (German Federal Constitutional Court) CCP (or CPP) Code of Criminal Procedure (or Code of Penal Procedure) CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies CFR Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union CMF Code monétaire et financier (French Monetary and Financial Code) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS V COM Communication CONT Committee on Budgetary Control (European Parliament) CRD IV Capital Requirements Directive (Directive 2013/36/EU) CRvB Centrale Raad van Beroep (Central Appellate Court, the Netherlands) CSSF Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (Luxembourgish Financial Sector Supervisory Commission) DAR Deutsches Autorecht DCPJ Direction centrale de la Police judiciaire (French Central Directorate of the Judicial Police) DDHC Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen de 1789 (Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1789) DE Germany DG COMP European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition EAEC (Euratom) European Atomic Energy Community EAW European Arrest Warrant EC European Community ECA European Court of Auditors ECB European Central Bank ECHR European Convention on Human Rights ECJ European Court of Justice ECN European Competition Network ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EDP European Delegated Prosecutor EIO European Investigation Order ELEA European law enforcement authorities ELI European Law Institute EPPO European Public Prosecutor’s Office ERA Academy of European Law ESMA European Security and Market Authority EU European Union Eurojust European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation VI Europol European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation EuZW Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht EWCA (Civ) England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil division) FG Finanzgericht (Fiscal Court, Germany) FIOD Fiscale inlichtingen- en opsporingsdienst (Fiscal Information and Investigation Service, the Netherlands) FR France GALA Dutch General Administrative Law Act (Algemene wet bestuursrecht or Awb) GG Grundgesetz (German Basic Law) GVG Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz (German Courts Constitution Act) GWB Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (German Act against Restraints of Competition) HMRC Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs HR Hoge Raad (Supreme Court of the Netherlands) HU Hungary IBOA Institution, body, office or agency IT Italy JA Juristische Arbeitsblätter JHA Justice and Home Affairs JLD Juge des libertés et de la détention (French Liberty and Custody Judge) KWG Kreditwesengesetz (German Banking Act) LPP Legal professional privilege LU Luxembourg MS Member State NCA National competition authorities (but also national competent authorities for ECB-related matters) NJOZ Neue Juristische Online-Zeitschrift NJW Neue Juristische Wochenschrift NL The Netherlands NZV Neue Zeitschrift für Verkehrsrecht LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS VII OJ Official Journal of the European Union OLAF European Anti-Fraud Office OLG Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court, Germany) OM Openbaar Ministerie (Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office) OSCOLA Oxford Standard for the Citation Of Legal Authorities OTC Over-the-counter OWiG Ordnungswidrigkeitengesetz (German Act on Regulatory Offences) PIF Protection des intérêts financiers PPU Urgent preliminary ruling procedure QB Queen’s Bench QPC Question prioritaire de constitutionnalité RENFORCE Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe SEC Staff Working Documents (prior to 2012) SSM (FR) Single Supervisory Mechanism (Framework Regulation) StGB Strafgesetzbuch (German Criminal Code) StPO Strafprozessordnung (German Code of Criminal Procedure) SWD Staff Working Document TEC Treaty of the European Community TEU Treaty on the European Union TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union TUB Testo Unico Bancario (Italian Banking Act) TUF Testo unico delle disposizioni in materia di intermediazione finanziaria (Italian Financial Intermediation Act) UCLAF Unité de coordination de la lutte anti-fraude UK The United Kingdom UKFTT (TC) United Kingdom First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) UKHL United Kingdom House of Lords USA United States of America VAT Value Added Tax VwVfG Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz (German Act on Administrative Proceedings) VIII WpHG Wertpapierhandelsgesetz (German Securities Trading Act) ZollVG Zollverwaltungsgesetz (German Customs Administration Law) TABLE OF CONTENTS List of abbreviations and acronyms iv 1. INTRODUCTION 1 F. Giuffrida and K. Ligeti 1. Background 1 2. Aim and scope of the research 4 3. Methodology and plan of the study 5 2. EU ADMINISTRATIVE INVESTIGATIONS AND THE USE OF THEIR 7 RESULTS AS EVIDENCE IN NATIONAL PUNITIVE PROCEEDINGS M. Luchtman, A. Karagianni and K. Bovend’Eerdt 1. Introduction 7 2. Europe’s shared legal order and the admissibility of evidence: Three 8 types of problems 2.1 Diverging standards I: From the non-punitive to the punitive 8 2.2 Diverging standards II: From one legal order to another 10 2.3 Diverging standards III: From the administrative law sphere to the 12 criminal 3. The EU framework for the admissibility of evidence 13 3.1 An overview of the general EU principles 13 3.2 The added value of specific EU rules I: Defence rights, procedural 16 safeguards and the recognition of equivalence 3.3 The added value of specific EU rules II: Towards a legal rule of non- 18 inquiry? 3.4 Foto-Frost and the validity of EU investigative actions 22 3.5 In the absence of EU law: Effectiveness, the Charter and procedural 23 autonomy 3.6 Interim conclusions 26 4. DG COMP 28 4.1 Introduction 28 4.2 The rationale of having in place a rule on the admissibility of evidence 29 4.3 How the legal framework of EU competition law enforcement deals 30 with diverging standards 4.3.1 The regime of evidence sharing between the authorities involved in the 30 enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU 4.3.2 Dealing with diverging standards: Purpose limitation and presumption 33 of equivalent protection of legal persons’ defence rights 4.3.3 Dealing with diverging standards of defence rights of natural persons 34 4.4 Parallel and consecutive proceedings 35 5. ECB 36 5.1 Introduction 36 X 5.2 Follow up by the ECB’s national counterparts 38 5.3 Punitive follow up by national criminal investigative authorities 39 5.4 Parallel proceedings at the EU and national levels 39 6. OLAF 40 6.1 Introduction 40 6.2 The reason for a rule on the admissibility of evidence in OLAF’s legal 42 framework 6.3 The logic of OLAF’s rule on the admissibility of evidence 43 6.4 From gathering by EU administrative investigations to use in national 47 punitive proceedings: Regulation of consecutive and parallel proceedings in OLAF’s legal framework 6.5 Proposed amendment to the OLAF Regulation 49 7. Conclusions 52 3. LAWFUL AND FAIR USE OF EVIDENCE FROM A EUROPEAN 56 HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE J.A.E. Vervaele 1. Introduction – The gathering and use of evidence in a transnational 56 setting 2. Rationale of the admissibility and the nullity/exclusion of evidence 59 3. Admissibility of (cross-border) evidence in the EU: Legislative 62 initiatives 4. Mapping the problem from the point of view of effective enforcement 67 and due process 5. Human rights case law on evidence and its exclusion in punitive 71 proceedings: Common standards?