Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 on the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust), and replacing and repealing Council Decision 2002/187/JHA

CHAPTER I

ESTABLISHMENT, OBJECTIVES AND TASKS OF EUROJUST

Article 1

Establishment of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation

Article 2

Tasks

In carrying out its tasks, Eurojust shall:

(a) take into account any request emanating from a competent authority of a Member State, any information provided by Union authorities, institutions, bodies, offices and agencies competent by virtue of provisions adopted within the framework of the Treaties and any information collected by Eurojust itself;

(b) facilitate the execution of requests for, and decisions on, judicial cooperation, including requests and decisions based on instruments that give effect to the principle of mutual recognition.

Article 3

Competence of Eurojust

Eurojust shall exercise its competence for crimes affecting the financial interests of the Union in cases involving Member States which participate in enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the EPPO but in respect of which the EPPO does not have competence or decides not to exercise its competence.

Eurojust, the EPPO and the Member States concerned shall consult and cooperate with each other to facilitate Eurojust’s exercise of competence under this paragraph. The practical details of its exercise of competence under this paragraph shall be governed by a working arrangement as referred to in Article 47(3).

Eurojust’s competence shall cover criminal offences related to the criminal offences listed in Annex I. The following categories of offences shall be regarded as related criminal offences:

(a) criminal offences committed in order to procure the means of committing the serious crimes listed in Annex I;

(b) criminal offences committed in order to facilitate or commit the serious crimes listed in Annex I;

(c) criminal offences committed in order to ensure the impunity of those committing the serious crimes listed in Annex I.

The decision as to whether and how Member States provide judicial assistance to a third country or to an international organisation shall remain solely with the competent authority of the Member State concerned, subject to applicable national, Union or international law.

Article 4

Operational functions of Eurojust

Eurojust shall:

(a) inform the competent authorities of the Member States of investigations and prosecutions of which it has been informed which have repercussions at Union level or which might affect Member States other than those directly concerned;

(b) assist the competent authorities of the Member States in ensuring the best possible coordination of investigations and prosecutions;

(c) assist in improving cooperation between the competent authorities of the Member States, in particular on the basis of Europol’s analyses;

(d) cooperate and consult with the European Judicial Network in criminal matters, including by making use of and contributing to the improvement of the documentary database of the European Judicial Network;

(e) cooperate closely with the EPPO on matters relating to its competence;

(f) provide operational, technical and financial support to Member States’ cross-border operations and investigations, including to joint investigation teams;

(g) support, and where appropriate participate in, the Union centres of specialised expertise developed by Europol and other Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies;

(h) cooperate with Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, as well as networks established in the area of freedom, security and justice regulated under Title V of the TFEU;

(i) support Member States’ action in combating forms of serious crime listed in Annex I;

(j) support Member States’ action in combating genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and related criminal offences, including by preserving, analysing and storing evidence related to those crimes and related criminal offences and enabling the exchange of such evidence with, or otherwise making it directly available to, competent national authorities and international judicial authorities, in particular the International Criminal Court.

In carrying out its tasks, Eurojust may ask the competent authorities of the Member States concerned, giving its reasons, to:

(a) undertake an investigation or prosecution of specific acts;

(b) accept that one of them may be in a better position to undertake an investigation or to prosecute specific acts;

(c) coordinate between the competent authorities of the Member States concerned;

(d) set up a joint investigation team in accordance with the relevant cooperation instruments;

(e) provide it with any information that is necessary for carrying out its tasks;

(f) take special investigative measures;

(g) take any other measure justified for the investigation or prosecution.

Eurojust may also:

(a) provide Europol with opinions based on analyses carried out by Europol;

(b) supply logistical support, including translation, interpretation and the organisation of coordination meetings.

Article 5

Exercise of operational and other functions

Eurojust shall act as a College:

(a) when taking any of the actions referred to in Article 4(1) or (2): (i) at the request of one or more of the national members concerned by a case dealt with by Eurojust; (ii) where the case involves investigations or prosecutions which have repercussions at Union level or which might affect Member States other than those directly concerned;

(b) when taking any of the actions referred to in Article 4(3), (4) or (5);

(c) where a general question relating to the achievement of its operational objectives is involved;

(d) when adopting Eurojust’s annual budget, in which case the decision shall be taken by a majority of two thirds of its members;

(e) when adopting the programming document referred to in Article 15 or the annual report on Eurojust’s activities, in which cases the decision shall be taken by a majority of two thirds of its members;

(f) when electing or dismissing the President and Vice-Presidents under Article 11;

(g) when appointing the Administrative Director or, where relevant, extending his or her term of office or removing him or her from office under Article 17;

(h) when adopting working arrangements under Articles 47(3) and 52;

(i) when adopting rules for the prevention and management of conflicts of interest in respect of its members, including in relation to their declaration of interests;

(j) when adopting reports, policy papers, guidelines for the benefit of national authorities and opinions pertaining to the operational work of Eurojust, whenever those documents are of a strategic nature;

(k) when appointing liaison magistrates in accordance with Article 53;

(l) when taking any decision which is not expressly attributed to the Executive Board by this Regulation or which is not under the responsibility of the Administrative Director in accordance with Article 18;

(m) when otherwise provided for in this Regulation.

The College may assign additional administrative tasks to the Administrative Director and the Executive Board beyond those provided for in Articles 16 and 18, in accordance with its operational needs.

Where exceptional circumstances so require, the College may decide to suspend temporarily the delegation of the appointing authority powers to the Administrative Director and of those powers that have been sub-delegated by the latter, and to exercise them itself or to delegate them to one of its members or to a staff member other than the Administrative Director.

CHAPTER II

STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION OF EUROJUST

SECTION I

Structure

Article 6

Structure of Eurojust

Eurojust shall comprise:

(a) the national members;

(b) the College;

(c) the Executive Board;

(d) the Administrative Director.

SECTION II

National members

Article 7

Status of national members

Article 8

Powers of national members

The national members shall have the power to:

(a) facilitate or otherwise support the issuing or execution of any request for mutual legal assistance or mutual recognition;

(b) directly contact and exchange information with any competent national authority of the Member State or any other competent Union body, office or agency, including the EPPO;

(c) directly contact and exchange information with any competent international authority, in accordance with the international commitments of their Member State;

(d) participate in joint investigation teams including in setting them up.

With the agreement of the competent national authority, national members may, in accordance with their national law:

(a) issue or execute any request for mutual legal assistance or mutual recognition;

(b) order, request or execute investigative measures, as provided for in Directive 2014/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹).

The national member may submit a proposal to the competent national authority to carry out the measures referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 where the exercise of the powers referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 by that national member would be in conflict with:

(a) a Member State’s constitutional rules; or

(b) fundamental aspects of that Member State’s national criminal justice system regarding: (i) the division of powers between the police, prosecutors and judges; (ii) the functional division of tasks between prosecution authorities; or (iii) the federal structure of the Member State concerned.

Article 9

Access to national registers

National members shall have access to, or at least be able to obtain the information contained in, the following types of registers of their Member State, in accordance with their national law:

(a) criminal records;

(b) registers of arrested persons;

(c) investigation registers;

(d) DNA registers;

(e) other registers of public authorities of their Member State where such information is necessary to fulfil their tasks.

SECTION III

The College

Article 10

Composition of the College

The College shall be composed of:

(a) all the national members; and

(b) one representative of the Commission when the College exercises its management functions.

The representative of the Commission nominated under point (b) of the first subparagraph should be the same person as the Commission’s representative on the Executive Board under Article 16(4).

Article 11

The President and Vice-President of Eurojust

The President shall exercise his or her functions on behalf of the College. The President shall:

(a) represent Eurojust;

(b) call and preside over the meetings of the College and the Executive Board and keep the College informed of any matters that are of interest to it;

(c) direct the work of the College and monitor Eurojust’s daily management by the Administrative Director;

(d) exercise any other functions set out in Eurojust’s rules of procedure.

When a national member is elected President of Eurojust, the Member State concerned may second another suitably qualified person to reinforce the national desk for the duration of the former’s mandate as President.

A Member State which decides to second such a person shall be entitled to apply for compensation in accordance with Article 12.

Article 12

Compensation mechanism for the election to the position of President

The compensation shall be available to any Member State if:

(a) its national member has been elected President; and

(b) it requests compensation from the College and provides justification for the need to reinforce its national desk on grounds of an increased workload.

Article 13

Meetings of the College

Article 14

Voting rules of the College

Article 15

Annual and multi-annual programming

SECTION IV

The executive board

Article 16

Functioning of the Executive Board

The Executive Board shall also:

(a) review Eurojust’s programming document referred to in Article 15 based on the draft prepared by the Administrative Director and forward it to the College for adoption;

(b) adopt an anti-fraud strategy for Eurojust, proportionate to the fraud risks, taking into account the costs and benefits of the measures to be implemented and based on a draft prepared by the Administrative Director;

(c) adopt appropriate implementing rules giving effect to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (the ‘Staff Regulations of Officials’) and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (‘Conditions of Employment of Other Servants’), laid down in Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 (²) in accordance with Article 110 of the Staff Regulations of Officials;

(d) ensure adequate follow-up to the findings and recommendations stemming from the internal or external audit reports, evaluations and investigations, including those of the EDPS and OLAF;

(e) take all decisions on the establishment and, where necessary, the modification of Eurojust’s internal administrative structures;

(f) without prejudice to the responsibilities of the Administrative Director set out in Article 18, assist and advise him or her on the implementation of the decisions of the College, with a view to reinforcing supervision of administrative and budgetary management;

(g) undertake any additional administrative tasks assigned to it by the College under Article 5(4);

(h) adopt the financial rules applicable to Eurojust in accordance with Article 64;

(i) adopt, in accordance with Article 110 of the Staff Regulations of Officials, a decision based on Article 2(1) of the Staff Regulations of Officials and on Article 6 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants delegating the relevant appointing authority powers to the Administrative Director and establishing the conditions under which this delegation of powers can be suspended; the Administrative Director shall be authorised to sub-delegate those powers;

(j) review Eurojust’s draft annual budget for adoption by the College;

(k) review the draft annual report on Eurojust’s activities and forward it to the College for adoption;

(l) appoint an accounting officer and a Data Protection Officer who are functionally independent in the performance of their duties.

Eurojust shall send to the EPPO the agenda of the Executive Board meetings and consult with the EPPO on the need to participate in those meetings. Eurojust shall invite the EPPO to participate, without the right to vote, whenever issues are discussed which are of relevance for the functioning of the EPPO.

When the EPPO is invited to an Executive Board meeting, Eurojust shall provide it with the relevant documents supporting the agenda.

SECTION V

The Administrative Director

Article 17

Status of the Administrative Director

Article 18

Responsibilities of the Administrative Director

The Administrative Director shall be responsible for the implementation of the administrative tasks assigned to Eurojust, in particular:

(a) the day-to-day administration of Eurojust and staff management;

(b) implementing the decisions adopted by the College and the Executive Board;

(c) preparing the programming document referred to in Article 15 and submitting it to the Executive Board for review;

(d) implementing the programming document referred to in Article 15 and reporting to the Executive Board and College on its implementation;

(e) preparing the annual report on Eurojust’s activities and presenting it to the Executive Board for review and to the College for adoption;

(f) preparing an action plan following up on conclusions of internal or external audit reports, evaluations and investigations, including those of the EDPS and OLAF and reporting on progress twice a year to the College, to the Executive Board, to the Commission and to the EDPS;

(g) preparing an anti-fraud strategy for Eurojust and presenting it to the Executive Board for adoption;

(h) preparing draft financial rules applicable to Eurojust;

(i) preparing Eurojust’s draft statement of estimates of revenue and expenditure and implementing its budget;

(j) exercising, with respect to the staff of Eurojust, the powers conferred by the Staff Regulations of Officials on the appointing authority and by the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants on the authority empowered to conclude contracts of employment of other servants (‘the appointing authority powers’);

(k) ensuring that the necessary administrative support is provided to facilitate the operational work of Eurojust;

(l) ensuring that support is provided to the President and Vice-Presidents as they carry out their duties;

(m) preparing a draft proposal for Eurojust’s annual budget, which shall be reviewed by the Executive Board before adoption by the College.

CHAPTER III

OPERATIONAL MATTERS

Article 19

On-call coordination mechanism

Article 20

Eurojust national coordination system

Each Member State shall set up a Eurojust national coordination system to ensure coordination of the work carried out by:

(a) the national correspondents for Eurojust;

(b) any national correspondents for issues relating to the competence of the EPPO;

(c) the national correspondent for Eurojust for terrorism matters;

(d) the national correspondent for the European Judicial Network in criminal matters and up to three other contact points of the European Judicial Network;

(e) national members or contact points of the Network for joint investigation teams, and national members or contact points of the networks set up by Decisions 2002/494/JHA, 2007/845/JHA and 2008/852/JHA;

(f) where applicable, any other relevant judicial authority.

Each Eurojust national coordination system shall facilitate the carrying out of Eurojust’s tasks within the Member State concerned, in particular by:

(a) ensuring that the case management system referred to in Article 23 receives information related to the Member State concerned in an efficient and reliable manner;

(b) assisting in determining whether a request should be handled with the assistance of Eurojust or of the European Judicial Network;

(c) assisting the national member in identifying relevant authorities for the execution of requests for, and decisions on, judicial cooperation, including requests and decisions based on instruments giving effect to the principle of mutual recognition;

(d) maintaining close relations with the Europol national unit, other contact points of the European Judicial Network and other relevant competent national authorities.

Article 21

Exchanges of information with the Member States and between national members