Europol Act 1997

1 Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act unless the context otherwise requires—

“the Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána;

“the Convention” means the Convention based on Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, on the establishment of a European Police Office (Europol Convention) and the Annex thereto, done at Brussels on the 26th day of July, 1995;

“national unit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3(1);

“the Minister” means the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform;

“the 1996 Protocol” means the Protocol drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, on the interpretation, by way of preliminary rulings, by the Court of Justice of the European Communities of the Convention on the establishment of a European Police Office done at Brussels on the 24th day of July, 1996;

“the 1997 Protocol” means the Protocol drawn up, on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 41(3) of the Europol Convention, on the privileges and immunities of Europol, the members of its organs, the deputy directors and employees of Europol done at Brussels on the 19th day of June, 1997.

(2) In this Act—

(a) a reference to a section or a Schedule is a reference to a section of or Schedule to this Act unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,

(b) a reference to a subsection or paragraph is a reference to a subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended, and

(c) a reference to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended or extended by or under any enactment including this Act.

2 Convention and Protocols to have force of law.

2.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Convention, the 1996 Protocol and the 1997 Protocol shall have the force of law in the State and judicial notice shall be taken of them.

(2) For convenience of reference, there are set out in the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Schedules respectively—

(a) the text in the English language of the Convention,

(b) the text in the English language of the 1996 Protocol,

(c) the text in the English language of the 1997 Protocol,

(d) the text in the Irish language of the Convention,

(e) the text in the Irish language of the 1996 Protocol, and

(f) the text in the Irish language of the 1997 Protocol.

3 National unit.

3.—(1) For the purposes of this Act and the Convention, the Minister, following consultation with the Commissioner, shall by order designate a unit within the Garda Síochána, to be known as the “national unit”.

(2) The national unit shall operate under the control and general superintendence of the Commissioner.

(3) The Commissioner may assign such and so many members of the Garda Síochána to be members of the national unit as the Commissioner from time to time thinks fit.

(4) The Commissioner shall assign the management of the national unit to a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Chief Superintendent and the member so assigned shall be known as the “Head of the national unit”.

(5) The Commissioner may assign other duties to the Head of the national unit during his or her assignment as such.

(6) (a) The Minister, after consultation with the Commissioner, the Minister for Finance and any other Minister of the Government as the Minister considers appropriate in the circumstances and, in relation to officers of customs and excise, with the Revenue Commissioners, may, from time to time, appoint such and so many persons who are not members of the Garda Síochána to be members of the national unit.

(b) The appointment of persons under paragraph (a) shall be on such conditions as may be agreed with the Minister for Finance.

(7) A member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of customs and excise, who is a member of the national unit, notwithstanding his or her appointment as such, shall continue to be vested with and may exercise or perform the powers or duties of a member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of customs and excise as may be appropriate, for purposes other than the purposes of this Act, as well as for the purposes of this Act.

(8) Unless the context otherwise requires or the Minister by order otherwise provides, the references in the Convention to a Member State (whether specific or general) shall, in so far as those references apply to the State, be construed and have effect as if they were references to the national unit.

(9) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under subsection (1) or (8) (including an order under this subsection).

4 Liaison officers.

4.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) and the Convention, there shall be sent as a liaison officer with Europol one or more than one member of the national unit as the Commissioner may, for the purposes of this Act and the Convention, determine.

(2) A member of the national unit, other than a member of the Garda Síochána, shall be sent as a liaison officer with Europol only after consultation with the Minister, and—

(a) in the case where the member to be sent is an officer of customs and excise, on the nomination of the Revenue Commissioners, or

(b) in the case of any other member (not being a member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of customs and excise) on the nomination of such other Minister of the Government (if any) as the Minister considers appropriate in the circumstances.

5 Amendment of Garda Síochána Act, 1989.

5.—The Garda Síochána Act, 1989, is hereby amended—

(a) in section 3, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Acts, a member of the Garda Síochána to whom this section for the time being applies shall be liable to serve outside the State—

(a) with a contingent of the Garda Síochána which is despatched for service with an International United Nations Force, or

(b) as a liaison officer with Europol.”, and

(b) in section 4, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) The Minister may by regulations, made with the consent of the Minister for Health and Children, provide for the keeping of a record of—

(a) the death of a member of the Garda Síochána,

(b) the death of the spouse or any of such other members of the family of a member of the Garda Síochána as may be specified in the regulations, and

(c) the birth of a child of a member of the Garda Síochána,

occurring outside the State while the member of the Garda Síochána is serving outside the State with an International United Nations Force or as a liaison officer with Europol and, as respects a death referred to in paragraph (b) of this subsection or a birth, in such circumstances as may be specified in the regulations.”.

6 Application of Data Protection Act, 1988.

6.—(1) For the purposes of this Act and the Convention, the Data Protection Act, 1988, shall apply and have effect with any necessary modifications to the collection, processing, keeping, use or disclosure of certain information relating to individuals that is processed automatically.

(2) For the purposes of the application of the Convention to the State, references to “national competent authority” in Article 19.1 of the Convention and “national authorities concerned” in Article 19.5 of the Convention shall be construed as references to the Data Protection Commissioner.

(3) For the purposes of Article 38 of the Convention, section 7 of the Data Protection Act, 1988, shall apply as regards the liability of the State for any damage caused to an individual as a result of legal or factual errors in data stored or processed at Europol as it applies to the collection of or dealing with personal data (within the meaning of that Act).

7 Designation of national supervisory body.

7.—The Data Protection Commissioner is hereby designated as the national supervisory body for the purposes of this Act and the Convention.

8 Status of Europol.

8.—Europol shall have the legal capacity of a body corporate and power to sue and be sued in its corporate name and to acquire, hold and dispose of property.

9 Application of Official Secrets Act, 1963.

9.—(1) Any facts or information which come to the knowledge of the Director or Financial Controller of Europol or members of the Management Board or the Financial Committee, the Deputy Directors of Europol, employees of Europol or liaison officers with Europol as well as any other person under a particular obligation of discretion or confidentiality under this Act or the Convention shall be deemed to be official information within the meaning of official information in the Official Secrets Act, 1963, and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly to such facts or information.

(2) For the purposes of this section, “duly authorised” in section 4 of the Official Secrets Act, 1963, includes being authorised by the Director of Europol or, as the case may be, the Management Board of Europol.

(3) The application of the Official Secrets Act, 1963, to any facts or information referred to in subsection (1) does not include facts or information too insignificant to require confidentiality.

10 Interpretation of Convention.

10.—(1) For the purposes of Article 2 of the 1996 Protocol, paragraph 2(a) of that Article shall apply in the State.

(2) Judicial notice shall be taken of any ruling or decision of, or expression of opinion by, the Court of Justice of the European Communities on any question as to the meaning or effect of any provision of the Convention.

11 Regulations.

11.—The Minister may from time to time make such regulations as appear to him or her to be necessary or expedient for carrying out the Convention and for giving effect thereto or to any of the provisions thereof.

12 Laying of orders and regulations before Houses of Oireachtas.

12.—Every order and regulation made by the Minister under section 3, 11 or 14 shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either House within the next subsequent 21 days on which that House has sat after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

13 Expenses.

13.—The expenses incurred in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

14 Short title and commencement.

14.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Europol Act, 1997.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may fix by order either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision.

FIRST SCHEDULE THE TEXT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE OF THE CONVENTION

CONVENTION

based on Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, on the establishment of a European Police Office (Europol Convention)

THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES to the present Convention, Member States of the European Union,

REFERRING to the Council Act of 26 July 1995;

AWARE of the urgent problems arising from terrorism, unlawful drug trafficking and other serious forms of international crime;

WHEREAS there is a need for progress in solidarity and cooperation between the Member States of the European Union, particularly through an improvement in police cooperation between the Member States;

WHEREAS such progress should enable the protection of security and public order to be further improved;

WHEREAS the establishment of a European Police Office (Europol) was agreed in the Treaty on European Union of 7 February 1992;

IN VIEW of the decision of the European Council of 29 October 1993 that Europol should be established in the Netherlands and have its seat in The Hague;

MINDFUL of the common objective of improving police cooperation in the field of terrorism, unlawful drug trafficking and other serious forms of international crime through a constant, confidential and intensive exchange of information between Europol and Member States' national units;

ON THE UNDERSTANDING that the forms of cooperation laid down in this Convention should not affect other forms of bilateral or multilateral cooperation;

CONVINCED that in the field of police cooperation, particular attention must be paid to the protection of the rights of individuals, and in particular to the protection of their personal data;

WHEREAS the activities of Europol under this Convention are without prejudice to the powers of the European Communities; whereas Europol and the Communities have a mutual interest, in the framework of the European Union, in establishing types of cooperation enabling each of them to perform their respective tasks as effectively as possible,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

CONTENTS

		Page
TITLE I	ESTABLISHMENT AND TASKS	9
Article 1	Establishment	9
Article 2	Objective	10
Article 3	Tasks	11
Article 4	National units	12
Article 5	Liaison officers	13
Article 6	Computerized system of collected information	14
TITLE II	INFORMATION SYSTEM	14
Article 7	Establishment of the information system	14
Article 8	Content of the information system	15
Article 9	Right of access to the information system	16
TITLE III	WORK FILES FOR THE PURPOSES OF ANALYSIS	16
Article 10	Collection, processing and utilization of personal data	16
Article 11	Index system	19
Article 12	Order opening a data file	20
TITLE IV	COMMON PROVISIONS ON INFORMATION PROCESSING	20
Article 13	Duty to notify	20
Article 14	Standard of data protection	21
Article 15	Responsibility in data protection matters	21
Article 16	Provisions on drawing up reports	22
Article 17	Rules on the use of data	22
Article 18	Communication of data to third States and third bodies	22
Article 19	Right of access	24
Article 20	Correction and deletion of data	26
Article 21	Time limits for the storage and deletion of data files	26
Article 22	Correction and storage of data in paper files	27
Article 23	National supervisory body	27
Article 24	Joint supervisory body	28
Article 25	Data security	29
TITLE V	LEGAL STATUS, ORGANIZATION AND FINANCIAL PROVISIONS	30
Article 26	Legal capacity	30
Article 27	Organs of Europol	30
Article 28	Management Board	31
Article 29	Director	33
Article 30	Staff	33
Article 31	Confidentiality	34
Article 32	Obligation of discretion and confidentiality	34
Article 33	Languages	35
Article 34	Informing the European Parliament	36
Article 35	Budget	36
Article 36	Auditing	37
Article 37	Headquarters agreement	38
TITLE VI	LIABILITY AND LEGAL PROTECTION	38
Article 38	Liability for unauthorized or incorrect data processing	38
Article 39	Other liability	38
Article 40	Settlement of disputes	39
Article 41	Privileges and immunities	39
TITLE VII	FINAL PROVISIONS	40
Article 42	Relations with third States and third bodies	40
Article 43	Amendment of the Convention	40
Article 44	Reservations	40
Article 45	Entry into force of the Convention	41
Article 46	Accession by new Member States	41
Article 47	Depositary	42
Annex referred to in Article 2		42

TITLE I

Article 1

Establishment

Article 2

Objective