This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Document C2007/235/06
Case C-288/05: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 18 July 2007 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof — Germany) — Criminal proceedings against Jürgen Kretzinger (Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement — Article 54 — Ne bis in idem principle — Notion of same acts — Contraband cigarettes — Importation into several Contracting States — Prosecution in different Contracting States — Notion of enforcement of criminal penalties — Suspension of the execution of the sentence — Setting-off of brief periods of detention pending trial — European arrest warrant)
Case C-288/05: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 18 July 2007 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof — Germany) — Criminal proceedings against Jürgen Kretzinger (Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement — Article 54 — Ne bis in idem principle — Notion of same acts — Contraband cigarettes — Importation into several Contracting States — Prosecution in different Contracting States — Notion of enforcement of criminal penalties — Suspension of the execution of the sentence — Setting-off of brief periods of detention pending trial — European arrest warrant)
Case C-288/05: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 18 July 2007 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof — Germany) — Criminal proceedings against Jürgen Kretzinger (Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement — Article 54 — Ne bis in idem principle — Notion of same acts — Contraband cigarettes — Importation into several Contracting States — Prosecution in different Contracting States — Notion of enforcement of criminal penalties — Suspension of the execution of the sentence — Setting-off of brief periods of detention pending trial — European arrest warrant)
IO C 235, 6.10.2007, p. 4–5
(BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
6.10.2007 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 235/4 |
Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 18 July 2007 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof — Germany) — Criminal proceedings against Jürgen Kretzinger
(Case C-288/05) (1)
(Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement - Article 54 - Ne bis in idem principle - Notion of ‘same acts’ - Contraband cigarettes - Importation into several Contracting States - Prosecution in different Contracting States - Notion of ‘enforcement’ of criminal penalties - Suspension of the execution of the sentence - Setting-off of brief periods of detention pending trial - European arrest warrant)
(2007/C 235/06)
Language of the case: German
Referring court
Bundesgerichtshof
Party in the main proceedings
Jürgen Kretzinger
in the presence of: Hauptzollamt Augsburg
Re:
Reference for a preliminary ruling — Bundesgerichtshof — Interpretation of Article 54 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders (OJ 2000 L 239, p. 19) — Ne bis in idem principle — Conditions governing the expiry of the right to bring criminal proceedings — Notion of ‘same acts’ — Transportation of contraband cigarettes across the territory of several Member States — Conviction, in two Member States, in respect of tax evasion and handling the profits of tax evasion, respectively — Notion of ‘enforcement’ — Stay in enforcement of the sentence — Inclusion of periods of detention on remand
Operative part of the judgment
1. |
Article 54 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders, signed on 19 June 1990, in Schengen, must be interpreted as meaning that:
|
2. |
For the purposes of Article 54 of the CISA, a penalty imposed by a court of a Contracting State ‘has been enforced’ or is ‘actually in the process of being enforced’ if the defendant has been given a suspended custodial sentence. |
3. |
For the purposes of Article 54 of the CISA, a penalty imposed by a court of a Contracting State is not to be regarded as ‘having been enforced’ or ‘actually in the process of being enforced’ where the defendant was for a short time taken into police custody and/or held on remand pending trial and that detention would count towards any subsequent enforcement of the custodial sentence under the law of the State in which judgment was given. |
4. |
The fact that a Member State in which a person has been sentenced by a final and binding judgment under its national law may issue a European arrest warrant for the arrest of that person in order to enforce the sentence under Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States cannot affect the interpretation of the notion of ‘enforcement’ within the meaning of Article 54 of the CISA. |