Judicial Review of Procedural Acts of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office : A Legal Analysis of Article 42 of the Regulation on the Establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office

Abstract: The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (the EPPO), established under enhanced cooperation by a Council Regulation (the Regulation), will be the first supranational criminal law enforcement body in the European Union (the EU) with direct powers visà-vis individuals. It will be responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgments the perpetrators of offences against the Union’s financial interests. Measures taken by the EPPO may therefore seriously interfere with fundamental rights of individuals. As the EU is based on the rule of law, an effective judicial review of the acts produced by the EPPO is essential in order to allow individuals to protect their rights and legitimate interests against unlawful and arbitrary decision-making. In accordance with the Treaty framework of judicial review, the main rule in EU law on the division of jurisdiction between national courts of the Member States and the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) is that acts adopted by Union institutions and bodies are to be reviewed by Union courts, while acts adopted by national institutions and bodies are to be reviewed by the national courts. Although the EPPO is an indivisible Union body, the judicial review of the procedural acts of the EPPO will first and foremost be a task for the national courts according to Article 42 of the Regulation. Since it follows from the hierarchy of norms that secondary law must comply with primary law, this thesis examines whether the system of judicial review of procedural acts of the EPPO, as prescribed in Article 42 of the Regulation, complies with the Treaty framework of judicial review and the right to effective judicial protection enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental rights of the European Union (the Charter). The main finding of the thesis is that the system of judicial review of procedural acts of the EPPO, as prescribed in the Article 42 of the Regulation, does not comply with the Treaty framework of judicial review or the right to effective judicial protection enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter.