Conflicts of jurisdiction in criminal matters in the European Union 1

In a globalized world, criminal law cases with cross-border elements have become a common phenomenon. The citizen is thus confronted with the criminal law of several states. Due to different criminal policies, some of these might regard his conduct as punishable, while others regard it as unpunishable. It could also happen that criminal proceedings are initiated in different states at the same time. This study aims at analyzing whether conflicts of jurisdiction between national criminal laws can be avoided or rather settled at an earlier stage by harmonizing the national criminal law and thus restricting the scope of the application of national criminal law. The first volume contains reports from ten EU member states which explain the scope of national criminal law as well as other, also procedural, mechanisms for the settlement of conflicts of jurisdiction.