CELS Seminar on Protocol 36 TFEU

On Monday 14th May CELS, together with the European Criminal Law Association (UK) (ECLA(UK)) hosted a seminar to discuss the legal and practical implications of the possible exercise by the UK of its power under Protocol 36 of the TFEU to opt out of the remaining Third Pillar measures before the CJEU acquires jurisdiction over them. Invited participants included academics, practitioners, civil servants and judges.

The discussion was led by four speakers:

• Professor Steve Peers (Essex);
• Commander Allan Gibson (Metropolitan Police);
• Mike Kennedy (CPS); and
• Catherine Heard (Fair Trials International).

At the end, it was agreed that the possible use of the opt-out is a most important issue which deserves to be the subject of a serious and informed debate. CELS plans to publish an Occasional Paper on the topic in the course of the summer.