Eurojust

KEY POINTS

Role of Eurojust

• Based on operations conducted and information supplied by the Member States’ authorities and by the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), the EPPO and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Eurojust supports and strengthens coordination and cooperation between national investigating and prosecuting authorities in relation to serious crime which falls under its jurisdiction (see below), where that crime:
  • affects two or more Member States;
  • affects either one Member State and a non-EU country or one Member State and an international organisation, provided that a cooperation agreement or arrangement has been concluded with that country or organisation, or that in a specific case there is an essential interest in providing such assistance (provided for in amending Regulation (EU) 2023/2131); or
  • requires prosecution on common bases.
• Eurojust carries out its tasks at the request of the relevant authorities of the Member States, on its own initiative or at the request of the EPPO within the limits of the EPPO’s jurisdiction.

Eurojust’s operational tasks include:

• cooperating closely with the EPPO on issues of jurisdiction;
• cooperating and consulting with the European Judicial Network on criminal matters;
• cooperating with EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and with networks established in the area of freedom, security and justice;
• supporting Member States’ action in combating forms of serious crime over which it has legal authority (e.g. terrorism, money laundering activities, trafficking in human beings, organ trafficking, drug and firearms trafficking);
• providing operational, technical and financial support to Member States’ cross-border operations and investigations, including to joint investigation teams;
• supporting Member States’ action in combating genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and related criminal offences, including by preserving, analysing and storing evidence relating to those crimes and related criminal offences, along with enabling the exchange of such evidence with, or otherwise making it directly available to, relevant national authorities and international judicial authorities, in particular the International Criminal Court.

Competence

• Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 sets out the forms of serious crime which are under Eurojust’s jurisdiction in accordance with Article 3(1) of the regulation.
• When the EPPO assumes its investigative and prosecutorial tasks, Eurojust will not exercise its legal authority for crimes over which the EPPO exercises its authority, except:
  • in cases involving Member States not participating in enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the EPPO; and
  • at the request of those Member States or at the request of the EPPO.
• Eurojust will exercise its legal authority for crimes affecting the financial interests of the EU in cases involving Member States which participate in enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the EPPO, but over which the EPPO does not have legal authority or decides not to exercise it.
• Eurojust will establish and maintain a close relationship with the EPPO based on mutual cooperation within their respective mandates.

Structure and organisation

• Eurojust comprises:
  • the national members;
  • the college – consisting of all national members, plus one representative of the European Commission when the college is only carrying out its management functions and not its operational functions;
  • the Executive Board;
  • the administrative director.
• The terms of office of the national members and their deputies are 5 years, renewable once.
• The Commission is represented both in the college and on the Executive Board.
• The Executive Board is responsible for taking administrative decisions to ensure the proper functioning of Eurojust.

Processing of personal data

• The rules take into account the new data protection rules for EU institutions and agencies.
• Member States are responsible for the accuracy of the data they transfer to Eurojust, for keeping those data up to date and for the legality of transmitting those data to Eurojust.
• Eurojust is responsible for the accuracy of data provided by other data suppliers or resulting from its own analyses or data collection, and for keeping those data up to date.
• Eurojust should ensure that data are processed fairly and lawfully, and are collected and processed for a specific purpose.
• A data subject (any identified or identifiable person) must have the right of access to operational personal data about him or her that are processed by Eurojust.

Central storage facility

• Since evidence relating to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and related criminal offences cannot be safely stored in the territory where the hostilities take place, such as in Ukraine in the case of Russia’s ongoing military aggression, amending Regulation (EU) 2022/838 established an automated data management and central storage facility for such evidence.
• Given the sensitive nature of the personal data involved, their processing, including collection, preservation, analysis and exchange, must comply with the highest standards of cybersecurity.

Exchange of information on terrorism cases

Amending Regulation (EU) 2023/2131 requires Member States to provide Eurojust with information on any criminal investigations regarding terrorist offences as soon as such cases are referred to their judicial authorities.

• It creates a secure digital communication channel between Member States and Eurojust.
• It amends the rules on data processing within the Eurojust case-management system, in which all personal operation data is stored and cross-checked, to allow the establishment of a state-of-the-art technical infrastructure.
• It enhances Eurojust’s capacities to detect links between cross-border investigations and prosecutions in the field of terrorism and to inform Member States about these links.
• It simplifies cooperation with non-EU countries by granting liaison prosecutors who are seconded to Eurojust access to the case-management system.

Democratic control

• To increase the transparency and democratic oversight of Eurojust, its activities will be jointly evaluated by the Parliament and national parliaments.

Repeal

Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 replaces and repeals Decision 2002/187/JHA.