Initiative from the Portuguese Republic with a view to adopting a Council Act on the drawing up on the basis of Article 43(1) of the Convention on the establishment of a European Police Office (Europol Convention) of a Protocol amending Article 2 and the Annex to that Convention
Date: 2000-06-20
Institutions: Portugal
Subjects: Europol, Portugal, agreement (EU), money laundering

13.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 200/1

II

(Acts adopted pursuant to Title VI of the Treaty on European Union)

COUNCIL

Initiative from the Portuguese Republic with a view to the adoption of a Council Act on the
drawing up on the basis of Article 43(1) of the Convention on the establishment of a European
Police Office (Europol Convention) of a Protocol amending Article 2 and the Annex to that
Convention

(2000/C 200/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Convention on the establishment of a
European Police Office (1) and in particular Article 43(1)
thereof,

Having regard to the initiative of the Portuguese Republic (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (3),

Having regard to the opinion of the Management Board (4),

WHEREAS the European Council at its meeting in Tampere
invited the Council to extend the competence of Europol to
money laundering in general, regardless of the type of offence
from which the laundered proceeds originate,

HAS DECIDED on the drawing up of a Protocol, the text
of which is annexed, amending the Convention on the
establishment of a European Police Office, which has been
signed today by the representatives of the governments of the
Member States of the European Union,

RECOMMENDS that it be adopted by the Member States in
accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.

Done at ...

For the Council

The President

...

(1) OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 2.
(2) OJ C 200, 13.7.2000, p. 1.
(3) OJ C ... .
(4) OJ C ... .

C 200/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

13.7.2000

PROTOCOL

drawn up on the basis of Article 43(1) of the Convention on the establishment of a European
Police Office (Europol Convention) amending Article 2 and the Annex to that Convention

THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES to this Protocol and Contracting Parties to the Convention on the establishment
of a European Police Office, Member States of the European Union,

REFERRING to the Act of the Council of the European Union of … 2000,

Whereas:

(1) There is a need to give Europol more effective tools to fight money laundering in order to reinforce Europol’s

possibilities to support the Member States in this fight.

(2) The European Council invited the Council of the European Union to extend the competence of Europol to
money laundering in general, regardless of the type of offence from which the laundered proceeds originate,

HAVE AGREED ON THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS:

Article 1

Article 2

The Europol Convention is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 2 is amended as follows:

1.
This Protocol shall be subject to adoption by the Member
States in accordance with their respective constitutional
requirements.

(a)

in paragraph 2 the first subparagraph shall be replaced
by the following:

‘2.
In order to achieve progressively the objective
mentioned in paragraph 1, Europol shall (initially) act
to prevent and combat unlawful drug trafficking, illegal
money laundering activities, trafficking in nuclear and
immigrant smuggling,
radioactive substances, illegal
trade in human beings and motor vehicle crime.’

(b) in paragraph 3 the first subparagraph shall be replaced

by the following:

‘3. Europol’s competence as regards a form of crime
or specific manifestations thereof shall cover related
criminal offences. It shall, however, not cover offences
predicate to illegal money laundering activities with
regard to which forms of crime Europol has no
competence pursuant to paragraph 2.’

2. The Annex is amended as follows:

2. Member States shall notify the Secretary-General of the
Council of the European Union of the completion of their
constitutional requirements for adopting this Protocol.

3.
This Protocol shall enter into force 90 days after the
notification, referred to in paragraph 2, by the Member State
which, being a member of the European Union on the date of
adoption by the Council of the act establishing this Protocol,
is the last to fulfil that formality.

Article 3

1.
This Protocol shall be open to accession by any State
which becomes a member of the European Union if this
Protocol has not entered into force on the date of deposit of
the instruments of accession to the Europol Convention in
accordance with Article 46 of the Europol Convention.

the paragraph beginning with the words ‘In addition, in
accordance with Article 2(2)’ shall be replaced by the
following:

2.
Instruments of accession to this Protocol shall be
deposited simultaneously with the instruments of accession to
the Europol Convention in accordance with Article 46 thereof.

‘In addition, in accordance with Article 2(2), the act of
instructing Europol to deal with one of the forms of crime
listed above implies that it is also competent to deal with
the related criminal offences.’.

The text of this Protocol in the language of the acceding
3.
State, drawn up by the Council of the European Union, shall
be authentic.

13.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 200/3

4.
If, on the expiry of the period referred to in Article 46(4)
of the Europol Convention, this Protocol has not entered into
force, it will enter into force for the acceding Member State on
the date of entry into force of this Protocol in accordance with
Article 4(3).

amended by virtue of
Article 46 of that Convention.

this Protocol,

in accordance with

Article 4

If this Protocol enters into force in accordance with
5.
Article 4(3) before the period referred to in Article 46(4) of the
Europol Convention has expired but after the deposit of the
instrument of accession referred to in paragraph 2, the acced-
ing Member State shall accede to the Europol Convention as

The Secretary-General of the Council of the European

1.
Union shall act as depositary of this Protocol.

The depositary shall publish in the Official

2.
Journal
information on the progress of adoptions and accessions and
also any other notification concerning this Protocol.