Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on combating terrorism
Date: 2002-06-13
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU police cooperation, crime against individuals, criminal proceedings, fundamental rights, judicial cooperation, penalty, terrorism

22.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 164/3

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

COUNCIL FRAMEWORK DECISION

of 13 June 2002

on combating terrorism

(2002/475/JHA)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Union,
and in particular Article 29, Article 31(e) and Article 34(2)(b)
thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

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

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

The European Union is founded on the universal values
of human dignity, liberty, equality and solidarity, respect
for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is based
on the principle of democracy and the principle of the
rule of law, principles which are common to the Member
States.

Terrorism constitutes one of the most serious violations
of those principles. The La Gomera Declaration adopted
at the informal Council meeting on 14 October 1995 af-
firmed that terrorism constitutes a threat to democracy,
to the free exercise of human rights and to economic
and social development.

(5)

All or some Member States are party to a number of
conventions relating to terrorism. The Council of Europe
Convention of 27 January 1977 on the Suppression of
Terrorism does not regard terrorist offences as political
offences or as offences connected with political offences
or as offences inspired by political motives. The United
Nations has adopted the Convention for the suppression
of terrorist bombings of 15 December 1997 and the
Convention for the suppression of financing terrorism of
9 December 1999. A draft global Convention against ter-
rorism is currently being negotiated within the United
Nations.

At European Union level, on 3 December 1998 the
Council adopted the Action Plan of the Council and the
Commission on how best to implement the provisions
of the Treaty of Amsterdam on an area of freedom, se-
curity and justice (3). Account should also be taken of the

Council Conclusions of 20 September 2001 and of the
Extraordinary European Council plan of action to com-
bat terrorism of 21 September 2001. Terrorism was re-
ferred to in the conclusions of the Tampere European
Council of 15 and 16 October 1999, and of the Santa
María da Feira European Council of 19 and 20 June
2000. It was also mentioned in the Commission commu-
nication to the Council and the European Parliament on
the biannual update of the scoreboard to review progress
on the creation of an area of ‘freedom, security and jus-
tice’
in the European Union (second half of 2000).
Furthermore, on 5 September 2001 the European Parlia-
ment adopted a recommendation on the role of the Eur-
opean Union in combating terrorism. It should, more-
over, be recalled that on 30 July 1996 twenty-five
measures to fight against terrorism were advocated by
the leading industrialised countries (G7) and Russia
meeting in Paris.

The European Union has adopted numerous specific
measures having an impact on terrorism and organised
crime, such as the Council Decision of 3 December
1998 instructing Europol to deal with crimes committed
or likely to be committed in the course of terrorist
limb, personal freedom or prop-
activities against life,
erty (4); Council Joint Action 96/610/JHA of 15 October
1996 concerning the creation and maintenance of a Di-
rectory of
specialised counter-terrorist competences,
skills and expertise to facilitate counter-terrorism coop-
eration between the Member States of the European Un-
ion (5); Council
Joint Action 98/428/JHA of 29 June
1998 on the creation of a European Judicial Network (6),
with responsibilities in terrorist offences,
in particular
Article 2; Council Joint Action 98/733/JHA of 21 De-
cember 1998 on making it a criminal offence to partici-
pate in a criminal organisation in the Member States of
the European Union (7); and the Council Recommenda-
tion of 9 December 1999 on cooperation in combating
the financing of terrorist groups (8).

(1) OJ C 332 E, 27.11.2001, p. 300.
(2) Opinion delivered on 6 February 2002 (not yet published in the Of-

ficial Journal).

(3) OJ C 19, 23.1.1999, p. 1.

(4) OJ C 26, 30.1.1999, p. 22.
(5) OJ L 273, 25.10.1996, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 191, 7.7.1998, p. 4.
(7) OJ L 351, 29.12.1998, p. 1.
(8) OJ C 373, 23.12.1999, p. 1.

L 164/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

22.6.2002

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

The definition of terrorist offences should be approxi-
mated in all Member States, including those offences re-
lating to terrorist groups. Furthermore, penalties and
sanctions should be provided for natural and legal per-
sons having committed or being liable for such offences,
which reflect the seriousness of such offences.

Jurisdictional rules should be established to ensure that
the terrorist offence may be effectively prosecuted.

Victims of terrorist offences are vulnerable, and therefore
specific measures are necessary with regard to them.

Given that the objectives of the proposed action cannot
be sufficiently achieved by the Member States unilater-
ally, and can therefore, because of the need for recipro-
city, be better achieved at the level of the Union, the
Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the prin-
ciple of subsidiarity. In accordance with the principle of
proportionality, this Framework Decision does not go
beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those ob-
jectives.

This Framework Decision respects fundamental rights as
guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protec-
tion of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and as
they emerge from the constitutional traditions common
to the Member States as principles of Community law.
The Union observes the principles recognised by Article
6(2) of the Treaty on European Union and reflected in
the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Un-
ion, notably Chapter VI thereof. Nothing in this Frame-
work Decision may be interpreted as being intended to
reduce or restrict fundamental rights or freedoms such as
the right to strike, freedom of assembly, of association or
of expression, including the right of everyone to form
and to join trade unions with others for the protection
of his or her interests and the related right to demon-
strate.

(11) Actions by armed forces during periods of armed con-
flict, which are governed by international humanitarian
law within the meaning of these terms under that law,
and, inasmuch as they are governed by other rules of in-
ternational law, actions by the armed forces of a State in
the exercise of their official duties are not governed by
this Framework Decision,

HAS ADOPTED THIS FRAMEWORK DECISION:

Article 1

Terrorist offences and fundamental rights and principles

1.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to
ensure that the intentional acts referred to below in points (a)
to (i), as defined as offences under national law, which, given

their nature or context, may seriously damage a country or an
international organisation where committed with the aim of:

— seriously intimidating a population, or

— unduly compelling a Government or international organisa-
tion to perform or abstain from performing any act, or

— seriously destabilising or destroying the fundamental politi-
cal, constitutional, economic or social structures of a coun-
try or an international organisation,

shall be deemed to be terrorist offences:

(a) attacks upon a person’s life which may cause death;

(b) attacks upon the physical integrity of a person;

(c) kidnapping or hostage taking;

(d) causing extensive destruction to a Government or pub-
lic facility, a transport system, an infrastructure facility,
including an information system, a fixed platform lo-
cated on the continental shelf, a public place or private
property likely to endanger human life or result in ma-
jor economic loss;

(e) seizure of aircraft, ships or other means of public or

goods transport;

(f) manufacture, possession, acquisition, transport, supply
or use of weapons, explosives or of nuclear, biological
or chemical weapons, as well as research into, and de-
velopment of, biological and chemical weapons;

(g) release of dangerous substances, or causing fires, floods
or explosions the effect of which is to endanger human
life;

(h) interfering with or disrupting the supply of water,
power or any other fundamental natural resource the ef-
fect of which is to endanger human life;

(i) threatening to commit any of the acts listed in (a) to (h).

This Framework Decision shall not have the effect of al-
2.
tering the obligation to respect fundamental rights and funda-
mental legal principles as enshrined in Article 6 of the Treaty
on European Union.

Article 2

Offences relating to a terrorist group

For the purposes of this Framework Decision,

1.
‘terrorist
group’ shall mean: a structured group of more than two per-
sons, established over a period of time and acting in concert to
commit
‘Structured group’ shall mean a
group that is not randomly formed for the immediate commis-
sion of an offence and that does not need to have formally de-
fined roles for its members, continuity of its membership or a
developed structure.

terrorist offences.

22.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 164/5

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to

2.
ensure that the following intentional acts are punishable:

(a) directing a terrorist group;

(b) participating in the activities of a terrorist group, including
by supplying information or material resources, or by fund-
ing its activities in any way, with knowledge of the fact that
such participation will contribute to the criminal activities
of the terrorist group.

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to
3.
ensure that offences listed in Article 2 are punishable by custo-
dial sentences, with a maximum sentence of not less than fif-
teen years for the offence referred to in Article 2(2)(a), and for
the offences listed in Article 2(2)(b) a maximum sentence of not
less than eight years. In so far as the offence referred to in
Article 2(2)(a) refers only to the act in Article 1(1)(i), the maxi-
mum sentence shall not be less than eight years.

Article 3

Offences linked to terrorist activities

Article 6

Particular circumstances

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure
that terrorist-linked offences include the following acts:

Each Member State may take the necessary measures to ensure
that the penalties referred to in Article 5 may be reduced if the
offender:

(a) aggravated theft with a view to committing one of the acts

listed in Article 1(1);

(a) renounces terrorist activity, and

(b) extortion with a view to the perpetration of one of the acts

listed in Article 1(1);

(b) provides the administrative or judicial authorities with in-
formation which they would not otherwise have been able
to obtain, helping them to:

(c) drawing up false administrative documents with a view to
committing one of the acts listed in Article 1(1)(a) to (h)
and Article 2(2)(b).

(i) prevent or mitigate the effects of the offence;

(ii) identify or bring to justice the other offenders;

(iii) find evidence; or

(iv) prevent further offences referred to in Articles 1 to 4.

Article 4

Inciting, aiding or abetting, and attempting

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to
1.
ensure that inciting or aiding or abetting an offence referred to
in Article 1(1), Articles 2 or 3 is made punishable.

2.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to
ensure that attempting to commit an offence referred to in Arti-
cle 1(1) and Article 3, with the exception of possession as pro-
vided for in Article 1(1)(f) and the offence referred to in Article
1(1)(i), is made punishable.

Article 5

Penalties

1.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to
ensure that the offences referred to in Articles 1 to 4 are pun-
ishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal pe-
nalties, which may entail extradition.

2.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to
ensure that the terrorist offences referred to in Article 1(1) and
offences referred to in Article 4, inasmuch as they relate to ter-
rorist offences, are punishable by custodial sentences heavier
than those imposable under national law for such offences in
the absence of the special intent required pursuant to Article
1(1), save where the sentences imposable are already the maxi-
mum possible sentences under national law.

Article 7

Liability of legal persons

1.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to
ensure that legal persons can be held liable for any of the of-
fences referred to in Articles 1 to 4 committed for their benefit
by any person, acting either individually or as part of an organ
of the legal person, who has a leading position within the legal
person, based on one of the following:

(a) a power of representation of the legal person;

(b) an authority to take decisions on behalf of the legal person;

(c) an authority to exercise control within the legal person.

2.
Apart from the cases provided for in paragraph 1, each
Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that
legal persons can be held liable where the lack of supervision
or control by a person referred to in paragraph 1 has made
possible the commission of any of the offences referred to in
Articles 1 to 4 for the benefit of that legal person by a person
under its authority.

3.
Liability of legal persons under paragraphs 1 and 2 shall
not exclude criminal proceedings against natural persons who
are perpetrators, instigators or accessories in any of the offences
referred to in Articles 1 to 4.

L 164/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

22.6.2002

Article 8

— the Member State shall be the Member State of origin of the

victims,

Penalties for legal persons

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure
that a legal person held liable pursuant to Article 7 is punish-
able by effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, which
shall include criminal or non-criminal fines and may include
other penalties, such as:

(a) exclusion from entitlement to public benefits or aid;

(b) temporary or permanent disqualification from the practice

of commercial activities;

(c) placing under judicial supervision;

(d) a judicial winding-up order;

— the Member State shall be that in the territory of which the

perpetrator was found.

3.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures also
to establish its jurisdiction over the offences referred to in
Articles 1 to 4 in cases where it refuses to hand over or extra-
dite a person suspected or convicted of such an offence to an-
other Member State or to a third country.

4.
Each Member State shall ensure that its jurisdiction covers
cases in which any of the offences referred to in Articles 2 and
4 has been committed in whole or in part within its territory,
wherever the terrorist group is based or pursues its criminal ac-
tivities.

(e) temporary or permanent closure of establishments which

have been used for committing the offence.

5.
This Article shall not exclude the exercise of jurisdiction
in criminal matters as laid down by a Member State in accor-
dance with its national legislation.

Article 9

Jurisdiction and prosecution

1.
Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to
establish its jurisdiction over the offences referred to in Articles
1 to 4 where:

(a) the offence is committed in whole or in part in its territory.
Each Member State may extend its jurisdiction if the offence
is committed in the territory of a Member State;

(b) the offence is committed on board a vessel flying its flag or

an aircraft registered there;

(c) the offender is one of its nationals or residents;

(d) the offence is committed for the benefit of a legal person

established in its territory;

(e) the offence is committed against the institutions or people
of the Member State in question or against an institution of
the European Union or a body set up in accordance with
the Treaty establishing the European Community or the
Treaty on European Union and based in that Member State.

2. When an offence falls within the jurisdiction of more than
one Member State and when any of the States concerned can
validly prosecute on the basis of the same facts, the Member
States concerned shall cooperate in order to decide which of
them will prosecute the offenders with the aim, if possible, of
centralising proceedings in a single Member State. To this end,
the Member States may have recourse to any body or mechan-
ism established within the European Union in order to facilitate
cooperation between their judicial authorities and the coordina-
tion of their action. Sequential account shall be taken of the fol-
lowing factors:

— the Member State shall be that in the territory of which the

acts were committed,

Article 10

Protection of, and assistance to, victims

1. Member States shall ensure that investigations into, or
prosecution of, offences covered by this Framework Decision
are not dependent on a report or accusation made by a person
subjected to the offence, at least if the acts were committed on
the territory of the Member State.

2.
In addition to the measures laid down in the Council Fra-
mework Decision 2001/220/JHA of 15 March 2001 on the
standing of victims in criminal proceedings (1), each Member
State shall, if necessary, take all measures possible to ensure ap-
propriate assistance for victims’ families.

Article 11

Implementation and reports

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to com-
ply with this Framework Decision by 31 December 2002.

2.
By 31 December 2002, Member States shall forward to
the General Secretariat of the Council and to the Commission
the text of the provisions transposing into their national law
the obligations imposed on them under this Framework Deci-
sion. On the basis of a report drawn up from that information
and a report from the Commission, the Council shall assess, by
31 December 2003, whether Member States have taken the ne-
cessary measures to comply with this Framework Decision.

3.
The Commission report shall specify, in particular, trans-
position into the criminal law of the Member States of the obli-
gation referred to in Article 5(2).

— the Member State shall be that of which the perpetrator is a

national or resident,

(1) OJ L 82, 22.3.2001, p. 1.

22.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 164/7

This Framework Decision shall apply to Gibraltar.

Article 12

Territorial application

Article 13

Entry into force

This Framework Decision shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal.

Done at Luxembourg, 13 June 2002.

For the Council

The President

M. RAJOY BREY