Judicial authorisation
1. A Member State shall not require a judicial authorisation in order to provide information to the Single Point of Contact or to the competent law enforcement authorities of other Member States under Chapter II or III where its national law does not require such a judicial authorisation for providing similar information within that Member State.
2. Member States shall ensure that, where a judicial authorisation is required under their national law in order to provide information to the Single Point of Contact or to the competent law enforcement authorities of other Member States under Chapter II or III, their Single Point of Contact or their competent law enforcement authorities immediately take all the necessary steps, in accordance with their national law, to obtain such a judicial authorisation as soon as possible.
3. Requests for judicial authorisation as referred to in paragraph 2 shall be assessed and decided upon in accordance with the national law of the Member State of the competent judicial authority.
Additional rules for information constituting personal data
Member States shall ensure that, where their Single Point of Contact or their competent law enforcement authorities provide information under Chapter II or III that constitutes personal data:
(a)
the personal data are accurate, complete and up to date, in accordance with Article 7(2) of Directive (EU) 2016/680;
(b)
the categories of personal data provided per category of data subject remain limited to those listed in Section B of Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2016/794 and are necessary for and proportionate to achieving the purpose of the request;
(c)
their Single Point of Contact or their competent law enforcement authorities also provide, at the same time and in so far as possible, the necessary elements enabling the Single Point of Contact or the competent law enforcement authority of the other Member State to assess the degree of accuracy, completeness and reliability of the personal data and the extent to which the personal data are up to date.
List of languages
1. Member States shall establish and keep up to date a list indicating one or more of the languages in which their Single Point of Contact is able to exchange information. That list shall include English.
2. Member States shall provide the list referred to in paragraph 1 and any updates thereto to the Commission. The Commission shall publish online a compilation of those lists and keep it up to date.
Provision of information to Europol
1. Member States shall ensure that, where their Single Point of Contact or their competent law enforcement authorities send requests for information, provide information pursuant to such requests or provide information on its or their own initiative under Chapter II or III of this Directive, the staff of their Single Point of Contact or competent law enforcement authorities also assess, on a case-by-case basis and subject to Article 7(7) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794, whether it is necessary to send a copy of the request for information or of the information provided to Europol, in so far as the information to which the communication relates concerns criminal offences falling within the scope of the objectives of Europol set out in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2016/794.
2. Member States shall ensure that, where a copy of a request for information or a copy of information is sent to Europol pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article, the purposes of the processing of the information and any possible restrictions to that processing pursuant to Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2016/794 are duly communicated to Europol. Member States shall ensure that information initially obtained from another Member State or a third country is sent to Europol pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article only where that other Member State or that third country has given its consent.
Secure communication channel
1. Member States shall ensure that their Single Point of Contact or their competent law enforcement authorities use Europol’s Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA) to send requests for information, to provide information pursuant to such requests or to provide information on its or their own initiative under Chapter II or III or under Article 12.
2. Member States may permit their Single Point of Contact or their competent law enforcement authorities not to use SIENA to send requests for information, to provide information pursuant to such requests or to provide information on its or their own initiative under Chapter II or III or under Article 12 in one or more of the following cases:
(a)
the exchange of information requires the involvement of third countries or international organisations or there are objective reasons to believe that such involvement will be required at a later stage, including through the Interpol communication channel;
(b)
the urgency of the request for information requires the temporary use of another communication channel;
(c)
an unexpected technical or operational incident prevents their Single Point of Contact or their competent law enforcement authorities from using SIENA to exchange the information.
3. Member States shall ensure that their Single Point of Contact, and all their competent law enforcement authorities that might be involved in the exchange of information under this Directive, are directly connected to SIENA, including, where appropriate, through mobile devices.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
