2002/996/JHA: Council Decision of 28 November 2002 establishing a mechanism for evaluating the legal systems and their implementation at national level in the fight against terrorism
Date: 2002-11-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: confidentiality, evaluation method, international cooperation, project evaluation, terrorism

24.12.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 349/1

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

COUNCIL DECISION

of 28 November 2002

establishing a mechanism for evaluating the legal systems and their implementation at national
level in the fight against terrorism

(2002/996/JHA)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in parti-
cular Articles 29 and 34(1) thereof,

Article 1

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

Establishment of the evaluation mechanism

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

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

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 Joint Action 97/827/JHA of 5
December 1997 establishing a mechanism for evaluating
the application and implementation at national level of
international undertakings in the fight against organised
crime (3),
in order to define a procedure for the peer
assessment of national anti-terrorist arrangements.

It is necessary to improve the national legal systems in
the fight against terrorism and their implementation.

The primary responsibility for designing each legal
system 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

It is also desirable, in accordance with the content of the
abovementioned Council mandate of 20 September
2001, to establish a mechanism which, in the context of
the cooperation provided for in the Treaty, enables
Member States to evaluate the national legal systems in
the fight against terrorism and their implementation on
a basis of equality and mutual confidence,

(1) OJ C 151, 25.6.2002, p. 14.
(2) Opinion delivered on 24 September 2002 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(3) OJ L 344, 15.12.1997, p. 7.

1.
A mechanism for peer evaluation of the national arrange-
ments in the fight against terrorism within the framework of
international cooperation between Member States shall be
established in accordance with the detailed rules set out below.

2.
Each Member State shall undertake to ensure that its
national authorities cooperate closely 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.

Article 2

Evaluation subjects

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

Depending on the specific subject chosen for the evaluation,
the Article 36 Committee shall also decide whether to designate
a Council Working Party subordinate to it to carry out the
evaluation or to carry it out itself.

In addition,
frequency of each evaluation exercise.

the Article 36 Committee shall decide the

2.
The Presidency of the Council shall prepare the evaluation
assisted by the General Secretariat of the Council which shall
use in particular the national experts seconded to it for that
purpose. The Commission shall be fully involved in the
preparatory work.

The first evaluation exercise shall finish no later than

3.
mid-2003.

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Article 3

Designation of experts

evaluation team's proposal, for interviews with the political,
administrative, police, customs and judicial authorities and any
other relevant body.

Each Member State shall send the General Secretariat of
1.
the Council, at the Presidency's initiative, and no later than four
weeks after the date on which the Article 36 Committee
decides to start an evaluation on a specific subject, the 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.

2.
The Presidency shall draw up a list of the experts desig-
nated by the Member States and shall forward it to the Article
36 Committee or to the Working Party designated for the
purpose.

Article 4

Evaluation team

On the basis of the list referred to in Article 3(2), the Presi-
dency shall choose a team of two experts for the evaluation of
each Member State, ensuring that they are not nationals of the
Member State in question.

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

The evaluation team shall be assisted in all
General Secretariat of the Council and by the Commission.

its tasks by the

Article 5

Preparation of the questionnaire

The Presidency shall, with the assistance of the General Secre-
tariat of the Council and the Commission, draw up a question-
naire 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 to
the Working Party designated for the purpose. In this context,
where appropriate, the opinion of any Council Working Party
with competence in the subject matter covered by the evalua-
tion shall be requested. The questionnaire shall be designed to
establish all information useful for the conduct of the evalua-
tion. The Member State being evaluated shall ensure that it
replies to the questionnaire within one month and as fully as
possible and attaches where necessary all legal provisions and
technical and practical data required.

Article 7

Preparation of the draft report

No later than 15 days after receiving the replies to the ques-
tionnaire or after the visit referred to in Article 6 if such a visit
has taken place, the evaluation team shall draw up a concise
draft report and submit it to the Member State evaluated, which
shall give its opinion within six weeks. If the evaluation team
deems it appropriate, it shall amend its report in the light of
the comments made by the Member State evaluated.

Article 8

Discussion and adoption of the report

The Presidency shall forward the draft report, which shall
1.
be confidential, to the members of the Article 36 Committee or
to the Working Party designated for the purpose, together with
any of the comments by the Member State evaluated which
were not accepted by the evaluation team.

2.
The meeting of the Article 36 Committee or 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 36 Committee or the Working Party designated for
the purpose shall then discuss the draft report and adopt its
conclusions by consensus.

3.
The Presidency shall, at the end of a complete evaluation
exercise, inform the Council by the appropriate means 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 accordance with Article 9(2),

4.
the Presidency shall
inform the European Parliament at the end of a complete
evaluation exercise of the implementation of the evaluation
mechanism.

Article 9

Confidentiality

Article 6

Evaluation visit

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

task. Member States shall

No later than six weeks after receiving the reply to the ques-
tionnaire, where it is considered appropriate, the evaluation
team shall travel to that Member State, with a view to clarifying
the replies to the questionnaire, with a programme of visits
arranged by the Member State visited on the basis of the

The report drawn up within the framework of this Deci-
2.
sion shall be at
the
Member State evaluated may publish the report on its own
responsibility. It shall obtain the Council's consent if it wishes
to publish only parts of it.

least a restricted document. However,

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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.

This Decision shall take effect on the day of its publication in the Official Journal.

Article 11

Date of effect

Article 12

Publication

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal.

Done at Brussels, 28 November 2002.

For the Council

The President

B. HAARDER