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Establishment of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training
1. A European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) is hereby established. 2. CEPOL, as established by this Regulation, shall replace and succeed CEPOL as established by Decision 2005/681/JHA.
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation: (1) ‘law enforcement officials’ means staff of police, customs and other relevant services, as defined by individual Member States, that are responsible for, and staff of Union bodies that have tasks relating to, the following: (a) the prevention of and fight against serious crime affecting two or more Member States, terrorism and forms of crime that affect a common interest covered by a Union policy; or (b) crisis management and public order, in particular international policing of major events; (2) ‘Union bodies’ means institutions, bodies, missions, offices and agencies set up by, or on the basis of, the TEU and the TFEU; (3) ‘international organisations’ means international organisations and their subordinate bodies governed by public international law or other bodies which are set up by, or on the basis of, an agreement between two or more countries, as well as Interpol.
Objectives of CEPOL
1. CEPOL shall support, develop, implement and coordinate training for law enforcement officials, while putting particular emphasis on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the context of law enforcement, in particular in the areas of prevention of and fight against serious crime affecting two or more Member States and terrorism, maintenance of public order, in particular international policing of major events, and planning and command of Union missions, which may also include training on law enforcement leadership and language skills. More specifically, CEPOL shall: (a) support Member States in providing training in order to raise awareness and knowledge of: (i) the implementation and use of international and Union instruments on law enforcement cooperation; (ii) Union bodies, in particular Europol, Eurojust and Frontex, their functioning and role; (iii) police and judicial aspects of law enforcement cooperation and practical knowledge about access to information exchange channels; (b) support Member States, at their request, in the development of regional and bilateral cooperation through law enforcement training between Member States, Union bodies and third countries; (c) develop, implement and coordinate training addressing specific criminal or policing thematic areas; (d) develop, implement and coordinate training which aims to support Member States and Union bodies in training law enforcement officials for participation in Union missions and law enforcement capacity-building activities in third countries; (e) train trainers and assist in improving and exchanging best learning practices. 2. CEPOL shall develop and upgrade learning tools and methodologies and shall apply them in a lifelong learning perspective to strengthen the skills of law enforcement officials. It shall evaluate the results of such actions with a view to enhancing the quality, coherence and effectiveness of future actions at Union level. 3. CEPOL shall bring together a network of Member State training institutes for law enforcement officials and shall liaise with a single national unit in each Member State functioning within the network. 4. The learning activities referred to in paragraph 1 shall be carried out by CEPOL in cooperation with the network of Member State training institutes in accordance with the financial rules applicable to CEPOL.
Tasks
1. CEPOL shall prepare multi-annual strategic training needs analyses and multi-annual learning programmes. 2. CEPOL shall support, develop, implement and coordinate training activities and learning products, which include: (a) courses, seminars, conferences, as well as web-based, e-learning and other innovative and advanced training activities; (b) common curricula for law enforcement training on specific subjects with a Union dimension; (c) training modules graduated according to progressive stages or levels of complexity of skills needed by the relevant target group, and focussed either on a specific geographical region, a specific thematic area of criminal activity or on a specific set of professional skills; (d) exchange and secondment programmes as well as study visits in the context of law enforcement training. 3. CEPOL's training activities and learning products may be supported, enhanced and completed by the operation of an electronic network. 4. CEPOL shall support Union missions and capacity-building in third countries by one or more of the following: (a) assessing, in coordination with other relevant Union bodies, the impact of existing Union-related law enforcement training policies and initiatives; (b) developing and providing training to prepare law enforcement officials for participation in Union missions, including to enable them to acquire relevant language skills, in coordination with the European Security and Defence College and existing initiatives in the Member States; (c) developing and providing training for law enforcement officials from third countries, in particular from countries that are candidates for accession to the Union and the countries under the European Neighbourhood Policy; (d) managing dedicated Union External Assistance funds to assist third countries in building their capacity in relevant law enforcement policy areas, in line with the established priorities of the Union. 5. CEPOL shall promote the mutual recognition of law enforcement training in Member States and the recognition by Member States of training provided at Union level with due regard to the principle of subsidiarity. 6. CEPOL may engage in communication activities on its own initiative in the fields within its mandate. Such communication activities shall not be detrimental to the tasks referred to in paragraph 1 and shall be carried out in accordance with relevant communication and dissemination plans adopted by the Management Board.
Research relevant for training
1. CEPOL shall contribute to and encourage the development of research relevant for training activities within the scope of its objectives as set out in Article 3(1) and shall disseminate research findings. For that purpose, CEPOL may carry out relevant surveys and may develop repositories of available research as well as law enforcement training needs. 2. CEPOL shall promote and establish a partnership with Union bodies as well as with public and private academic institutions and may encourage the creation of stronger partnerships between universities and law enforcement training institutes in Member States.
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