This legal analysis provides an overview of relevant Spanish case-law on illegal immigrant smuggling, highlighting the main obstacles faced by Spanish courts in dealing with such cases and solutions emerging therefrom.

This product is based on the examination of a representative sample of 14 court cases amongst those made available by the Spanish National Member at Eurojust and others collected through legal research. These cases relate mostly to the assertion Spanish jurisdiction on the high seas and the gathering and admissibility of evidence. Annex I provides an synopsis of the examined jurisprudence.

It is important to note that this work is part of a broader project conducted under the auspices of the Thematic Group on Illegal Immigrant Smuggling and intended to analyse the obstacles and solutions in investigations and prosecutions stemming from the case-law of other Member States most engaged in administering justice in relation to illegal immigrant smuggling. In this respect, it is worth remarking that the analysis of relevant Italian jurisprudence on the subject has already been carried out.

The final aim and envisaged product of this project is to reach – on the basis of an integrated analysis of all the domestic legal and judicial approaches assessed - a holistic overview of the key challenges and best practices in prosecuting this crime across the EU.