European Union (Amendment) Bill

The noble Lord is right and, of course, knows far more about the workings of the court than I could ever dream of. I, like the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, am not a lawyer and it shows in my case more often. The noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, asked me about litigants who do not agree with what the European Court of Justice says about fundamental rights being able to open the case. They already can—again, no change is suggested. The noble Lords, Lord Lamont and Lord Kingsland, asked what mechanisms or timetable are in place for our EU accession to the European Court of Human Rights. I take the point that was made by my noble friend and by the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, about the role of Russia in the ratification in Protocol 14. Article 6(2) of the EU treaty provides for the Union to accede to the ECHR but it does not give any timetable. The protocol to the treaty says an agreement on accession must include provisions on EU participation in the ECHR control mechanisms—for example, the Council of Ministers—and the mechanisms that determine which member states should be involved in these cases. If someone wants to take a case to Strasbourg, who do they litigate against—the EU or member states? It also says that the accession must not affect competence, and that individual derogations and reservations held by member states must not be affected. So any derogations that we have will be respected. No decision can be taken on any accession agreement until after the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty and any decision must be taken by unanimity in the Council of Europe and in the European Union. That is as much information as I am able to give on that. The noble Lord, Lord Lamont, asked me about Article 50 in the treaty—double jeopardy, or ne bis in idem in Latin. Article 50 is about the right not to be tried twice in criminal proceedings for the same criminal offence. The European Court of Justice confirmed this right as a general principle of EC law in 2002 but a case can be reopened if new evidence appears. Article 4 of the ECHR’s Protocol 7 says—and UK law reflects this—that: "““The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not prevent the reopening of the case in accordance with the law and penal procedure of the State concerned, if there is evidence of new or newly discovered facts, or if there has been a fundamental defect in the previous proceedings, which could affect the outcome of the case””." I shall end with another quote from my noble and learned friend Lord Goldsmith. The charter I have described will ensure the charter does what it is intended to do. He said: "““We should put aside the hyperbole and welcome the Charter for what it is—a clear, accessible statement of our rights and of the limits on the EU’s powers to legislate. The Charter will not impose new obligations on Member States. It will not create new rights. The Charter instead provides a clear and valuable statement of the rights, freedoms and principles which the Union’s institutions should respect””." I hope the noble Lords will withdraw their amendments.