Initiative of the Kingdom of Spain with a view to the adoption of a Council Decision establishing a mechanism for evaluating national legal provisions relating to the fight against terrorism and their implementation
Date: 2002-06-25
Institutions: Spain
Subjects: evaluation method, international cooperation, organised crime, report, terrorism

C 151/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

25.6.2002

II

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

Initiative of the Kingdom of Spain with a view to the adoption of a Council Decision establishing
a mechanism for evaluating national legal provisions relating to the fight against terrorism and
their implementation

(2002/C 151/08)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in
particular Article 29 and Article 34(1) and (2)(c) thereof,

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

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

Whereas:

in the fight against terrorism and their implementation, and in
particular of actions against terrorism within the framework of
international cooperation between Member States,
is hereby
established.

2.
Each Member State shall undertake to ensure that its
national authorities cooperate fully with the evaluation teams
set up under this Decision with a view to its implementation,
with due regard for the rules of law and ethics applicable at
national level.

(1) The Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on 20
September 2001 decided, as recorded in point 15 of its
Conclusions, to instruct the Article 36 Committee to work
out an easier and swifter form of the evaluation mechanism
defined in Council Joint Action 97/827/JHA of 5 December
1997 establishing
the
application and implementation at national level of inter-
national undertakings
against organised
in the
crime (3),
in order to define a procedure for the peer
assessment of national anti-terrorist arrangements.

a mechanism for

evaluating

fight

(2) It is necessary to improve the national legal systems in the

fight against terrorism and their implementation.

(3) The primary responsibility for designing each national legal
provision and implementing it at national level rests with
each Member State, although,
the
European Union, Member States inform each other of the
content in order to achieve greater efficiency in the fight
against terrorism.

in the context of

(4) It is also desirable to establish a mechanism which, in the
context of the cooperation provided for in the Treaty on
European Union, enables Member States to evaluate, on a
basis of equality and mutual confidence, their national legal
provisions designed to fight against terrorism, as well as
their implementation,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Creation of the evaluation mechanism

1. Without prejudice to Community competences, and in
accordance with the detailed rules
a
mechanism for peer evaluation of the national legal provisions

set out below,

(1) OJ C . . .
(2) OJ C . . .
(3) OJ L 344, 15.12.1997, p. 7.

Article 2

Evaluation subjects

For each exercise the Article 36 Committee shall define,
1.
on a proposal from the Presidency, the specific subject of the
evaluation as well as the order in which Member States are to
be evaluated.

Further, depending on the specific subject chosen for the
evaluation,
the Article 36 Committee shall designate the
Council Working Party which will carry out the said evaluation
or, where appropriate, it may decide to carry it out itself.

the Council

The Presidency of

2.
the
evaluation, assisted by the General Secretariat of the Council,
in particular with the aid of the national experts seconded for
that purpose. The Commission shall be fully involved in the
preparatory work.

shall prepare

The first evaluation exercise shall finish no later than the

3.
end of 2002.

Article 3

Designation of experts

1.
Each Member State shall send to the General Secretariat
of the Council, at the Presidency's initiative, and no later than
15 days after the date on which the Article 36 Committee
the
decides
names of one to three experts having substantial experience
of the subject to which the evaluation relates in the field of
combating terrorism and who are prepared to participate in at
least one evaluation exercise.

to start an evaluation on a specific subject,

The Presidency shall draw up a list of

2.
the experts
designated by the Member States and shall forward it to the
Article 36 Committee or, where appropriate, to the Working
Party designated for the purpose.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 151/15

Article 4

Evaluation team

1.
On the basis of the list referred to in Article 3(2), the
the
Presidency shall choose a team of
evaluation of each Member State, ensuring that they are not
nationals of the Member State in question.

two experts

for

The names of

2.
the experts chosen to make up each
to the Article 36
evaluation team shall be notified
Committee or to the Working Party designated for the purpose.

The evaluation team shall be assisted in all its tasks by the

3.
General Secretariat of the Council.

Article 5

Preparation of the questionnaire

The Presidency shall, with the assistance of the General Secre-
tariat of the Council, draw up a questionnaire for the purposes
of evaluating all Member States in the framework of
the
specific subject defined in Article 2(1) and shall submit it for
approval to the Article 36 Committee or, where appropriate, to
the Working Party designated for the purpose. The ques-
tionnaire shall be designed to establish all information useful
for the conduct of the evaluation. The Member State being
evaluated shall ensure that
it replies to the questionnaire
within one month and as fully as possible and shall attach
where necessary all
and
legal provisions
practical data required.

and technical

Article 6

Evaluation visit

No later than one month after receiving the reply to the ques-
tionnaire, the evaluation team shall go to that Member State
with a programme of visits arranged by the Member State
visited on the basis of
for
interviews with the political, administrative, police, customs
and judicial authorities and any other relevant body.

the evaluation team's proposal,

Article 7

Preparation of the draft report

No later than 15 days after the visit referred to in Article 6, the
evaluation team shall draw up a draft report and submit it to
the Member State evaluated which shall give its observations
thereon within 15 days. If the evaluation team deems it appro-
priate, it shall amend its report in the light of the comments
made by the Member State evaluated.

State evaluated which were not accepted by the evaluation
team.

The meeting of

the Article 36 Committee or, where
2.
appropriate,
the Working Party designated for the purpose
shall begin with a presentation of the draft report by the
members of the evaluation team. The representative of the
Member State evaluated shall
then provide any comment,
information or explanation he deems necessary. The Article
the Working Party
36 Committee or, where appropriate,
designated for the purpose shall then discuss the draft report
and adopt its conclusions by consensus.

3.
The Presidency shall inform the Council once a year of
the results of the evaluation exercises. The Council may, where
it sees fit, address any recommendations to the Member State
concerned and may invite it to report back to the Council on
the progress it has made by a deadline to be set by the Council.

In compliance with Article 9(2),

4.
the Presidency shall
inform the European Parliament each year of the implemen-
tation of the evaluation mechanism.

At the end of a complete evaluation exercise, the Council

5.
shall take the appropriate measures.

Article 9

Confidentiality

The experts on the evaluation teams shall be required to
1.
respect the confidentiality of any information they receive in
connection with their task. Member States must
therefore
ensure that the experts they appoint under Article 3 have an
appropriate security level, where appropriate.

The report drawn up within the framework of

this
2.
Decision shall be confidential. However,
the Member State
evaluated may publish the report on its own responsibility. It
must obtain the Council's consent if it wishes to publish only
parts of it.

Article 10

Review of the mechanism

No later than at the end of the first evaluation of all the
Member States, the Council shall examine the detailed rules
and scope of the mechanism and shall, if appropriate, make
adjustments to this Decision.

Article 11

Entry into force

Article 8

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

Discussion and adoption of the report

Done at Brussels . . .

1.
The Presidency shall forward the draft report, which shall
be confidential, to the members of the Article 36 Committee
or, where appropriate, to the Working Party designated for the
purpose, together with any of the comments by the Member

For the Council

The President

. . .