Justice – Photo © Yanchenko – Fotolia
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Council gave its final green light Monday to a law to boost information sharing between states and Eurojust, allowing significant progress in the prosecution of terrorism offences.
Currently, EU member states share information with Eurojust, the EU agency for criminal justice cooperation, on cases related to terrorism via different, sometimes unsecure, channels. And the current judicial counter-terrorism register does not allow for proper cross-checking of information.
The new regulation will enable a more efficient exchange on investigations and the prosecution of terrorist offences, while member state authorities and EU agencies will have access to the most complete and updated information on terrorism cases.
Eurojust will play a stronger role in supporting coordination and cooperation between national authorities investigating and prosecuting terrorist offences.
Under the new rules, member states will need to provide Eurojust with information on any criminal investigations regarding terrorist offences as soon as such cases are referred to the judicial authorities. The proposal:
- creates a modern, digital case-management system which stores this information and allows it to be cross-checked
- empowers Eurojust to better detect links between transnational investigations and prosecutions in the field of terrorism and to proactively inform member states about the links found
- creates a secure digital communication channel between member states and Eurojust
- simplifies cooperation with third countries by granting liaison prosecutors seconded to Eurojust access to the case-management system
The regulation will enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It is directly applicable in all EU member states.
