WRITTEN QUESTION E-1952/99 by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Council. Child pornography.
Date: 1999-11-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Europol, Internet, child pornography

C 203 E/94

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.7.2000

On 23 November the Commission President initiated a dialogue on this subject by holding a partnership
meeting which was attended not only by the French, Portuguese and Spanish authorities but also by
representatives of the seven outermost regions and the Members of the European Parliament from those
regions.

The Commission is now studying the proposals submitted to it.

At the partnership meeting the Commission President announced that in December 1999 the Commission
would discuss the report requested by the Cologne European Council.

(2000/C 203 E/119)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1945/99

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(4 November 1999)

Subject: Monitoring Community regulations on drift nets during the last bonito fishing season

What were the results of the checks on the last bonito fishing season as regards drift nets?

How many cases of infringement were found, what were the reasons for these infringements, what were
the names and origins of the vessels responsible and what penalties were imposed?

What is the Commission(cid:146)s general assessment of the last bonito fishing season, and the degree to which
the Community regulations were complied with?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(10 December 1999)

Now the 1999 tuna fishing season has ended, the Commission is currently compiling the usual report on
the application of the Community legislation on the use of drift nets in the Northeast Atlantic and the
Mediterranean, based on all the information the Member States concerned are required to supply.

This report will be forwarded to the members of Parliament(cid:146)s Committee on Fisheries around 15 March
2000.

(2000/C 203 E/120)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1952/99

by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Council

(9 November 1999)

Subject: Child pornography

Child pornography, along with the spread of extreme right-wing and left-wing material, constitutes one of
the main problems facing us in connection with the Internet. In view of this and given the intense current
public debate on the matter.

Can the Council answer the following:

1. How many people in Europol are responsible for combating child pornography?

2. What is their specific task description?

3. What kind of cooperation is there between Europol and national authorities in this area?

4.

Is there any specific data concerning successful
pornography on the Internet?

intervention by Europol

in the area of child

18.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 203 E/95

Answer

(24 January 2000)

In respect to the questions raised by the Honourable Member of the European Parliament, the following
should be noted:

1.

2.

In its decision of 3 December 1998 (1), the Council supplemented the definition of the form of crime
(cid:145)traffic in human beings(cid:146)
in the Annex to the Europol Convention in order for it to include the
production, sale or distribution of child-pornography material. Europol is thus competent in relation
to the distribution of child-pornography, irrespective of the way in which it is distributed (in paper
form, through the internet, etc).

Europol normal working methods involve the exchange of information by the 45 Europol Liaison
Officers seconded by the Member States to Europol, supported by the activities of 17 specialist
intelligence analysts. Europol(cid:146)s focus is mainly on analysis activities, specifically in supporting strategic
analyses for the preparation of situation reports and threat assessments, as well as supporting
operational projects by the Member States authorities. In addition to this, currently two member of
Europol staff are full-time involved in the combating of trafficking in human beings, including child
pornography. Next year an additional member of staff will be recruited for these tasks. They are
supported for specific projects be Europol personnel from other units, in particular by analysts, IT-
personnel and training-officers.

3. The specific task of Europol in this area of crime is to facilitate the combating and dismantling of
Trafficking in Human Beings networks, focussing on sexual exploitation and child pornography, by
the bilateral exchange of information via the Europol Liaison Officers, and by analysing the latest
trends, modus operandi and developments. Within this context mention can also be made of a
Europol initiative to organise a Europol training course on the specific subject of combating child
pornography and the Internet.

4. The co-operation between Europol and the national authorities, apart from the information exchange
referred to above, is in the organisation of regular meetings on the subject, attended by the Member
States experts in this area of criminality. Through these meetings, an exchange of information on
relevant experiences and best practices takes place, as well as information on the latest trends and
modus operandi. Some of these meetings are also attended by representatives of non-governmental
organisations, such as La Strada and Solwodi.

5.

Furthermore, Europol experts participate in other European initiatives in this area, such as giving
advise to the STOP-programme. Currently there are no data available on specific interventions by
Europol
law
enforcement activities. It is recalled that Europol(cid:146)s task in accordance with the Europol Convention is
to support the Member States authorities in combating organised criminality, not to pursue opera-
tional activities itself.

in this area; such interventions are prepared and executed throughout the national

6.

Since Europol only formally took up its activities on 1 July, time for development of specific support
projects has been relatively short.

(1)

1999/C 26/05, OJ C 26, 30.1.1999, p. 21.

(2000/C 203 E/121)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1958/99

by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission

(5 November 1999)

Subject: Bureau de Stage

To enable young people from the Member States and candidate countries to familiarise themselves with
the work of EU institutions, the Commission (cid:129) and the other Institutions (cid:129) offer them the opportunity of
completing a practical training course in their respective departments. For the organisation of these
courses and to make life easier for newcomers on arrival, the Commission has set up a (cid:145)Bureau de Stage(cid:146).