Der Richtervorbehalt in Art. 31 Abs. 3 EUStA-VO

The study analyses the judicial authorisation in cross-border investigations by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) using practical examples from German and Spanish law. The provision of Article 31 para. 3 of the EPPO Regulation impacts extensively on the individual criminal proceedings of the Member States, for instance on investigations conducted by public prosecutors in Germany and on investigations led by investigative judges in Spain. Taking into account the judgment of the European Court of Justice in 2023, a practical proposal is presented for interpreting the Regulation in order to achieve the desired improvement compared to the Directive on the European Investigation Order.