The evolution of European Union criminal law (1957-2012)

development of the single market - as an alternative. 691 The Commission followed up on
this idea submitting that,
“… borrowing from concepts that have worked very well in the creation of the Single
Market, the idea was born that judicial co-operation might also benefit from the concept
of mutual recognition which, simply stated, means that once a certain measure, such as
a decision taken by a judge in exercising his or her officials powers in one Member
State, has been taken, that measure – in so far as it has extranational implicationswould
automatically be accepted in all other Member States, and have the same or at
least similar effects there.” 692
The Commission continued by explaining that this automaticity was possible because
there was mutual trust between Member States’ criminal justice systems,
“Mutual recognition is a principle which is widely understood as being based on the
thought that while another state may not deal with a certain matter in the same or even
similar way as one’s own state, the results will be such that they are acceptable as
equivalent to decisions by one’s own state. Mutual trust is an important element, not
only trust in the adequacy of one’s partners’ rules, but also trust that these rules are
correctly applied.
Based on the idea of equivalence and the trust it is based on, the results the other state
has reached are allowed to take effect in one’s own sphere of legal influence. On this
basis, a decision taken by an authority in one state could be accepted as such in another
state, even though a comparable authority may not even exist in that state or could not
take such decisions, or would have taken an entirely different decision in a comparable
case.” 693
691 UK Delegation, Note from UK Delegation to the K4 Committee, Document 7090/99
submitted to the K4 Committee, Brussels, 29 March 1999, para 7 and 8.
692 European Commission, Commission Communication to the Council and the European
Parliament on Mutual Recognition of Final Decisions in Criminal Matters, COM(2000)495final,
Brussels, 26.7.2000, 2.
693 Ibid., 4. In 2001 the Commission released a very extensive Programme of measures
envisaging the application of mutual recognition to a wide range of areas of the criminal justice
process, from pre-trial orders, extradition, prison sentences, among others, European
Commission, Programme of Measures to implement the principle of mutual recognition of
decisions in criminal matters, OJ C 12/10 (2001). The idea of mutual recognition and mutual
trust was further reinforced by the Commission in 2005 in the Green PaperCOM(2004)334final,
see supra note 573, 12.
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