Cooperation with the European Judicial Network and other Union networks involved in judicial cooperation in criminal matters
1. Eurojust and the European Judicial Network in criminal matters shall maintain privileged relations with each other, based on consultation and complementarity, especially between the national member, contact points of the European Judicial Network in the same Member State as the national member, and the national correspondents for Eurojust and the European Judicial Network. In order to ensure efficient cooperation, the following measures shall be taken:
(a)
on a case-by-case basis national members shall inform the contact points of the European Judicial Network of all cases which they consider the Network to be in a better position to deal with;
(b)
the Secretariat of the European Judicial Network shall form part of the staff of Eurojust; it shall function as a separate unit; it may draw on the administrative resources of Eurojust which are necessary for the performance of the European Judicial Network’s tasks, including for covering the costs of the plenary meetings of the Network;
(c)
contact points of the European Judicial Network may be invited on a case-by-case basis to attend Eurojust meetings;
(d)
Eurojust and the European Judicial Network may make use of the Eurojust national coordination system when determining under point (b) of Article 20(7) whether a request should be handled with the assistance of Eurojust or the European Judicial Network.
2. The Secretariat of the Network for joint investigation teams and the Secretariat of the Network set up by Decision 2002/494/JHA shall form part of the staff of Eurojust. Those secretariats shall function as separate units. They may draw on the administrative resources of Eurojust which are necessary for the performance of their tasks. The coordination of the secretariats shall be ensured by Eurojust. This paragraph applies to the secretariat of any relevant network involved in judicial cooperation in criminal matters for which Eurojust is to provide support in the form of a secretariat. Eurojust may support relevant European networks and bodies involved in judicial cooperation in criminal matters, including where appropriate by means of a secretariat hosted at Eurojust.
3. The network set up by Decision 2008/852/JHA may request that Eurojust provide a secretariat of the network. If such request is made, paragraph 2 shall apply.
Relations with Europol
1. Eurojust shall take all appropriate measures to enable Europol, within Europol’s mandate, to have indirect access, on the basis of a hit/no-hit system, to information provided to Eurojust, without prejudice to any restrictions indicated by the Member State, Union body, office or agency, third country or international organisation that provided the information in question. In the case of a hit, Eurojust shall initiate the procedure by which the information that generated the hit may be shared in accordance with the decision of the Member State, Union body, office or agency, third country or international organisation that provided the information to Eurojust.
2. Searches of information in accordance with paragraph 1 shall be carried out only for the purpose of identifying whether information available at Europol matches with information processed at Eurojust.
3. Eurojust shall allow searches in accordance with paragraph 1 only after obtaining from Europol information on which Europol staff members have been designated as authorised to perform such searches.
4. If during Eurojust’s information processing activities in respect of an individual investigation, Eurojust or a Member State identifies the need for coordination, cooperation or support in accordance with Europol’s mandate, Eurojust shall notify Europol thereof and shall initiate the procedure for sharing the information, in accordance with the decision of the Member State that provided the information. In such cases Eurojust shall consult with Europol.
5. Eurojust shall establish and maintain close cooperation with Europol to the extent relevant to performing the tasks of the two agencies and to achieving their objectives, taking account of the need to avoid duplication of effort.
To that end, the Executive Director of Europol and the President of Eurojust shall meet on a regular basis to discuss issues of common concern.
6. Europol shall respect any restriction of access or use, whether in general or specific terms, that has been indicated by a Member State, Union body, office or agency, third country or international organisation, in relation to information that it has provided.
Relations with the EPPO
1. Eurojust shall establish and maintain a close relationship with the EPPO based on mutual cooperation within their respective mandates and competences and on the development of operational, administrative and management links between them as defined in this Article. To that end, the President of Eurojust and the European Chief Prosecutor shall meet on a regular basis to discuss issues of common interest. They shall meet at the request of the President of Eurojust or of the European Chief Prosecutor.
2. Eurojust shall treat requests for support from the EPPO without undue delay, and, where appropriate, shall treat such requests as if they had been received from a national authority competent for judicial cooperation.
3. Whenever necessary to support the cooperation established in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article, Eurojust shall make use of the Eurojust national coordination system set up in accordance with Article 20, as well as the relations it has established with third countries, including its liaison magistrates
4. In operational matters relevant to the EPPO’s competences, Eurojust shall inform the EPPO of and, where appropriate, associate it with its activities concerning cross-border cases, including by:
(a)
sharing information on its cases, including personal data, in accordance with the relevant provisions in this Regulation;
(b)
requesting the EPPO to provide support.
5. Eurojust shall have indirect access to information in the EPPO’s case management system on the basis of a hit/no-hit system. Whenever a match is found between data entered into the case management system by the EPPO and data held by Eurojust, the fact that there is a match shall be communicated to both Eurojust and to the EPPO, as well as to the Member State which provided the data to Eurojust. Eurojust shall take appropriate measures to enable the EPPO to have indirect access to information in its case management system on the basis of a hit/no-hit system.
6. The EPPO may rely on the support and resources of the administration of Eurojust. To that end, Eurojust may provide services of common interest to the EPPO. The details shall be regulated by an arrangement.
Relations with other Union bodies, offices and agencies
1. Eurojust shall establish and maintain cooperative relations with the European Judicial Training Network.
2. OLAF shall contribute to Eurojust’s coordination work regarding the protection of the financial interests of the Union, in accordance with its mandate under Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013.
3. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency shall contribute to Eurojust’s work including by transmitting relevant information processed in accordance with its mandate and tasks under point (m) of Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1624 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 21 ) . The European Border and Coast Guard Agency’s processing of any personal data in connection therewith shall be regulated by Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
4. For the purposes of receiving and transmitting information between Eurojust and OLAF, without prejudice to Article 8 of this Regulation, Member States shall ensure that the national members of Eurojust are regarded as competent authorities of the Member States solely for the purposes of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013. The exchange of information between OLAF and national members shall be without prejudice to obligations to provide the information to other competent authorities under those Regulations.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
