site.btaBill Transposing EU "Suspects Directives" Up for Public Consultation within Week - Justice Minister

Bulgarian Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev conferred  here on Wednesday with Ana Gallego Torres, Director General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, Georgiev's Ministry said in a press release.

Georgiev said that within a week's time his Ministry will submit to public consultation draft legislation amending the Criminal Procedure Code and the special laws to transpose six EU directives in the field of criminal law, popularly known as "the suspects directives", whose implementation has been delayed by several years. The directives in question set minimum standards for the procedural rights of suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings, including the right to information, a lawyer, and interpretation. 

Due to the delay Bulgaria risks incurring huge penalties imposed by the EU Court of Justice: an initial one-off sum of up to BGN 12 million and up to BGN 18,000 for each additional day until the full transposition of each directive. This step will also preclude judgments against Bulgaria by the European Court of Human Rights.

Georgiev has formally notified the European Commission that the bill has been finalized and will be debated and adopted shortly by the National Assembly. 

The Justice Minister briefed the Director-General on the progress achieved in the implementation of measures on the second and third payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) and the actions meeting the recommendations for Bulgaria in the Rule of Law Report. The two also discussed a draft Governance Transparency and Integrity Act, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, which regulates lobbying and is part of the commitments for the fourth payment under the RRP. The bill has been referred for a comprehensive preliminary impact assessment and will be published presently for public consultation.