WRITTEN QUESTION E-2080/97 by Raphaël Chanterie (PPE) to the Council (18 June 1997)

Subject: Delay in publishing European Union conventions and protocols in the Official Journal

Why is there often a long delay between the signing of third-pillar Conventions and Protocols, and their publication in the Official Journal?

For example, the Europol Convention was signed on 26 July 1995 but was not published until 27 November 1995, while protocols on the Court of Justice relating to two other Conventions were signed on 29 November 1996 but not published until 20 May 1997.

Answer (16 October 1997)

The texts adopted by the Council are always published in the Official Journal of the European Communities as soon as possible. However, in certain circumstances their publication may sometimes be delayed.

The act drawing up the Europol Convention was adopted on 26 July 1995, at the same time as two other acts: those drawing up the Convention on the use of information technology for customs purposes and the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests. On the same day, a Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States adopted an Agreement on provisional application between certain Member States of the Convention on the use of information technology for customs purposes. For the sake of consistency it was of course arranged for the three Conventions and the Agreement on the provisional application of the second Convention to be published in the same edition of the Official Journal. While publication of Conventions drawn up by the Council in accordance with Article K.3 (2) of the Treaty is provided for in the Council's Rules of Procedure (Article 18 (4)), the Council has to take a decision to publish an Agreement adopted by the Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States. The decision to publish in this case was taken by the Council on 26 October 1995 and the three Conventions and the Agreement in question were published on 27 November 1995 in OJ C 316.

The acts drawing up the Protocols on the interpretation, by way of preliminary rulings, by the Court of Justice of the European Communities of the Convention on protection of financial interests and the Convention on the use of information technology for customs purposes were adopted on 29 November 1996. So that the list of declarations provided for in article 2 of the Protocols should be as exhaustive as possible, Member States were given some time to make such declarations and the Protocols were published in OJ C 151 of 20 May 1997.