Abstract
The growing internationalisation of crime and criminal justice as well as states' ambitions to expand their prosecutorial powers beyond their own territory constantly increase the occurrence of conflicts of jurisdiction. With regard to the significant consequences conflicts of jurisdiction might entail especially for individuals, this status quo is particularly precarious within the European Union, which grants to its citizens an area of freedom, security, and justice (AFSJ). This article shows that normative requirements at EU level, common values, constitutional guarantees, and fundamental legal concepts inherent in the ECHR, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) as well as the TFEU, reveal the urgent need for legal certainty. This requires an EU-wide consensus to cut back extensive national prosecutorial powers, to elaborate unequivocal legal provisions in order to prevent colliding claims of jurisdiction in the first place, and – for remaining conflicts – to establish a solid, enforceable legal mechanism for forum choice.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.