On-call coordination mechanism
1. In order to fulfil its tasks in urgent cases, Eurojust shall operate an on-call coordination mechanism (‘OCC’) able to receive and process at all times the requests referred to it. The OCC shall be contactable 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
2. The OCC shall rely on one OCC representative per Member State who may be either the national member, his or her deputy, an Assistant entitled to replace the national member, or a seconded national expert. The OCC representative shall be available to act 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
3. The OCC representatives shall act efficiently and without delay in relation to the execution of a request in their Member State.
Eurojust national coordination system
1. Each Member State shall appoint one or more national correspondents for Eurojust.
2. All national correspondents appointed by the Member States under paragraph 1 shall have the skills and experience necessary for them to carry out their duties.
3. 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.
4. The persons referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 shall retain their position and status under national law, without this having a significant impact on the performance of their duties under this Regulation.
5. The national correspondents for Eurojust shall be responsible for the functioning of their Eurojust national coordination system. Where several correspondents for Eurojust are appointed, one of them shall be responsible for the functioning of their Eurojust national coordination system.
6. The national members shall be informed of all meetings of their Eurojust national coordination system where casework-related matters are discussed. The national members may attend such meetings as necessary.
7. 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.
8. In order to meet the objectives referred to in paragraph 7, the persons referred to in paragraph 1 and in points (a), (b) and (c) of paragraph 3 shall, and the persons or authorities referred to in points (d) and (e) of paragraph 3 may be connected to the case management system in accordance with this Article and with Articles 23, 24, 25 and 34. The cost of connection to the case management system shall be borne by the general budget of the Union.
9. The setting up of the Eurojust national coordination system and the appointment of national correspondents shall not prevent direct contacts between the national member and the competent authorities of his or her Member State.
Exchanges of information with the Member States and between national members
1. The competent authorities of the Member States shall exchange with Eurojust all information necessary for the performance of its tasks under Articles 2 and 4 in accordance with the applicable data protection rules. This shall at least include the information referred to in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of this Article.
2. The transmission of information to Eurojust shall only be interpreted as a request for the assistance of Eurojust in the case concerned if so specified by a competent authority.
3. The national members shall exchange all information necessary for the performance of Eurojust’s tasks among themselves or with their competent national authorities, without prior authorisation. In particular, the competent national authorities shall promptly inform their national members of a case which concerns them.
4. The competent national authorities shall inform their national members of the setting up of joint investigation teams and of the results of the work of such teams.
5. The competent national authorities shall inform their national members without undue delay of any case affecting at least three Member States for which requests for or decisions on judicial cooperation, including requests and decisions based on instruments giving effect to the principle of mutual recognition, have been transmitted to at least two Member States, where one or more of the following apply:
(a)
the offence involved is punishable in the requesting or issuing Member State by a custodial sentence or a detention order, the maximum period of which is at least five or six years, to be decided by the Member State concerned, and is included in the following list:
(i)
trafficking in human beings;
(ii)
sexual abuse or sexual exploitation including child pornography and solicitation of children for sexual purposes;
(iii)
drug trafficking;
(iv)
illicit trafficking in firearms, their parts or components or ammunition or explosives;
(v)
corruption;
(vi)
crime against the financial interests of the Union;
(vii)
forgery of money or means of payment;
(viii)
money laundering activities;
(ix)
computer crime;
(b)
there are factual indications that a criminal organisation is involved;
(c)
there are indications that the case may have a serious cross-border dimension or may have repercussions at Union level, or that it may affect Member States other than those directly involved.
6. The competent national authorities shall inform their national members of:
(a)
cases in which conflicts of jurisdiction have arisen or are likely to arise;
(b)
controlled deliveries affecting at least three countries, at least two of which are Member States;
(c)
repeated difficulties or refusals regarding the execution of requests for, or decisions on, judicial cooperation, including requests and decisions based on instruments giving effect to the principle of mutual recognition.
7. The competent national authorities shall not be obliged to supply information in a particular case if doing so would harm essential national security interests or jeopardise the safety of individuals.
8. This Article is without prejudice to conditions set out in bilateral or multilateral agreements or arrangements between Member States and third countries, including any conditions set by third countries concerning the use of information once supplied.
9. This Article is without prejudice to other obligations regarding the transmission of information to Eurojust, including Council Decision 2005/671/JHA ( 19 ) .
10. Information referred to in this Article shall be provided in a structured way determined by Eurojust. The competent national authority shall not be obliged to provide such information where it has already been transmitted to Eurojust in accordance with other provisions of this Regulation.
Information provided by Eurojust to competent national authorities
1. Eurojust shall provide competent national authorities with information on the results of the processing of information, including the existence of links with cases already stored in the case management system, without undue delay. That information may include personal data.
2. Where a competent national authority requests that Eurojust provide it with information within a certain timeframe, Eurojust shall transmit that information within that timeframe.
Case management system, index and temporary work files
1. Eurojust shall establish a case management system composed of temporary work files and of an index which contain the personal data referred to in Annex II and non-personal data.
2. The purpose of the case management system shall be to:
(a)
support the management and coordination of investigations and prosecutions for which Eurojust is providing assistance, in particular by cross-referencing information;
(b)
facilitate access to information on on-going investigations and prosecutions;
(c)
facilitate the monitoring of the lawfulness of Eurojust’s processing of personal data and its compliance with the applicable data protection rules.
3. The case management system may be linked to the secure telecommunications connection referred to in Article 9 of Council Decision 2008/976/JHA ( 20 ) .
4. The index shall contain references to temporary work files processed within the framework of Eurojust and may not contain any personal data other than those referred to in points (1)(a) to (i), (k) and (m) and (2) of Annex II.
5. In the performance of their duties, national members may process data on the individual cases on which they are working in a temporary work file. They shall allow the Data Protection Officer to have access to the temporary work file. The Data Protection Officer shall be informed by the national member concerned of the opening of each new temporary work file that contains personal data.
6. For the processing of operational personal data, Eurojust may not establish any automated data file other than the case management system. The national member may, however, temporarily store and analyse personal data for the purpose of determining whether such data are relevant to Eurojust’s tasks and can be included in the case management system. That data may be held for up to three months.
Functioning of temporary work files and the index
1. A temporary work file shall be opened by the national member concerned for every case with respect to which information is transmitted to him or her in so far as that transmission is in accordance with this Regulation or other applicable legal instruments. The national member shall be responsible for the management of the temporary work files opened by that national member.
2. The national member who has opened a temporary work file shall decide, on a case-by-case basis, whether to keep the temporary work file restricted or to give access to it or to parts of it to other national members, to authorised Eurojust staff or to any other person working on behalf of Eurojust who has received the necessary authorisation from the Administrative Director.
3. The national member who has opened a temporary work file shall decide which information related to that temporary work file shall be introduced in the index in accordance with Article 23(4).
Access to the case management system at national level
1. In so far as they are connected to the case management system, persons referred to in Article 20(3) shall only have access to:
(a)
the index, unless the national member who has decided to introduce the data in the index expressly denied such access;
(b)
temporary work files opened by the national member of their Member State;
(c)
temporary work files opened by national members of other Member States and to which the national member of their Member States has received access, unless the national member who opened the temporary work file expressly denied such access.
2. The national member shall, within the limitations provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article, decide on the extent of access to the temporary work files which is granted in his or her Member State to the persons referred to in Article 20(3) in so far as they are connected to the case management system.
3. Each Member State shall decide, after consultation with its national member, on the extent of access to the index which is granted in that Member State to the persons referred to in Article 20(3) in so far as they are connected to the case management system. Member States shall notify Eurojust and the Commission of their decision regarding the implementation of this paragraph. The Commission shall inform the other Member States thereof.
4. Persons who have been granted access in accordance with paragraph 2 shall at least have access to the index to the extent necessary to access the temporary work files to which they have been granted access.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
