PhD defence: Evidence and Transnational Punitive Enforcement Proceedings in the European Union

In several substantive EU policy areas, enforcement duties are carried out by the Member States. While EU law requires enforcement in Member States to be effective and rule of law-based – particularly in terms of respect for fundamental rights and effective legal protection – the indirect enforcement structure in the EU allows Member States considerable national autonomy to decide on the enforcement architecture and associated sanctions, as well as the rules and principles governing the collection, sharing and use of evidence within their national legal order.

In his dissertation, Aart de Vries examines whether the current supranational and national legal principles and rules governing the gathering, sharing and use of evidence by EU Member States' administrative and judicial authorities enable effective and rule of law-based transnational punitive enforcement of EU policies.

Differences among Member States are inevitable. These differences raise questions at the national and supranational level when enforcement procedures span multiple national legal orders, particularly at the interface of criminal and administrative enforcement.

From an EU perspective, such differences should not preclude, hinder or complicate effective and rule of law-based punitive enforcement. Enforcement should have a 'transnational' character within the EU: the substantive policy objectives to be achieved concern the integrated EU legal order as a whole and, consequently, enforcement of this policy is a common task to be carried out jointly by the Member States, which requires 'overcoming' the differences between EU Member States in order to achieve effective and rule-of-law enforcement when proceedings extend across multiple Member States.