The obstruction of justice is a criminal offence committed in support of corruption, among other offences. This is acknowledged in Member States’ criminal law. It is therefore necessary to criminalise the obstruction of justice, which entails the exercise of physical force, threats or intimidation, or the inducement of false testimony or evidence. Actions aimed at interfering with the giving of testimony or production of evidence, or with the exercise of official duties by judicial or law enforcement officials should also fall within the scope of this offence. In line with the UNCAC, this Directive applies only to the obstruction of justice in proceedings relating to a corruption offence. When transposing this Directive, Member States should not be obliged to establish a specific offence of obstruction of justice relating to corruption offences, as established in Chapter II of this Directive, where their national law includes a general provision criminalising the obstruction of justice, applicable to all offences, including corruption. Member States remain free to criminalise such conduct through several criminal offences at national level.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
