Inside Police Custody 2 Directives adopted under the procedural rights roadmap, and contains a series of provisions designed to ensure that children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings (and those who are the subject of an EAW in the executing state) are able to understand and follow those proceedings, and able to exercise their right to a fair trial, and to prevent children from re-offending and to foster their social reintegration (Recital 1). In particular, such children must be informed of their rights in simple and accessible language, must normally be accompanied by a person holding parental responsibility, and must normally be assisted by a lawyer. Note that whilst it was originally envisaged under the procedural rights roadmap that a Directive would cover vulnerable suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings, there is no specific Directive concerned with the rights of people who are vulnerable (other than children). As noted above, the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer does require that the particular needs of vulnerable suspects and accused persons must be taken into account; and the Directive on the right to information does state that in providing information to a suspect or accused person about their procedural rights, the language used must take into account the particular needs of those who are vulnerable. However, a non-binding Commission Recommendation, issued on 27 November 2013, encourages member states to adopt a series of mechanisms and procedures in order to ‘strengthen the procedural rights of all suspects or accused person who are not able to understand and to effectively participate in criminal proceedings due to age, their mental or physical condition or disabilities’.12 To facilitate these, vulnerable persons should be promptly identified, with recourse to medical examination in order to determine their degree of vulnerability and their specific needs. The Directive on legal aid was adopted on 26 October 2016, with a transposition date of 25 May 2019.13 Broadly, the Directive provides that suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings who have a right to a lawyer under the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer (EU Directive 2013/48/EU), must be entitled to legal aid if they are: • deprived of their liberty • required to be assisted by a lawyer in accordance with EU or national law • required or permitted to attend an investigative or evidence-gathering act. The right to legal aid also applies to requested persons in EAW proceedings who have a right of access to a lawyer under the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer, upon arrest in the executing state. States are permitted to make legal aid conditional on satisfaction of a merits and/or a means test, although the merits test must be deemed to have been met where a suspect or accused person is brought before a court or judge in order to decide on detention at any stage of the proceedings, and during detention. This would include persons who are arrested and detained by the police. Member states must take measures, including with regard to funding, that are necessary to ensure that there is an effective legal aid system of an adequate quality, and that legal aid services are of a quality adequate to safeguard the fairness of the proceedings (with due respect for the independence of the legal profession).   Commission Recommendation of 27 November 2013 on procedural safeguards for vulnerable persons suspect or accused in criminal proceedings (2013/C 378/02), available at https://tinyurl.com/y8pc6hlz. 13 Directive (EU) 2016/1919 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on legal aid for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings and for requested persons in European arrest warrant proceedings. 12 19