CJEU: Sentencing Thresholds Must Be Determined Under The ...

In today’s Grand Chamber judgment in the case of X (C-717/18), the Court of Justice ruled that, when determining the relevant punishable offence in the issuing Member State of a European Arrest Warrant, the offence to be taken into account is the one applicable to the facts and not the date of issuance of the warrant.

The case arose from a preliminary reference made by a Belgian court, inquiring about the fact that, under Spanish law, the offence of glorification of terrorism and humiliation of the victims of terrorism had been amended and its penalties aggravated after the relevant facts. As a result of the reform, the offence was punishable by a detention order superior to three years, as required by the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant.

In today’s judgment, the Court of Justice argued that Article 2(2) must be interpreted together with Article 2(1) of the Framework Decision. The first paragraph refers to a minimum threshold of a sentence imposed in regard to the law of the issuing Member State applicable to the facts giving rise to that decision. As a result, the same approach applies to Article 2(2) of the Framework Decision. The Court of Justice also relies on Article 8 of the Framework Decision to reach that conclusion.

The full judgment is available here (in French and Dutch).

In EU Law Live’s upcoming Weekend Edition No 8, Leandro Mancano will comment on the judgment in detail.

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