Abstract

By the judgment issued on 20th March 2018 in the "Garlsson Real Estate and Others" case, the Court of Justice states that the objective of safeguarding the integrity of the EU financial markets could justify a duplication of proceedings and penalties of a criminal nature. Nevertheless, such a limitation of "ne bis in idem" principle must guarantee the proportionality of penalties to the seriousness of the offence. This article aims to carefully examine the Court of Justice reasoning, having special regard to the standards developed by the European Court of Human Rights in the "A. e B. c. Norway" case.