The Green Paper has been launched under the European Council’s “Roadmap” of procedural safeguards for defendants and suspects, a programme of reform to raise fair trial standards to an acceptable minimum across the EU.

The consultation runs until 30 November 2011. It will involve a detailed review of the alternatives to pre-trial detention and what the EU can do to promote these, to strengthen the effective monitoring of prison conditions, and end excessively long pre-trial detention.

The Commission wants to assess whether legally binding rules, for instance EU minimum rules on regular review of the grounds for detention, would help to reduce its use and promote alternatives.