The Court of Justice of the European Union already recognised it as a fundamental principle prior to the Charter becoming a binding legal instrument, see ECJ Joined Cases C-238/99 P, C-244/99 P, C-245/99 P, C-247/99 P, C-250/99 P to C-252/99 P and C-254/99 P, Limburgse Vinyl Maatschappij and Others v Commission, ECLI:EU:C:2002:582, para. 59.
M. Luchtman, 'The ECJ's Recent Case Law on Ne Bis in Idem: Implications for Law Enforcement in a Shared Legal Order', 55 Common Market Law Review (2018) p. 1717. See also among others J. Vervaele, 'The Transnational Ne Bis in Idem Principle in the EU: Mutual Recognition and Equivalent protection of Human Rights', 1 Utrecht Law Review (2005) p. 2; M. Wasmeier and N. Thwaites, 'The Development of Ne Bis in Idem into a Transnational Fundamental Right', 31 European Law Review (2006) p. 565; B. Van Bockel, The Ne Bis in Idem Principle in EU law (Kluwer 2010) p. 267 and J. Vervaele; 'Ne Bis in Idem: Towards a Transnational Constitutional Principles in the EU?', 9 Utrecht Law Review (2013) p. 211; J. Lelieur, '"Transnationalising" Ne Bis in Idem: How the Rule of Ne Bis in Idem Reveals the Principle of Personal Legal Certainty', 9 Utrecht Law Review (2013) p. 198; and A. Turma, 'Ne Bis in Idem in European Law: A Difficult Exercise in Constitutional Pluralism', 9 European Papers (2020) p. 1341. For the ECJ's apparent influence on ECtHR case law, see by way of example C. Serneels, '"Unionisation" of the European Court of Human Rights' Ne Bis in Idem Jurisprudence: The Case of Mihalache v Romania', 11 New Journal of European Criminal Law (2020) p. 232-234.
ECJ 22 March 2022, Case C-117/20, BPost, ECLI:EU:C:2022:202 (hereafter, BPost) and ECJ 22 March 2022, Case C-151/20, Nordzucker, ECLI:EU:C:2022:203 (hereafter Nordzucker).
For the autonomous notion of criminal in EU law, see ECJ 5 June 2012, Case C-489/10, Bonda, ECLI:EU:C:2012:319, para. 37; ECJ 20 March 2018, Case C-524/15, Menci, ECLI: EU:C:2018:197, para. 26; see also ECJ 26 February 2013, Case C-617/10, Fransson, ECLI:EU: C:2013:105, para. 35. The Court aligns this notion with the ECHR one, see ECtHR 23 November 1976, Engel and Others v the Netherlands, CE:ECHR:1976:1123JUD000510071, para. 82. See also V. Franssen, 'La notion "pénale": mot magique ou critère trompeur? Réflexions sur les distinctions entre le droit pénal et le droit quasi pénal', in D. Thiel (ed.), Existe-T-il encore un seul non bis in idem aujourd'hui? (L'Harmattan 2017) p. 57.
ECJ 11 February 2003, Joined Cases C-187/01 and C-385/01, Gözutök and Brögge, ECLI:EU: C:2003:87, paras. 28-30 and ECJ 10 March 2005, Case C-469/03, Miraglia, ECLI:EU: C:2005:156, para. 35. A second procedure includes one which could only result in a declaration of anticompetitive behaviour because of immunity from fines subsequent to a leniency application: see Nordzucker, supra n. 3, paras. 64-65.
On those conditions see M. Luchtman, 'Ne Bis in Idem at the Interface of Administrative and Criminal Law Enforcement-Sufficiently Connected in Substance, Time and Space?', Revue internationale de droit penal (2019) p. 339.
Ibid., para. 51; Nordzucker, supra n. 3, para. 47.
See BPost, ibid., para. 58.
For an overview, see M. Dawson et al., 'What is the Added Value of the Concept of the "Essence" of EU Fundamental Rights?', 20 German Law Journal (2019) p. 765-769.
T. Tridimas and G. Gentile, 'The Essence of Rights: An Unreliable Boundary?', 20 German Law Journal (2019) p. 804.
Tridimas and Gentile, supra n. 87, p. 804.
K. Lenaerts, 'Limits on Limitations: The Essence of Fundamental Rights in the EU', 20 German Law Journal (2019) p. 792-793.
T. Ojanen, 'Making the Essence of Fundamental Rights Real: The Court of Justice of the European Union Clarifies the Structure of Fundamental Rights under the Charter', 12 EuConst (2016) p. 318; M. Brkan, 'The Concept of Essence of Fundamental Rights in the EU Legal Order: Peeling the Onion to its Core', 14 EuConst (2018) p. 332 and M. Brkan, 'The Essence of the Fundamental Rights to Privacy and Data Protection: Finding the Way Through the Maze of the CJEU's Constitutional Reasoning', 20 German Law Journal (2019) p. 864.
E. Muir, 'The Essence of the Fundamental Right to Equal Treatment Back to the Origins?', 20 German Law Journal (2019) p. 817.
For that position, see ECJ 26 February 2013, Case C-399/11, Melloni, ECLI:EU:C:2013:107, para. 60.
O. De Schutter, 'The Implementation of the Charter by the Institutions of the European Union', in S. Peers et al. (eds.), The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights A Commentary (Hart Publishing 2013) p. 1627.
