EU access to representation proposal nears

Law Society Gazette - Jonathan Rayner

The European Commission (EC) is this week expected to move a significant step closer to ­ensuring that all those facing criminal charges across the EU have access to legal representation.

As the Gazette went to press, the EC was expected to publish a legislative proposal that would give people arrested in the EU the right to be given information about their legal rights and the charges against them in simple language.

Fair Trials International (FTI) Chief Executive Jago Russell said: ‘It is shocking that people across the EU are still being denied effective access to a lawyer at crucial points in their criminal case. Legal guarantees of this most basic fair trial right are long overdue.’

FTI policy adviser Catherine Heard said that the organisation was often contacted by individuals who had been denied legal representation when detained abroad in established western democracies, as well as recently acceded nations.