Commissioner for Human Rights: Two EU directives on the right to defense still not implemented. Ministry of Justice announces their implementation
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The Commissioner for Human Rights remains concerned about Poland's failure to implement the Directive (EU) 2013/48 of 22 October 2013 on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in European arrest warrant proceedings, and on the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty and to communicate with third persons and with consular authorities while deprived of liberty, as well as the complementary Directive (EU) 2016/1919 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on legal aid for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings and for requested persons in European arrest warrant proceedings. Both directives were to be transposed into Polish law by 2016 and 2019, respectively, but this has not been done.
The lack of transposition has led to situations where Polish courts have had to apply the directives directly to ensure basic procedural guarantees for suspects and accused persons. Concerns have been raised regarding the lack of effective access to legal counsel, confidentiality of communication between suspects and their lawyers, and the right to a defense lawyer in European Arrest Warrant cases.
In its latest response, the Ministry of Justice announced that the Criminal Law Codification Commission, reactivated in 2024, was working on legal amendments to fully implement these EU directives. The draft law that had been prepared contained a number of provisions that met the Commissioner's expectations. It would be made available for review during the legislative process.
The Ministry assured that it assessed the Commissioner’s postulates positively and that advanced steps had already been taken to implement them.
