The choice in the EPPO Regulation to establish the material scope of the EPPO by referring to the provisions in the PIF Directive “as implemented by national law” implies that the exact scope of competence of this first European investigating and prosecuting authority finally arises out of national legislations. As a result, the latter becomes decisive in setting the boundaries of individual responsibility in the concrete case. As it was in the past under the force of the third pillar instruments, the level and quality of implementation at national level remain crucial. The first report of the Commission on the implementation of the PIF Directive did raise several critiques in this respect. As a matter of fact, a significant number of infringement proceedings have been launched by the Commission following the worrying findings of the Implementation Report on the PIF Directive.

The legal framework under which the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is called to operate is particularly complex, given the need for this body to exercise its functions in the legal systems of the Member States, applying both Union and national law. While this may justify the many references to national law contained in the EPPO’s founding Regulation (2017/1939), several among these references present relevant interpretative issues, and may in some cases even have a misleading effect. The article aims at showing examples of these different scenarios. It also touches briefly on the relevance of soft law in the legal framework of the EPPO.