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Europol as the Director and Coordinator of the Joint Investigation Teams
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2017
Extract
One of the most serious problems troubling the European Union is the evolution of cross-border crimes and, in particular, international terrorism and organised crime. National law enforcement authorities cannot fight cross-border crimes efficiently if their efforts are made solely on a national level. Since the early 1990s, the (European) political authorities have become increasingly aware of this problem and have taken steps to facilitate the participation of the law enforcement and other relevant personnel from other state(s) in investigating offences. This has resulted in the adoption of a vast number of documents and new instruments (eg the European Arrest Warrant), and the creation of new agencies within the European Union, the aim of which is to facilitate cross-border activities to fight cross-border crimes.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Centre for European Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge 2007
References
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21 An example of an agreement between a JIT and such persons was provided by the Council. See Recommendation of the Council of 8 May 2003 on a model agreement on the establishment of a JIT. This recommendation also includes an annex with a model agreement on the involvement of Europol, Eurojust and Olaf, OJ 2003 C 121/1.
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25 Furthermore, Europol must be able to request the authorised services of the Member States to investigate in specific cases and to develop specific expertise for the benefit of investigation into organised crime (guideline 10).
26 Action Plan of the Council and the Commission on how best to implement the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam on an area of freedom, security and justice, above n 10.
27 OJ 1995 C 316/1.
28 OJ 2000 C 298/8.
29 OJ 2000 C 357/7.
30 See Lopes de Lima, JA ‘Le rapport entre Europol et les équipes communes d’enquête’ Eurowarrant Project, available at http://www.eurowarrant.net (2007).
31 The objections articulated by a British police officer illustrate very well all the troubles concerning the setting up of the ‘new Europol’: ‘[t]here are those who would like to see Europol with executive power. That seems so utopian, that it is hardly worth thinking about at the moment. Where would you get the police officers from, what would their status be? Would they have to be multi-lingual? Would they be accountable? Would their status change when they moved to a different country? I can’t see the police of one country relinquishing their authority to a multi-national agency within their own borders. It would cause terrible resentment. You would have to have a situation where the domestic police actually made the arrests’: Anderson, M ‘Old Systems—New Systems’ in Anderson, M et al., above n 2, 83.
32 Decision of the Management Board of 20 Mar 2007 laying down the rules governing the arrangemnents regulating the administrative implementation of the participation of Europol official is Joint Investigating Teams,, OJ 2007 C 72/16.
33 Council Act of 28 Nov 2002 drawing up a Protocol amending the Convention on the establishment of a European Police Office (Europol Convention) and the Protocol on the privileges and immunities of Europol, the members of its organs, the deputy directors and the employees of Europol, OJ 2002 C 312/1.
34 The information gathered and exchanged during the operational phase of a JIT is of crucial importance for the success of the concept of the JIT, in the absence of which its aim—enhancing mutual co-operation in criminal matters—cannot be achieved. Several ques tions can emerge in relation to the process of information gathering and exchange: the legal basis, the conditions, the formalities and the obstacles in respect of this process. For a proper analysis of this important issue see Balcaen, A ‘Law Enforcement Information Exchange in the Operational Phase of a JIT’ in Rijken, C and Vermeulen, G (eds), above n 3, 85.
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43 Professor John Spencer has made a similar remark concerning the European Public Prosecutor: ‘[i]n principle, a properly constructed single European prosecution system might well provide better safeguards for defendants accused of trans-border crimes than a “horizontal” system made up of a patchwork of independent national systems, held together by a principle that each one recognises and enforces its neighbours’ rulings and procedural steps. Not only is it possible for defendants to vanish down the cracks that exist between different national systems; the same thing can happen to defendants’ rights’: Spencer, J ‘EU Criminal Law—Turning Fantasy into Fact?’ [2003] 4 Archbold News 9 Google Scholar.