The High Level Forum provided an opportunity for those gathered to discuss the recently published ELI Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on Mutual Admissibility of Evidence and Electronic Evidence in Criminal Proceedings, available here, and potential legislative avenues aimed at providing more clarity in this area.

The event brought together representatives of EU Ministries of Justice, Prosecutor General Offices and/or Supreme Courts from 18 different EU Member States, representatives of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, the European Criminal Bar Association, the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes, Europol and the International Association of Prosecutors, as well as other distinguished academics and practitioners in the field. The full list of participants is available here.

Participants welcomed the ELI Proposal, which aims at providing more clarity to all stakeholders involved in criminal proceedings, and congratulated the ELI team for what has been achieved. They provided further valuable input on the Proposal, in light of their national and practical experiences, which could feed into future discussions on the matter. As a participant pointed out, it is hoped that an adoption can be finally achieved on this matter at EU level.

ELI would like to express its gratitude to the Reporters of the above ELI Proposal, Professor Lorena Bachmaier Winter (Complutense University) and Prof Farsam Salimi (University of Vienna), as well as to all those that attended the event. Their input is valued and will be reflected upon.