Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS, OBJECTIVES AND TASKS OF EUROPOL

Article 1

Establishment of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

(a) ‘the competent authorities of the Member States’ means all police authorities and other law enforcement services existing in the Member States which are responsible under national law for preventing and combating criminal offences. The competent authorities shall also comprise other public authorities existing in the Member States which are responsible under national law for preventing and combating criminal offences in respect of which Europol is competent;

(b) ‘strategic analysis’ means all methods and techniques by which information is collected, stored, processed and assessed with the aim of supporting and developing a criminal policy that contributes to the efficient and effective prevention of, and the fight against, crime;

(c) ‘operational analysis’ means all methods and techniques by which information is collected, stored, processed and assessed with the aim of supporting criminal investigations;

(d) ‘Union bodies’ means institutions, bodies, missions, offices and agencies set up by, or on the basis of, the TEU and the TFEU;

(e) ‘international organisation’ means an organisation and its subordinate bodies governed by public international law, or any other body which is set up by, or on the basis of, an agreement between two or more countries;

(f) ‘private parties’ means entities and bodies established under the law of a Member State or third country, in particular companies and firms, business associations, non-profit organisations and other legal persons that are not covered by point (e);

(g) ‘private persons’ means all natural persons;

(l) ‘recipient’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body to which data are disclosed, whether a third party or not;

(p) ‘administrative personal data’ means personal data processed by Europol other than operational personal data;

(q) ‘investigative data’ means data that a Member State, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (‘the EPPO’) established by Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 (¹), Eurojust or a third country is authorised to process in an ongoing criminal investigation related to one or more Member States, in accordance with procedural requirements and safeguards applicable under Union or national law, that a Member State, the EPPO, Eurojust or a third country submitted to Europol in support of such an ongoing criminal investigation and that contain personal data that do not relate to the categories of data subjects listed in Annex II;

(r) ‘terrorist content’ means terrorist content as defined in Article 2, point (7), of Regulation (EU) 2021/784 of the European Parliament and of the Council (²);

(s) ‘online child sexual abuse material’ means online material constituting child pornography as defined in Article 2, point (c), of Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (³) or pornographic performance as defined in Article 2, point (e), of that Directive;

(t) ‘online crisis situation’ means the dissemination of online content stemming from an ongoing or recent real world event which depicts harm to life or to physical integrity, or calls for imminent harm to life or to physical integrity, and aims to or has the effect of seriously intimidating a population, provided that there is a link, or a reasonable suspicion of a link, to terrorism or violent extremism and that the potential exponential multiplication and virality of that content across multiple online services are anticipated;

(u) ‘category of transfers of personal data’ means a group of transfers of personal data where the data relate to the same specific situation, and where the transfers consist of the same categories of personal data and the same categories of data subjects;

(v) ‘research and innovation projects’ means projects regarding matters covered by this Regulation for the development, training, testing and validation of algorithms for the development of specific tools, and other specific research and innovation projects relevant for the achievement of Europol’s objectivexs;

(w) ‘SIENA’ means the Secure Information Exchange Network Application, managed by Europol, which facilitates the exchange of information;

(x) ‘immigration liaison officer’ means an immigration liaison officer as defined in Article 2, point (1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council (⁴).

Article 3

Objectives

In addition to paragraph 1, Europol's objectives shall also cover related criminal offences. The following shall be considered to be related criminal offences:

(a) criminal offences committed in order to procure the means of perpetrating acts in respect of which Europol is competent;

(b) criminal offences committed in order to facilitate or perpetrate acts in respect of which Europol is competent;

(c) criminal offences committed in order to ensure the impunity of those committing acts in respect of which Europol is competent.

Article 4

Tasks

Europol shall perform the following tasks in order to achieve the objectives set out in Article 3:

(a) collect, store, process, analyse and exchange information, including criminal intelligence;

(b) notify the Member States, via the national units established or designated pursuant to Article 7(2), without delay of any information and connections between criminal offences concerning them;

(c) coordinate, organise and implement investigative and operational actions to support and strengthen actions by the competent authorities of the Member States, that are carried out: (i) jointly with the competent authorities of the Member States; (ii) in the context of joint investigation teams in accordance with Article 5 and, where appropriate, in liaison with Eurojust; (iii) in the context of operational task forces; or (iv) in the context of Europol deployments for operational support;

(d) participate in joint investigation teams, as well as propose that they be set up in accordance with Article 5;

(e) provide information and analytical support to Member States in connection with major international events;

(f) prepare threat assessments, strategic and operational analyses and general situation reports;

(g) develop, share and promote specialist knowledge of crime prevention methods, investigative procedures and technical and forensic methods, and provide advice to Member States;

(h) support Member States’ cross-border information exchange activities, operations and investigations, as well as joint investigation teams, including by providing analytical, operational, technical, forensic and financial support;

(ha) provide administrative and financial support to Member States’ special intervention units as referred to in Council Decision 2008/617/JHA (⁵);

(i) provide specialised training and assist Member States in organising training, including with the provision of financial support, within the scope of its objectives and in accordance with the staffing and budgetary resources at its disposal in coordination with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL);

(j) cooperate with the Union bodies established on the basis of Title V of the TFEU, with OLAF and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) established by Regulation (EU) 2019/881 of the European Parliament and of the Council (⁶), in particular through the exchange of information and provision of analytical support in areas that fall within their respective competences;

(k) provide information and support to EU crisis management structures and missions established on the basis of the TEU, within the scope of Europol's objectives as set out in Article 3;

(l) develop Union centres of specialised expertise for combating certain types of crime falling within the scope of Europol’s objectives, including the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling established pursuant to Article 9a and the European Cybercrime Centre;

(m) support Member States’ actions in preventing and combating forms of crime listed in Annex I which are facilitated, promoted or committed using the internet, including by: (i) assisting the competent authorities of the Member States, upon their request, in responding to cyberattacks of suspected criminal origin; (ii) cooperating with competent authorities of the Member States with regard to removal orders, in accordance with Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2021/784; and (iii) making referrals of online content to the online service providers concerned for their voluntary consideration of the compatibility of that content with their own terms and conditions;

(q) provide an opinion following a consultation request referred to in Article 9e(4), Article 9g(4) and Article 22b(14) and (16) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (⁷);

(r) support Member States in identifying persons whose criminal activities fall within the forms of crime listed in Annex I and who constitute a high risk for security;

(s) facilitate joint, coordinated and prioritised criminal intelligence exchange activities and investigations, including with regard to persons referred to in point (r);

(t) support Member States in processing data provided by third countries or international organisations to Europol on persons involved in terrorism or in serious crime and propose the possible entry by the Member States, at their discretion and subject to their verification and analysis of those data, of information alerts on third-country nationals in the interest of the Union (‘information alerts’) in the Schengen Information System (SIS), in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and the Council (⁸);

(u) support the implementation of the evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis under Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013, within the scope of Europol’s objectives, through the provision of expertise and analyses, where relevant;

(v) proactively monitor research and innovation activities that are relevant for the achievement of Europol’s objectives and contribute to such activities by supporting related activities of Member States and by implementing its own research and innovation activities, including projects for the development, training, testing and validation of algorithms for the development of specific tools for the use by law enforcement authorities, and disseminate the results of the activities to the Member States in accordance with Article 67;

(w) contribute to creating synergies between the research and innovation activities of Union bodies that are relevant for the achievement of Europol’s objectives, including through the EU Innovation Hub for Internal Security, and in close cooperation with Member States;

(x) support, upon their request, Member States’ actions in addressing online crisis situations, in particular by providing private parties with the information necessary to identify relevant online content;

(y) support Member States’ actions in addressing the online dissemination of online child sexual abuse material;

(ya) pay particular attention, when supporting the competent authorities of the Member States in the context of investigations, to migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, including when those criminal offences involve activities carried out over the internet;

(z) cooperate, in accordance with Article 12 of Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council (⁹), with Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) established pursuant to Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹⁰), through the relevant Europol national unit or, if allowed by the relevant Member State, by direct contact with the FIUs, in particular through the exchange of information and the provision of analyses to Member States to support cross-border investigations into the money laundering activities of transnational criminal organisations and terrorist financing;

(za) support Member States, including through the development of specific tools, with the effective and efficient processing of biometric data for preventing or combating crime that falls within Europol’s objectives as set out in Article 3; processing of biometric data shall satisfy applicable minimum quality standards and be carried out in compliance with Articles 18 and 18a and the safeguards set out in this Regulation, in particular the principles of strict necessity and proportionality as set out in Article 30.

In order for a Member State to inform, within a period of 12 months after Europol has proposed the possible entry of an information alert referred to in the first subparagraph, point (t), other Member States and Europol on the outcome of the verification and analysis of the data and on whether an alert has been entered in SIS, a periodic reporting mechanism shall be put in place.

Member States shall inform Europol of any information alerts entered in SIS and of any hit on such information alerts, and may inform, through Europol, the third country or international organisation that provided the data leading to the entry of the information alert on hits on such information alert, in accordance with the procedure set out in Regulation (EU) 2018/1862.

Europol shall assist the Commission in drawing up and implementing the Union framework programmes for research and innovation activities that are relevant to achieve Europol’s objectives.

Where appropriate, Europol may disseminate the results of its research and innovation activities as part of its contribution to creating synergies between the research and innovation activities of relevant Union bodies in accordance with paragraph 1, first subparagraph, point (w).

Europol shall take all necessary measures to avoid conflicts of interest. Europol shall not receive funding from a given Union framework programme where it assists the Commission in identifying key research themes and in drawing up and implementing that programme.

When designing and conceptualising research and innovation activities regarding matters covered by this Regulation, Europol may, where appropriate, consult the Joint Research Centre of the Commission.

Europol staff may provide operational support to the competent authorities of the Member States during the execution of investigative measures by those authorities, at their request and in accordance with their national law, in particular by facilitating cross-border information exchange and other forms of data processing, by providing analytical, operational, technical and forensic support, and by being present during the execution of those measures. Europol staff shall not, themselves, have the power to execute investigative measures.

CHAPTER II

COOPERATION BETWEEN MEMBER STATES AND EUROPOL

Article 5

Participation in joint investigation teams

Article 6

Request by Europol for the initiation of a criminal investigation

If the competent authorities of a Member State decide not to accede to a request made by Europol pursuant to paragraph 1, they shall inform Europol of the reasons for their decision without undue delay, preferably within one month of receipt of the request. However, the reasons may be withheld if providing them would:

(a) be contrary to the essential interests of the security of the Member State concerned; or

(b) jeopardise the success of an ongoing investigation or the safety of an individual.

Article 7

Europol national units

Each Member State shall, via its national unit or, subject to paragraph 5, a competent authority, in particular:

(a) supply Europol with the information necessary for it to fulfil its objectives, including information relating to forms of crime the prevention or combating of which is considered a priority by the Union, such as migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings;

(b) ensure effective communication and cooperation of all relevant competent authorities with Europol;

(c) raise awareness of Europol's activities;

(d) in accordance with point (a) of Article 38(5), ensure compliance with national law when supplying information to Europol.

Without prejudice to the discharge by Member States of their responsibilities with regard to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security, Member States shall not in any particular case be obliged to supply information in accordance with paragraph 6, point (a), paragraph 6a, paragraph 6b, or paragraph 6c that would:

(a) be contrary to the essential interests of the security of the Member State concerned;

(b) jeopardise the success of an ongoing investigation or the safety of an individual; or

(c) disclose information relating to organisations or specific intelligence activities in the field of national security.

However, Member States shall supply information as soon as it ceases to fall within the scope of points (a), (b) or (c) of the first subparagraph.

Article 8

Liaison officers

CHAPTER III

ORGANISATION OF EUROPOL

Article 9

Administrative and management structure of Europol

The administrative and management structure of Europol shall comprise:

(a) a Management Board;

(b) an Executive Director;

(c) where appropriate, other advisory bodies established by the Management Board in accordance with point (s) of Article 11(1).

Article 9a

Tasks and composition of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling

SECTION 1

Management Board

Article 10

Composition of the Management Board

The principle of a balanced gender representation on the Management Board shall also be taken into account.

Article 11

Functions of the Management Board

The Management Board shall:

(a) adopt each year, by a majority of two-thirds of its members and in accordance with Article 12 of this Regulation, a single programming document as referred to in Article 32 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/715 (¹³);

(b) adopt, by a majority of two-thirds of its members, the annual budget of Europol and exercise other functions in respect of Europol's budget pursuant to Chapter X;

(c) adopt a consolidated annual activity report on Europol's activities and, by 1 July of the following year, send it to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Auditors and the national parliaments. The consolidated annual activity report shall be made public;

(d) adopt the financial rules applicable to Europol in accordance with Article 61;

(e) adopt an internal anti-fraud strategy, proportionate to fraud risks, taking into account the costs and benefits of the measures to be implemented;