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Evidence Gathering

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Handbook of European Criminal Procedure

Abstract

Evidence gathering in the European context is regulated on the basis of the transnational cooperation model. Its fundamental instruments are the newborn European Investigation Order (EIO), which includes some elements of the mutual recognition logic. and the traditional letter rogatory inspired by the mutual assistance principle, that now has a much more reduced operational scope. Both are subject to refusal grounds, which aim to protect the fundamental principles of the execution States’ domestic law. The admissibility of the evidence collected is regulated by each national system. The danger of the use of such instruments is that, in order to achieve the maximum of efficiency, they compromise procedural guarantees provided by national law. A desirable remedy is the use of the proportionality test provided by Art. 52.1 of the Nice Charter: in each concrete situation, the investigation acts may interfere with a fundamental right only in the measure that is strictly necessary to carry them out and they do not impair the essential core of such right.

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Daniele, M., Calvanese, E. (2018). Evidence Gathering. In: Kostoris, R. (eds) Handbook of European Criminal Procedure. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72462-1_9

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