German Federal Court of Justice: SkyECC data from France admissible, breach of Art. 31 EIO Directive does not exclude it

On 9 January 2025 the German Federal Court of Justice (1st Criminal Senate) held that SkyECC data collected by French authorities and transferred to Germany by European Investigation Order may be used in German criminal proceedings. Because the transfer resembles the EncroChat cases, the standards of its EncroChat ruling of 2 March 2022 (5 StR 457/21) apply. The French measures rested on concrete suspicion and time-limited judicial orders and did not breach the national or European ordre public. France's failure to notify Germany under Art. 31 of Directive 2014/41/EU protects users as well as German sovereignty, but on balance the interest in prosecuting serious drug offences prevailed. Art. 6(1)(b) of the Directive was met because a comparable domestic transfer would have been possible under sections 100b and 100e(6) StPO. The procedural complaint was already inadmissible because it misstated the facts. The sentence was quashed on other grounds (Cannabis Act).