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.
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.
2a.
Each Member State shall designate a competent national authority as Eurojust national correspondent for terrorism matters. That national correspondent for terrorism matters shall be a judicial or other competent authority. Where the national legal system so requires, it shall be possible for a Member State to designate more than one competent national authority as Eurojust national correspondent for terrorism matters. The national correspondent for terrorism matters shall have access to all relevant information in accordance with Article 21a(1). It shall be competent to collect such information and to send it to Eurojust, in compliance with national and Union law, in particular national criminal procedural law and applicable data protection rules.
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 of this Article, the persons referred to in paragraph 3, points (a), (b) and (c), of this Article shall 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 shall not affect other obligations regarding the transmission of information to Eurojust.
10.
The competent national authorities shall not be obliged to provide information as referred to in this Article where such information has already been transmitted to Eurojust in accordance with other provisions of this Regulation.
