Article 47 - Right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial
Article 48 - Presumption of innocence and right of defence
Key facts of the case:
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Article 267 TFEU – The second paragraph of Article 47 and Article 48(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Right to a fair trial – Right to the presumption of innocence – Account of the factual context in a request for a preliminary ruling in criminal matters – Establishment of the accuracy of certain facts in order to be able to make an admissible request for a preliminary ruling to the Court – Compliance with the procedural safeguards provided for under national law for judgments on the merits
Outcome of the case:
On those grounds, the Court (Eighth Chamber) hereby rules:
Article 267 TFEU, read in the light of the second paragraph of Article 47 and of Article 48(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
must be interpreted as not precluding a national court or tribunal in criminal matters, before any judgment on the merits, from establishing, with due regard for the procedural safeguards provided for by national law, the accuracy of certain facts in order to be able to make an admissible request for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice.
1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 267 TFEU and of the second paragraph of Article 47 and Article 48(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’).
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8 By order of 25 March 2022, IP and Others (Establishment of the accuracy of the facts in the main proceedings) (C‑609/21, not published, EU:C:2022:232), the Court has held that Article 267 TFEU and subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 94 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, read in the light of Article 4(3) TEU and of the second paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding a national rule which requires courts hearing criminal cases, when they make factual findings in the context of a request for a preliminary ruling made to the Court, to decline jurisdiction on pain of annulment of the decision to be given on the merits of the case. The Court added that such a rule must be disregarded by those courts and by any authority empowered to apply it.
9 Following that order of the Court, the referring court asks whether, by establishing, in the context of a request for a preliminary ruling made to the Court, that the accused person has committed certain acts, it infringes the right to the presumption of innocence referred to in Article 48(1) of the Charter and whether its decision on the merits following the Court’s reply might infringe the right to a fair trial guaranteed by the second paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter.
10 While noting that the right to the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial, enshrined in those provisions of the Charter, correspond to the identical rights referred to in Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed in Rome on 4 November 1950 (‘the ECHR’), the referring court explains that its questions are based in particular on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights relating to that Article 6, case-law which it must comply with because the Republic of Bulgaria is a party to the ECHR. In its view, it follows from that case-law that both those rights are infringed where, in ruling on matters other than the merits, in particular procedural matters, a court takes a view or expresses a preliminary view or a preconceived idea on the merits.
12 In those circumstances, the Spetsializiran nakazatelen sad (Specialised Criminal Court, Bulgaria) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following question to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:
‘Do the second paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter, which establishes the requirement of a fair trial, and Article 48(1) of the Charter, which establishes the presumption of innocence, preclude a request for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU in which certain acts of the accused persons are presumed to be established, where, before submitting the request for a preliminary ruling, the referring court respected all the procedural safeguards required for a decision on the merits?’
14 By its question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 267 TFEU, read in the light of the second paragraph of Article 47 and of Article 48(1) of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding a national court or tribunal in criminal matters, before any judgment on the merits, from establishing, with due regard for the procedural safeguards provided for by national law, the accuracy of certain facts in order to be able to make an admissible request for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice.
15 In that regard, it must be borne in mind that, by setting out, in their request for a preliminary ruling, the factual and legal context of the main proceedings, the referring courts and tribunals are merely complying with the requirements of Article 267 TFEU and of Article 94 of the Rules of Procedure and thus responding to the requirement of cooperation that is inherent in the preliminary ruling mechanism, without it being possible to consider that there is, in itself, a breach of either the right to a fair trial enshrined in the second paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter or of the right to the presumption of innocence guaranteed by Article 48(1) thereof (see, to that effect, judgment of 5 July 2016, Ognyanov, C‑614/14, EU:C:2016:514, paragraphs 22 and 23).
19 In that regard, it must be borne in mind that, as is apparent from the Explanations relating to the Charter of Fundamental Rights (OJ 2007 C 303, p. 17), the first and second paragraphs of Article 47 of the Charter, which enshrine the right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial, correspond to the right to a fair trial as derived, inter alia, from Article 6(1) ECHR, while Article 48(1) of the Charter, relating to the presumption of innocence, corresponds to Article 6(2) and (3) ECHR. It follows, in accordance with Article 52(3) of the Charter, that it is necessary to take account of Article 6 ECHR for the purposes of interpreting Articles 47 and 48 of the Charter, as a minimum threshold of protection (see, to that effect, judgments of 5 September 2019, AH and Others (Presumption of innocence), C‑377/18, EU:C:2019:670, paragraph 41 and the case-law cited, and of 4 December 2019, H v Council, C‑413/18 P, not published, EU:C:2019:1044, paragraph 45 and the case-law cited).
22 In the light of the foregoing, the answer to the question referred is that Article 267 TFEU, read in the light of the second paragraph of Article 47 and of Article 48(1) of the Charter, must be interpreted as not precluding a national court or tribunal in criminal matters, before any judgment on the merits, from establishing, with due regard for the procedural safeguards provided for by national law, the accuracy of certain facts in order to be able to make an admissible request for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice.
