CALL FOR EVIDENCE

FOR AN EVALUATION / FITNESS CHECK

This document aims to inform the public and stakeholders about the Commission's work, so they can provide feedback and participate effectively in consultation activities.

We ask these groups to provide views on the Commission’s understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to share any relevant information that they may have.

Title of the evaluation

Eurojust (evaluation)

Lead DG – responsible unit

Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST), Unit A4

Indicative timetable

(planned start date and completion date)

Planned start date: Q2-2024

Planned completion date: Q1-2025

Additional information

Eurojust, European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation

A. Political context, purpose and scope of the evaluation

Political context

Eurojust is an EU agency that was set up in 2002 by Council Decision 2002/187/JHA. That Decision was later amended by Council Decision 2003/659/JHA and Council Decision 2009/426/JHA.

In 2009, the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (Article 85) clarified that Eurojust’s mission is to support and strengthen coordination and cooperation between national investigation and prosecution authorities in relation to serious crime affecting at least 2 EU countries or requiring prosecution on common bases.

Based on that, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 on the EU agency for criminal justice cooperation (the “Eurojust Regulation”). This Regulation introduced several changes intended to clarify its remit, establish a new governance system and update its data protection framework.

Since being adopted, the Eurojust Regulation has been amended twice: firstly by Regulation (EU) 2022/838 on the storage of evidence of international crimes and secondly by Regulation (EU) 2023/2131 on digital information exchange in terrorism cases.

Today, Eurojust faces several widely acknowledged challenges, including the considerable increase in its caseload, its evolving role in the security architecture of the EU and its increasing role in international judicial cooperation with non-EU countries and international organisations.

Article 69(1) of the Eurojust Regulation requires the European Commission to commission an evaluation of the Eurojust Regulation and the agency’s activities. The findings of the evaluation will be made public and the evaluation report, together with its conclusions, will be passed on to the European Parliament, national parliaments, the Council of the EU and the college of Eurojust (its governing body).

This call for evidence forms part of the evaluation process.

Purpose and scope

The evaluation of Eurojust will fulfil the legal requirement in Article 69(1) of the Eurojust Regulation.

The purpose of the evaluation is to assess:

1.the implementation of the Regulation by Eurojust and by the EU countries adapting it into their national law, and the impact this has had;

2.the effectiveness and efficiency of Eurojust and its working practices in executing its remit to support and strengthen coordination and cooperation between national investigation and prosecution authorities in EU countries.
This includes in its reactive role supporting EU countries, its proactive role acting on its own initiative, and the impact of the amendments to the Eurojust Regulation on its capacity to fulfil its core tasks. Eurojust’s cooperation with other EU justice and home affairs (JHA) agencies and bodies as well as non-EU countries and international organisations will also be analysed;

3.Eurojust’s use of existing resources; where both inefficiencies and additional needs might be identified.

In line with the Better Regulation principles, the evaluation will also analyse Eurojust’s relevance, coherence, and European Union added value. This will help identify if there is any room for improvement in the Eurojust Regulation.

The evaluation is retrospective, and will cover the period of time from the application of the Eurojust Regulation on 12 December 2019 until 1 May 2024.

It will cover all of Eurojust’s activities and its cooperation with:

·the relevant authorities in participating EU countries;

·Denmark (as a non-participatory EU country);

·non-EU countries which have signed cooperation agreements (including the UK, based on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement);

·non-EU countries that have working arrangements with Eurojust;

·neighbourhood countries (especially where the cooperation takes the form of specific projects funded by the EU);

·international organisations.

The evaluation will not include the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2023/2131, as per Article 80(9)-(11) of the Eurojust Regulation.

The evaluation will look first at the Eurojust Regulation in its role as the legal basis of the agency and its work. It will also take into account further legal instruments and documents, including Eurojust’s internal rules and procedures, the national implementing legislation, and other corresponding relevant legislation in EU countries, as well as cooperation agreements with non-EU countries and international organisations.

B. Better regulation

Consultation strategy

The aim of the planned stakeholder consultations is to increase the evaluation’s accuracy, relevance, and quality by gathering evidence and collecting broad insights that will inform its findings and conclusions.

The main stakeholders to be consulted include the administration of Eurojust, its national members, the relevant national authorities and administrations in EU countries, JHA counsellors, contact points and liaison prosecutors from non-EU countries that have signed cooperation agreements, as well as EU agencies and bodies (especially Europol, Frontex, the EPPO and OLAF) and relevant judicial networks and expert groups.

These stakeholders will be engaged through specific, targeted consultation activities such as surveys, interviews, and case studies. The findings of these activities and the responses to this call for evidence will feed into the evaluation.

In line with the European Commission’s Better Regulation policy to develop initiatives informed by the best available knowledge, scientific researchers, academic organisations, learned societies and scientific associations with expertise in the fields of criminal justice are invited to submit relevant published and pre-print scientific research, analyses, and data – in particular, any work that summarises the current state of knowledge in relevant fields.

All input received from stakeholders will be duly taken into account during the evaluation and summarised in the synopsis report, which will be annexed to the evaluation.

This call for evidence will be made available in the EU’s Have Your say portal. Respondents can reply to the call via this site in any of the EU’s official languages.

Data collection and methodology

The evaluation will examine a mix of evidence, including:

·Eurojust’s multi-annual strategies;

·Eurojust’s single programming documents;

·Eurojust’s annual reports;

·Eurojust’s consolidated annual activity reports;

·Summaries of the outcomes of Eurojust executive board meetings;

·Eurojust rules of procedure and relevant Eurojust Decisions;

·European Court of Auditors’ annual report on EU agencies, e.g. for financial year 2022;

·Eurojust final annual accounts, e.g. for financial year 2022;

·All EU legal acts relating to Eurojust, especially Regulation (EU) 2018/1727, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2022/838 and Regulation (EU) 2023/2131;

·All national legislation implementing these Regulations;

·All EU legal acts relating to networks hosted at Eurojust, including Council Decision 2008/976/JHA on the European Judicial Network, Council Document 11037/05 on the Network of National Experts on Joint Investigation Teams, as well as Council Decisions 2002/494/JHA, 2007/845/ JHA, and 2008/852/JHA;

·Agreements on cooperation with non-EU countries;

·Responses to this call for evidence with the views of and data from stakeholders.

·An inter-service steering group has prepared terms of reference for evaluating the Eurojust Regulation and agency, and a supporting study will be completed by an external contractor following a public call for tender.