Agreement on draft directive on rights to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings
Luxembourg, 4 June 2010, 10585/10 – PRESSE 160
The EU Justice Ministers today welcomed the agreement reached last week in the Permanent Representatives Committee on the draft directive on the rights to interpretation and to translation in criminal proceedings. The text was negotiated in recent weeks between representatives of the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission.
The directive is based on an initiative taken by 13 Member States (Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Finland and Sweden) further to an agreement that was unanimously reached by the Council in October 2009 in respect of a Commission proposal launched in July 2009. The text also takes account of a proposal that was submitted by the Commission in March of 2010.