The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgments in the Johannesson and Others group of cases on 14 December. These cases concern violations of one’s right not to be tried or punished twice (ne bis in idem) on account of the applicants’ convictions for the same conduct twice. First, the tax authorities imposed surcharges on the applicants’ taxes due to the applicants’ failure to declare all necessary information. Later, the applicants were also criminally indicted for the same offences and subsequently convicted by domestic courts.
Following the establishment of the Court on Reopening of Judicial Proceedings, the applicants’ criminal proceedings were reopened by that court and subsequently their criminal convictions impugned by the European Court were quashed by the Icelandic Supreme Court, ensuring restitutio in integrum. In April 2021 Parliament adopted the Act on the Investigation and Prosecution of Tax Offences. The main goal of the law is to make the tax system more transparent and efficient, by making a clear distinction between criminal and administrative proceedings. The case law of the Supreme Court also shows that national court practice is aligned with the ECHR judgments.
