EU justice and interior ministers reached agreement on Thursday on an EU-wide evidence warrant which is expected to simplify and speed up the sharing of evidence such as documents and data in cases of cross-border crime.
Like the recently adopted pan-EU arrest warrant, the evidence warrant will apply to 32 of the most severe crimes ranging from terrorism to trafficking in people.
It is expected that the time needed to transfer evidence from one EU country to another would be cut from one year at present to just 40 days.
The deal has been on the table since late 2003, but it had been blocked by Germany, which had constitutional concerns. The Austrian presidency broke the deadlock by offering it an opt-out.
Slovenia has been supporting the evidence warrant. "We need it, as evident from the Plut case," Slovenian Justice Minister Lovro Sturm said. He was referring to Silvo Plut, a Slovenian citizen prosecuted for murder in Serbia who could not be arrested in Slovenia due to a bungled exchange of evidence until he was charged with killing another woman.
Minister Sturm regretted certain limitations in the new rules, which he said had an adverse impact on its efficiency. However, something is better than nothing, he added.
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