The President signed a legislative amendment to support the financial interests of the EU

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Bratislava – President of the Slovak Republic Peter Pellegrini signed new legislation on Friday aimed at supporting and increasing the efficiency of protecting the financial interests of the European Union (EU). The law on the prosecution, the Criminal Code, and the Criminal Procedure Code are also being amended. This was reported by the Office of the President of the Slovak Republic, according to TASR.

A special organizational unit for serious crime will be established in the law on prosecution. Its task will be to ensure the proper exercise of the prosecution’s powers, especially in protecting the EU’s financial interests. This is particularly in the areas of managing, directing, and controlling the activities of subordinate prosecutions in supervising compliance with legality before the initiation of criminal proceedings and in preparatory proceedings, as well as in court proceedings.

The new legal amendment to the Criminal Code changes the provision concerning the penalty for importing goods. Currently, the law provides for a prison sentence of one to five years for someone who “extensively” shortens or fails to pay customs or other charges collected upon importing goods. From now on, the penalty will apply if someone fails to pay customs or other charges “amounting to at least 10,000 euros.” The change in the scope of the criminal offense reflects the requirement of the EU directive.

Other changes have also been added to the Criminal Code, including the amendment of fundamental principles for imposing sanctions and penalties so that emphasis is placed on the confiscation of proceeds from criminal activity and on protecting the EU’s financial interests. Therefore, in the case of offenses damaging financial interests, the conditions for mandatory imposition of imprisonment, waiver of punishment, conditional suspension of imprisonment, and statute of limitations are newly adjusted.

The basic principles of criminal proceedings are supplemented by the principle that “the authorities conducting criminal proceedings and the courts shall take due care to protect the financial interests of the European Union in criminal proceedings.”

The new legislation in the law on prosecutors and legal trainees creates an obligation to provide specialized training for prosecutors in the area of protecting the EU’s financial interests.

The new legal regulation will be effective upon its announcement. (December 13)

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