Union Regulatory Criminal Law Competence after Lisbon Treaty

This article analyse the scope of the Union’s regulatory criminal law competence subsequent to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. The article is primarily focused on examining what legal limitations that can be imposed on the Union’s competence to impose criminal penalties under the new legal basis in Article 83(2) TFEU. In particular, the article examines in detail whether criminal sanctions are “essential” for the effective implementation of Union policies. In this regard, it is analysed what standard that the ECJ should adopt in relation to judicial review of EU criminal law enactments. The article will as a case study discuss whether criminal sanctions are “essential” for effective implementation of Union competition policies. In this regard it will be considered whether criminal sanctions are suitable and necessary for the effective implementation of Union competition policies. Finally, the article discusses the procedural requirements for adopting criminal law legislation. In particular it is analysed how much harmonisation is needed for the adoption of Union criminal law legislation and whether the Union need to adopt a prior harmonisation measure in order to enact criminal law measures on the basis of Article 83(2) TFEU.