Interesting judgement of the #CJUE (First Chamber), dated 1 August 2022, delivered in Case C‑242/22 PPU, resulting from a request for a preliminary ruling which concerns the interpretation of Articles 1 to 3 of Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings and of Article 3 of Directive 2012/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2012 on the right to information in criminal proceedings.
The request has been made in proceedings between TL and the Ministério Público (Public Prosecutor’s Office, Portugal) concerning the consequences of the lack of assistance of an interpreter and the failure to translate various documents relating to the criminal proceedings against TL.
According to the CJUE, Article 2(1) and Article 3(1) of Directive 2010/64/EU and Article 3(1)(d) of Directive 2012/13/EU, read in the light of Article 47 and Article 48(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the principle of effectiveness, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation under which the infringement of the rights provided for by those provisions of those directives must be invoked by the beneficiary of those rights within a prescribed period, failing which that challenge will be time-barred, where that period begins to run before the person concerned has been informed, in a language which he or she speaks or understands, first, of the existence and scope of his or her right to interpretation and translation and, secondly, of the existence and content of the essential document in question and the effects thereof.
The CJUE considered that “those fundamental rights [to understand the essential documents drawn up in the course of the criminal proceedings] would be infringed if a person, who has been sentenced for a criminal offence to a term of imprisonment suspended with probation, were deprived – because of the failure to translate the summons or the absence of an interpreter at the hearing relating to the possible revocation of that suspension – of the opportunity to be heard, inter alia, on the reasons for which he or she had failed to comply with the probation conditions. Thus, that opportunity presupposes, first, that the person concerned receives the summons to the hearing on the possible revocation of the suspension in a language which he or she speaks or understands, failing which he or she cannot be regarded as having been duly summoned and informed of the reason for that summons, and, secondly, that he or she may, if necessary, be assisted by an interpreter at that hearing, in order to be able to explain the reasons for his or her failure to comply with the probation conditions, which may, depending on the circumstances, be legitimate and thus justify the continued suspension of the sentence” (paragraph 65).
In addition, “where that person, who does not know the language of the criminal proceedings, is unable to understand the meaning of the procedural act and its implications, he or she does not have sufficient information to assess the need for the assistance of an interpreter when it is drawn up or for a written translation of that document, which may appear to be a mere formality. Furthermore, the possibility of invoking the nullity of that act is subsequently prejudiced, first, by the lack of information as to the right to such a translation and to the assistance of an interpreter and, secondly, by the fact that the period for raising that nullity expires, in essence, instantaneously, solely on account of the finalisation of the act in question” (paragraph 86).
