Council Act of 30 November 2000 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: 2000-11-30
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, Europol, cooperation policy, fight against crime, money laundering

13.12.2000

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 358/1

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

COUNCIL ACT

of 30 November 2000

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 358/01)

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 Portugal (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of the Management Board,

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 Brussels, 30 November 2000.

For the Council

The President

M. LEBRANCHU

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

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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

PROTOCOL

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 30 November 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

The Europol Convention is amended as follows.

1. Article 2 is amended as follows:

(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,
trafficking in
illegal money-laundering activities,
nuclear and radioactive substances, illegal immigrant
smuggling, 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 para-
graph 2.’

2.

The Annex is amended as follows:

‘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.’

Article 2

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

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.

This Protocol shall enter into force 90 days after the
3.
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:

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

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

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
in
State on the date of entry into force of this Protocol
accordance with Article 2(3).

instrument of accession referred to in paragraph 2,
the
acceding Member State shall accede to the Europol Convention
as amended by virtue of this Protocol, in accordance with
Article 46 of the Europol Convention.

Article 4

The Secretary-General of the Council of the European

1.
Union shall act as depositary of this Protocol.

5.
If this Protocol enters into force in accordance with
Article 2(3) before the period referred to in Article 46(4) of the
Europol Convention has expired but after the deposit of the

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.

Hecho en Bruselas, el treinta de noviembre del an˜ o dos mil.

Udfærdiget i Bruxelles, den tredivte november to tusind.

Geschehen zu Brüssel am dreißigsten November zweitausend.

’¯ªØ(cid:237)(cid:229) (cid:243)(cid:244)Ø(cid:242) ´æı(cid:238)(cid:229)·ºº(cid:229)(cid:242), (cid:243)(cid:244)Ø(cid:242) (cid:244)æØÆ·(cid:237)(cid:244)Æ ˝(cid:239)(cid:229)(cid:236)(cid:226)æØ·(cid:239)ı (cid:228)ı·(cid:239) (cid:247)ØºØÆ·(cid:228)(cid:229)(cid:242).

Done at Brussels on the thirtieth day of November in the year two thousand.

Fait à Bruxelles, le trente novembre deux mille.

Arna dhéanamh sa Bhruiséil, an trı´ochadu´ la´ de Shamhain sa bhliain dha´ mhı´le.

Fatto a Bruxelles, addı` trenta novembre duemila.

Gedaan te Brussel, de dertigste november tweeduizend.

Feito em Bruxelas, em trinta de Novembro de dois mil.

Tehty Brysselissä kolmantenakymmenentenä päivänä marraskuuta vuonna kaksituhatta.

Som skedde i Bryssel den trettionde november tjugohundra.

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Pour le gouvernement du Royaume de Belgique
Voor de regering van het Koninkrijk België
Für die Regierung des Königreichs Belgien

For regeringen for Kongeriget Danmark

Für die Regierung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

ˆØÆ (cid:244)(cid:231)(cid:237) Œı(cid:226)(cid:229)·æ(cid:237)(cid:231)(cid:243)(cid:231) (cid:244)(cid:231)(cid:242) ¯ºº(cid:231)(cid:237)ØŒ(cid:231)·(cid:242) ˜(cid:231)(cid:236)(cid:239)ŒæÆ(cid:244)Ø·Æ(cid:242)

Por el Gobierno del Reino de Espan˜ a

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Pour le gouvernement de la République française

Thar ceann Rialtas na hE´ ireann

For the Government of Ireland

Per il governo della Repubblica italiana

Pour le gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg

Voor de regering van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden

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Für die Regierung der Republik O¨ sterreich

Pelo Governo da Repu´ blica Portuguesa

Suomen hallituksen puolesta

På finska regeringens vägnar

På svenska regeringens vägnar

For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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Declaration adopted by the Council of the European Union at the time of adoption of the Council
Act 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

Further to points 55 and 56 of the conclusions of the European Council meeting in Tampere, the Council
agrees to examine the definition of money laundering in the Annex to the Europol Convention in the
light of the implications which emerge from the discussions in progress within the Council on the money-
laundering Directive and the framework Decision.