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Document 02008D0615-20240425
Council Decision 2008/615/JHA of 23 June 2008 on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime
Consolidated text: Council Decision 2008/615/JHA of 23 June 2008 on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime
Council Decision 2008/615/JHA of 23 June 2008 on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime
02008D0615 — EN — 25.04.2024 — 001.001
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COUNCIL DECISION 2008/615/JHA of 23 June 2008 (OJ L 210 6.8.2008, p. 1) |
Amended by:
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REGULATION (EU) 2024/982 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 March 2024 |
L 982 |
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5.4.2024 |
COUNCIL DECISION 2008/615/JHA
of 23 June 2008
on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL ASPECTS
Article 1
Aim and scope
By means of this Decision, the Member States intend to step up cross-border cooperation in matters covered by Title VI of the Treaty, particularly the exchange of information between authorities responsible for the prevention and investigation of criminal offences. To this end, this Decision contains rules in the following areas:
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provisions on the conditions for the supply of data in connection with major events with a cross-border dimension (Chapter 3);
provisions on the conditions for the supply of information in order to prevent terrorist offences (Chapter 4);
provisions on the conditions and procedure for stepping up cross-border police cooperation through various measures (Chapter 5).
CHAPTER 2
ONLINE ACCESS AND FOLLOW-UP REQUESTS
SECTION 1
DNA profiles
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Article 7
Collection of cellular material and supply of DNA profiles
Where, in ongoing investigations or criminal proceedings, there is no DNA profile available for a particular individual present within a requested Member State's territory, the requested Member State shall provide legal assistance by collecting and examining cellular material from that individual and by supplying the DNA profile obtained, if:
the requesting Member State specifies the purpose for which this is required;
the requesting Member State produces an investigation warrant or statement issued by the competent authority, as required under that Member State's law, showing that the requirements for collecting and examining cellular material would be fulfilled if the individual concerned were present within the requesting Member State's territory; and
under the requested Member State's law, the requirements for collecting and examining cellular material and for supplying the DNA profile obtained are fulfilled.
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CHAPTER 3
MAJOR EVENTS
Article 13
Supply of non-personal data
For the prevention of criminal offences and in maintaining public order and security for major events with a cross-border dimension, in particular for sporting events or European Council meetings, Member States shall, both upon request and of their own accord, in compliance with the supplying Member State's national law, supply one another with any non-personal data required for those purposes.
Article 14
Supply of personal data
Article 15
National contact point
For the purposes of the supply of data as referred to in Articles 13 and 14, each Member State shall designate a national contact point. The powers of the national contact points shall be governed by the applicable national law.
CHAPTER 4
MEASURES TO PREVENT TERRORIST OFFENCES
Article 16
Supply of information in order to prevent terrorist offences
CHAPTER 5
OTHER FORMS OF COOPERATION
Article 17
Joint operations
Article 18
Assistance in connection with mass gatherings disasters and serious accidents
Member States' competent authorities shall provide one another with mutual assistance, in compliance with national law, in connection with mass gatherings and similar major events, disasters and serious accidents, by seeking to prevent criminal offences and maintain public order and security by:
notifying one another as promptly as possible of such situations with a cross-border impact and exchanging any relevant information;
taking and coordinating the necessary policing measures within their territory in situations with a cross-border impact;
as far as possible, dispatching officers, specialists and advisers and supplying equipment, at the request of the Member State within whose territory the situation has arisen.
Article 19
Use of arms, ammunition and equipment
Article 20
Protection and assistance
Member States shall be required to provide other Member States' officers crossing borders with the same protection and assistance in the course of those officers' duties as for their own officers.
Article 21
General rules on civil liability
Article 22
Criminal liability
Officers operating within another Member State's territory under this Decision, shall be treated in the same way as officers of the host Member State with regard to any criminal offences that might be committed by, or against them, save as otherwise provided in another agreement which is binding on the Member States concerned.
Article 23
Employment relationship
Officers operating within another Member State's territory, under this Decision, shall remain subject to the employment law provisions applicable in their own Member State, particularly as regards disciplinary rules.
CHAPTER 6
GENERAL PROVISIONS ON DATA PROTECTION
Article 24
Definitions and scope
For the purposes of this Decision:
‘processing of personal data’ shall mean any operation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording, organisation, storage, adaptation or alteration, sorting, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by supply, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment, combination, blocking, erasure or destruction of data. Processing within the meaning of this Decision shall also include notification of whether or not a hit exists;
‘automated search procedure’ shall mean direct access to the automated files of another body where the response to the search procedure is fully automated;
‘referencing’ shall mean the marking of stored personal data without the aim of limiting their processing in future;
‘blocking’ shall mean the marking of stored personal data with the aim of limiting their processing in future.
Article 25
Level of data protection
Article 26
Purpose
Processing of data supplied pursuant to Articles 3, 4 and 9 by the searching or comparing Member State shall be permitted solely in order to:
establish whether the compared DNA profiles or dactyloscopic data match;
prepare and submit a police or judicial request for legal assistance in compliance with national law if those data match;
record within the meaning of Article 30.
The Member State administering the file may process the data supplied to it in accordance with Articles 3, 4 and 9 solely where this is necessary for the purposes of comparison, providing automated replies to searches or recording pursuant to Article 30. The supplied data shall be deleted immediately following data comparison or automated replies to searches unless further processing is necessary for the purposes mentioned under points (b) and (c) of the first subparagraph.
Article 27
Competent authorities
Personal data supplied may be processed only by the authorities, bodies and courts with responsibility for a task in furtherance of the aims mentioned in Article 26. In particular, data may be supplied to other entities only with the prior authorisation of the supplying Member State and in compliance with the law of the receiving Member State.
Article 28
Accuracy, current relevance and storage time of data
Personal data supplied which should not have been supplied or received shall be deleted. Data which are lawfully supplied and received shall be deleted:
if they are not or no longer necessary for the purpose for which they were supplied; if personal data have been supplied without request, the receiving body shall immediately check if they are necessary for the purposes for which they were supplied;
following the expiry of the maximum period for keeping data laid down in the national law of the supplying Member State where the supplying body informed the receiving body of that maximum period at the time of supplying the data.
Where there is reason to believe that deletion would prejudice the interests of the data subject, the data shall be blocked instead of being deleted in compliance with national law. Blocked data may be supplied or used solely for the purpose which prevented their deletion.
Article 29
Technical and organisational measures to ensure data protection and data security
The features of the technical specification of the automated search procedure are regulated in the implementing measures as referred to in Article 33 which guarantee that:
state-of-the-art technical measures are taken to ensure data protection and data security, in particular data confidentiality and integrity;
encryption and authorisation procedures recognised by the competent authorities are used when having recourse to generally accessible networks; and
the admissibility of searches in accordance with Article 30(2), (4) and (5) can be checked.
Article 30
Logging and recording: special rules governing automated and non-automated supply
Each Member State shall guarantee that every non-automated supply and every non-automated receipt of personal data by the body administering the file and by the searching body is logged in order to verify the admissibility of the supply. Logging shall contain the following information:
the reason for the supply;
the data supplied;
the date of the supply; and
the name or reference code of the searching body and of the body administering the file.
The following shall apply to automated searches for data based on Articles 3, 9 and 12 and to automated comparison pursuant to Article 4:
only specially authorised officers of the national contact points may carry out automated searches or comparisons. The list of officers authorised to carry out automated searches or comparisons shall be made available upon request to the supervisory authorities referred to in paragraph 5 and to the other Member States;
each Member State shall ensure that each supply and receipt of personal data by the body administering the file and the searching body is recorded, including notification of whether or not a hit exists. Recording shall include the following information:
the data supplied;
the date and exact time of the supply; and
the name or reference code of the searching body and of the body administering the file.
The searching body shall also record the reason for the search or supply as well as an identifier for the official who carried out the search and the official who ordered the search or supply.
The recording body shall immediately communicate the recorded data upon request to the competent data protection authorities of the relevant Member State at the latest within four weeks following receipt of the request. Recorded data may be used solely for the following purposes:
monitoring data protection;
ensuring data security.
Responsibility for legal checks on the supply or receipt of personal data lies with the independent data protection authorities or, as appropriate, the judicial authorities of the respective Member States. Anyone can request these authorities to check the lawfulness of the processing of data in respect of their person in compliance with national law. Independently of such requests, these authorities and the bodies responsible for recording shall carry out random checks on the lawfulness of supply, based on the files involved.
The results of such checks shall be kept for inspection for 18 months by the independent data protection authorities. After this period, they shall be immediately deleted. Each data protection authority may be requested by the independent data protection authority of another Member State to exercise its powers in accordance with national law. The independent data protection authorities of the Member States shall perform the inspection tasks necessary for mutual cooperation, in particular by exchanging relevant information.
Article 31
Data subjects' rights to information and damages
Article 32
Information requested by the Member States
The receiving Member State shall inform the supplying Member State on request of the processing of supplied data and the result obtained.
CHAPTER 7
IMPLEMENTING AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 33
Implementing measures
The Council, acting by a qualified majority and after Consulting the European Parliament, shall adopt measures necessary to implement this Decision at the level of the Union.
Article 34
Costs
Each Member State shall bear the operational costs incurred by its own authorities in connection with the application of this Decision. In special cases, the Member States concerned may agree on different arrangements.
Article 35
Relationship with other instruments
Without prejudice to their commitments under other acts adopted pursuant to Title VI of the Treaty:
Member States may continue to apply bilateral or multilateral agreements or arrangements on cross-border cooperation which are in force on the date this Decision is adopted in so far as such agreements or arrangements are not incompatible with the objectives of this Decision;
Member States may conclude or bring into force bilateral or multilateral agreements or arrangements on cross-border cooperation after this Decision has entered into force in so far as such agreements or arrangements provide for the objectives of this Decision to be extended or enlarged.
Article 36
Implementation and declarations
Article 37
Application
This Decision shall take effect 20 days following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
( ) OJ L 164, 22.6.2002, p. 3.
( ) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).