On 28 February 2018, Peters & Peters represented the CEO of a multinational company in preliminary reference proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The reference concerns the circumstances in which EU Member States are obliged to execute European Arrest Warrants (EAWs), and in particular the proper application of the principle of ne bis in idem, according to which no person shall be prosecuted twice for the same offence.

In his Opinion delivered today, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar, adopting the approach contended for by Peters & Peters in both written and oral submissions before the Court, declared the reference to be inadmissible on the ground that within the framework of the preliminary ruling procedure, only the judicial authority executing the EAW, and not the issuing judicial authority, was entitled to ask questions about whether it could refuse to execute an EAW.

Read the CJEU’s press release here and the full text of the Advocate General’s Opinion here.