Initiative of the Kingdom of Spain with a view to adopting a Council Decision on the implementation of specific measures for police and judicial cooperation to combat terrorism in accordance with Article 4 of Common Position 2001/931/CFSP
Date: 2002-05-28
Institutions: Spain
Subjects: Spain, common foreign and security policy, judicial cooperation, police cooperation, terrorism

C 126/22

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.5.2002

II

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

Initiative of the Kingdom of Spain with a view to adopting a Council Decision on the implemen-
tation of specific measures for police and judicial cooperation to combat terrorism in accordance
with Article 4 of Common Position 2001/931/CFSP

(2002/C 126/15)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in
particular Articles 30, 31 and 34(2)(c) thereof,

Having regard to the initiative of the Kingdom of Spain (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

through police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters,
within the framework of Title VI of the Treaty on European
Union, afford each other the widest possible assistance in
preventing and combating terrorist acts.

(7) This Council Decision is the first step towards the adoption
specific measures concerning persons, groups and
of
entities referred to in Article 4 of Common Position
2001/931/CFSP,

Whereas:

(1) At its extraordinary meeting on 21 September 2001, the
European Council stated that terrorism is a real challenge
to the world and to Europe and that the fight against
terrorism will be a priority objective of
the European
Union.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

For the purposes of this Decision:

(2) On 28 September 2001 the United Nations Security
Council adopted Resolution 1373(2001) laying down wide-
ranging strategies to combat terrorism and in particular for
the fight against the financing of terrorism.

(a)

‘the listed persons, groups or entities’ means the persons,
groups or entities listed in the Annex to Council Common
Position 2001/931/CFSP on the application of specific
measures to combat terrorism;

(3) On 8 October 2001 the Council of the European Union
reaffirmed the determination of the European Union and its
Member States to play their full part,
in a coordinated
manner,
in the global coalition against terrorism, under
the aegis of the United Nations.

(4) On 19 October 2001 the European Council stated that it is
determined to combat terrorism in every form throughout
the world and that it will continue its efforts to strengthen
the coalition of the international community to combat
terrorism in every shape and form,
for example by
increased cooperation between the operational services
responsible for combating terrorism: Europol, Eurojust,
the intelligence services, police forces and courts.

(5) The European Union should take additional measures to
implement United Nations Security Council Resolution
1373(2001).

(6) Article 4 of Council Common Position 2001/931/CFSP of
27 December 2001 on the application of specific measures
to combat terrorism (3) provides that Member States shall,

(b) ‘terrorist offences’ means the offences referred to in Articles
the Framework Decision on combating

1 to 3 of
terrorism (4);

(c)

‘Europol Convention’ means the Convention of 26 July
1995 on the establishment of a European Police Office (5);

(d) ‘Eurojust Decision’ means Council Decision 2002/187/JHA
of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to
reinforcing the fight against serious crime (6).

Article 2

Each Member State shall designate a contact point within
1.
its police services, which will have access to and collect the
information concerning and resulting from criminal
investi-
gations conducted by its law enforcement authorities with
respect
the listed
persons, groups or entities.

to terrorist offences

involving any of

(1) OJ C . . .
(2) OJ C . . .
(3) OJ L 344, 28.12.2001, p. 93.

(4) OJ L . . .
(5) OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 2.
(6) OJ L 63, 6.3.2002, p. 1.

28.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 126/23

The information shall

2.
provided they are known, the following data:

include, as a minimum, and

communicated to Eurojust, in accordance with the provisions
of the Eurojust Decision, to enable it to carry out its tasks.

(a) data which identify the person, group or entity;

Article 4

(b) acts under investigation and their specific circumstances;

(c)

links with other cases;

(d) the use of communications technologies;

(e) the threat posed by the possession of weapons of mass

destruction.

Each Member State shall ensure that

3.
the information
referred to in paragraph 2, collected by the contact point, is
communicated to Europol, in accordance with the provisions
the Europol Convention, with a view to its processing
of
pursuant to Article 10, and particularly Article 10(6), thereof.

Article 3

concerning

to and collect

judiciary, which will have access

Each Member State shall designate a contact point within
1.
the
its
information
from criminal
and
proceedings conducted under the responsibility of its judicial
authorities, with regard to terrorist offences involving any of
the listed persons, groups or entities. The contact point shall be
the Eurojust national correspondent for terrorism matters in
those Member States in which such a contact point has been
designated.

resulting

The information shall

2.
provided they are known, the following data:

include, as a minimum, and

(a) data which identify the person, group or entity;

shall

Member States
and
fully exploit
advantages of the joint investigation teams, in order to inves-
tigate and prosecute terrorist offences involving any of the
listed persons, groups or entities.

the possibilities

Article 5

Member States shall ensure that information communicated by
them to Europol and Eurojust, pursuant to Articles 1 and 2,
can be exchanged between Europol and Eurojust pursuant to
an agreement on cooperation which may be signed between
these two bodies, in accordance with the Europol Convention
and the Eurojust Decision.

Article 6

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure
that requests from other Member States for mutual
legal
assistance and recognition and enforcement of judgments in
connection with terrorist offences involving any of the listed
persons, groups or entities, are dealt with urgently and as a
matter of priority.

Article 7

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure
that any document, file, item of information, object or other
means of evidence, seized or confiscated in the course of
criminal investigations or criminal proceedings against any of
the listed persons, groups or entities, can be made accessible or
available immediately to the authorities of other Member States
where investigations against those listed persons, groups or
entities are being carried out or might be initiated.

(b) acts under investigation and their specific circumstances;

Article 8

(c)

links with other cases;

This Decision shall take effect on the day following that of its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

(d) mutual legal assistance requests, including letters rogatory,
which may have been made by or to another Member
State, as well as the results of these.

Done at Brussels, on . . .

Each Member State shall ensure that

3.
the information
referred to in paragraph 2, collected by the contact point, is

For the Council

The President

. . .