Study on criminal sanction legislation and practice in representative Member States : Final report

The European Council considers that a level of approximation of some laws is necessary to foster a common understanding of issues among judges and prosecutors, and to enable the principle of mutual recognition to be applied properly in criminal matter whilst taking into account differences between the legal systems and legal traditions of Member States. The European Union within the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) has adopted a number of Framework Decisions and Directives in the field of substantive criminal law. These existing laws provide for a common definition, as well as sanctions of differing levels of specificity. These have been adopted and implemented in different ways by Member States. There therefore appears to be a lack of consistency and coherence across the EU. The Stockholm Programme invites the European Commission to examine whether the level of approximation among the criminal behaviour, in particularly serious crimes with a cross-border dimension, is sufficient in relation to the adopted Framework Decisions and report on the need to establish common definitions and sanctions and to consider submitting new legislative proposals where further approximation is needed. The EU wants to ensure that when adopting new legislation there is a real added value and that it increases consistency and coherence