EUROPEAN POLICE COOPERATION (EUROPOL)

History The Treaty on the European Union was signed in 1992 in Maastricht, in the presence of the President of the European Parliament, Egon Klepsch. The treaty established the three pillars of the European Union - the European Community (EC) pillar, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) pillar, and the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) pillar. With the coming into force of the Treaty on the European Union (November the 1st 1993), The European Economic Community (EEC) becomes the European Community (EC). The legislative and supervisory powers of the European Parliament grow with the introduction of the introduction of the codecision procedure and the extension of the cooperation procedure. According to the new treaty, the European Parliament has the right to demand the Commission to present a legislative proposal for issues that, in its opinion, require imposing a Community act. Furthermore, the Commission as a whole must be approved by the Parliament who also nominates the European Ombudsman. The establishment of Europol was agreed to in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, officially known as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) that came into effect in November 1993. Having the headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, Europol started limited operations on 3 January 1994, as the Europol Drugs Unit (EDU). In 1998 the Europol Convention was ratified by all the member states and came into force in October. Europol commenced its full activities on 1 July 1999. Objectives and functions Europol's aim is to improve the effectiveness and co-operation between the competent authorities of the member states primarily by sharing and pooling intelligence to prevent and combat serious international organized crime. Its mission is to make a significant contribution to the European Union's law enforcement efforts targeting organized crime. Unlike the police services of Member States, Europol does not have executive powers. It is a support service for the law enforcement agencies of the EU member states. It cannot detain individuals, nor can it conduct home searches. Its tasks are to facilitate the exchanges of information, analyse intelligence and coordinate operations involving several Member States. 2

As part of police cooperation between Member States, Europol: facilitates the exchange of information between Member States; collates and analyses information and intelligence; notifies the competent authorities of Member States without delay via the national units of information concerning them and of any connections identified between criminal offences; aids investigations in Member States; maintains a computerised system of collected information; helps Member States train their competent authorities; facilitates technical assistance between Member States; serves as the contact point for combating euro counterfeiting. Europol takes action when one or two Member States are affected by serious international organised crime. This covers an increasing number of areas, namely: preventing and combating terrorism; drug trafficking; trafficking in human beings; illegal immigrant smuggling; trafficking in nuclear and radioactive substances; motor vehicle crime; counterfeiting and forgery of means of payment; money laundering (except for predicate offences). Europols sphere of competence includes offences involving the types of crime indicated above. Europol is a multi-disciplinary agency, comprising not only regular police officers but staff members from the member states' various law enforcement agencies: customs, immigration services, border and financial police, etc. Secondly, Europol helps to overcome the language barriers in international police co-operation. Any law enforcement officer from a member state can address a request to their Europol National Unit (ENU) in her/his mother tongue and receive the answer back in this language. Three different levels of co-operation are possible: The first one is technical co-operation or to provide training. The next step is strategic co-operation aimed at exchanging general trends in organised crime and how to fight it and the exchange of threat assessments. The top level of cooperation includes the exchange of personal data and requires the fulfillment of Europol's standards in the field of data protection and data security. IT database To perform its tasks, Europol maintains an IT database. Under no circumstances may this database be linked to other automated processing systems, except for the systems of the national units. The national units are responsible for the security of data-processing equipment and for carrying out

checks on the storage and deletion of data files. The system is made up of three components: the IT information system, work files and index system. The information system may only be used to store, modify and utilise data that are necessary for the performance of Europol's tasks. The system does not contain data on related criminal offences. The data concern persons who, under the national law of a Member State, are suspected of having committed or having taken part in a criminal offence for which Europol is competent or who have been convicted of such an offence. The system also contains data concerning persons who are suspected of planning to commit criminal offences for which Europol is competent. Access to the information system is available to the national units, liaison officers, the director, the deputy directors and duly authorised Europol officials. The competent authorities designated by Member States have limited access to the information system. Further information may be obtained only via the national units. Only the unit that entered the data may modify, correct or delete them. Europol may store, modify, and utilise data on the criminal offences for which it is competent in other files (work files), including data on related criminal offences. Files opened for the purposes of analysis, with the aim of helping a criminal investigation, concern the following subjects: persons who, under the national law of a Member State, are suspected of having committed or having taken part in a criminal offence for which Europol is competent or who have been convicted of such an offence; persons who, under the national law of a Member State, are suspected of planning to commit criminal offences for which Europol is competent; persons called on to testify in investigations in connection with offences or criminal proceedings; victims of one of the offences under consideration or persons who could be victims of such offences; contacts and associates; persons who can provide information on the offences under consideration.

Each analysis project entails setting up an analysis group comprising analysts and other Europol officials, as well as liaison officials and/or experts from Member States. Only analysts are 4

authorised to input data into work files, but all participants may retrieve data from them. The collection, storage and processing of data takes place in strict compliance with the arrangements for protecting individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data. Data may not be kept on file for more than three years. However, Europol reviews annually the need to continue keeping the data for the purposes of the file concerned. The Europol director may, where appropriate, decide to keep data for a further three-year period. Europol sets up an index system for data stored in work files. The director, deputy directors, duly authorised officials of Europol and liaison officers are entitled to consult the index system. Management, control and funding Europol is constituted and administered by a number of bodies. The management board comprises one representative of each Member State and of the Commission, which has an observer status. The management boards duties include helping to determine Europols priorities, unanimously determining the rights and obligations of liaison officers, laying down data-processing rules, preparing rules for work files and examining problems brought to its attention by the joint supervisory body. The board meets at least twice a year. Each year it unanimously adopts a report on Europols activities and a report on its future activities taking into account the Member States' operational requirements and the budgetary implications for Europol. These reports are submitted to the Council of the European Union (EU) for approval. The European Parliament is informed. The management board is chaired by the representative of the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council. The director is unanimously appointed by the Council, after obtaining the opinion of the management board, for a four-year period, which is renewable once. He is assisted by three deputy directors who are appointed by the Council for a once-renewable four-year period. Their tasks are determined by the director. The directors responsibilities include performance of the tasks assigned to Europol, day-to-day administration and personnel management. The director is accountable to the management board and is Europols legal representative. The financial controller is unanimously appointed by the management board and accountable to it and the financial committee consists of one representative from each Member State.

Europol is financed from Member States' contributions. The accounts in respect of all income and expenditure entered in the budget, together with the balance sheet showing Europol's assets and liabilities, are subject to an annual audit. The draft budget and budget implementation are examined by the Council.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: https://www.europol.europa.eu/, Accessed date: 3/16/12 http://www.kyc360.com/article/show/31, Accessed date: 3/16/12 http://www.scribd.com/doc/59620630/Europol-REFERAT, Accessed date: 3/12/2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europol , Accessed date: 3/12/2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_Treaty, Accessed date: 3/12/2012 http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europol, Accessed date: 3/12/2012