Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - Towards enhancing access to information by law enforcement agencies (EU information policy)
Date: 2004-06-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU police cooperation, access to information, exchange of information, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU, public order, public safety

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 16.6.2004 
COM (2004) 429 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

Towards enhancing access to information by law enforcement agencies  

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TOWARDS ENHANCING ACCESS TO INFORMATION 
BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES................................................................................. 3 

CHAPTER I– INTRODUCTION, RATIONALE AND POLICY CONTEXT ........................ 3 

CHAPTER II – TOWARDS BETTER ACCESS TO DATA AND THE INTRODUCTION 

OF INTELLIGENCE-LED LAW ENFORCEMENT AT THE LEVEL OF THE EU 5 

2.1. 

2.2. 

Strategic objectives ...................................................................................................... 5 

Core elements for effective access to and collection, storage, analysis and exchange 
of data and information ................................................................................................ 6 

2.2.1.  The principle of equivalent access to data between law enforcement authorities ....... 6 

2.2.2.  Scoping of the conditions for access............................................................................ 7 

2.2.3.  Data collection ............................................................................................................. 7 

2.2.4.  Data exchange and processing ..................................................................................... 8 

2.2.5.  Research ....................................................................................................................... 9 

2.3. 

Core elements of an effective intelligence led law enforcement capability at EU level
...................................................................................................................................... 9 

2.4. 

Building of trust ......................................................................................................... 11 

CHAPTER III – LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES LINKED TO THIS COMMUNICATION 12 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TOWARDS ENHANCING ACCESS TO 
INFORMATION BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES  
(EU INFORMATION POLICY) 

. 

CHAPTER I– INTRODUCTION, RATIONALE AND POLICY CONTEXT 

Overview 

The  declaration  of  the  European  Council  on  terrorism1  instructs  the  Council  to  examine 
legislative measures to simplify the exchange of information and intelligence between the law 
enforcement  authorities  of  the  Member  States.  The  Commission  is  invited  to  bring  forward 
proposals to the June European Council in relation to exchange of personal information and 
the  use  of  passenger  information  for  the  purpose  of  combating  terrorism.  The  Commission 
proposals should also include provisions to enable national law enforcement agencies to have 
access to the European information systems. 

The  present  Communication  is  a  first  contribution  from  the  Commission  in  response  to  the 
request from the Council.  

the  Member  States 

the  Member  States  and  among 

In  this  Communication,  the  Commission  sets  out  the  elements  that  are  critical  to  achieving 
free circulation of information between the law enforcement authorities of the Member States, 
in a more structured way than has been the case up till now, Obstacles to free circulation of 
information currently exist, which cause inter alia the Council to dedicate the third round of 
mutual  evaluations  to  examine  the  “exchange  of  information  and  intelligence  between 
respectively”. 
Europol  and 
Compartmentalisation  of  information  and  lack  of  a  clear  policy  on  information  channels 
hinder  information  exchange.  The  challenges  to  overcome  the  division  of  information 
between  different  Ministries  nationally  are  exacerbated  by  the  legal,  technical  and  practical 
problems  hindering  exchange  between  Member  States.  In  order  to  obtain  a  more  accurate 
picture of these obstacles, the Commission proposes to undertake a full stock-taking exercise 
on  the  conditions  to  access  information,  as  well  as  a  broad  and  open  consultation  with  all 
interested stakeholders namely the European Data Protection Supervisor. The Communication 
also  aims  to  provide  the  means  of  avoiding  the  materialisation  of  major  threats,  such  as 
terrorism,  by  introducing  the  concept  of  intelligence-led  law  enforcement  at  EU  level.  It 
provides  an  agenda  setting  out  how  to  achieve  this,  and  it  announces  legislation  to  remove 
specific  legal  problems.  The  focus  of  this  Communication  is  improvement  of  access  to 
necessary and relevant information, as well as on the broad concepts for the introduction of 
intelligence-led law enforcement at the level of the EU. This will also have consequences for 
the international role that the EU is able to assume.  

These  two  elements  are  the  building  blocks  of  the  EU  Information  Policy  for  Law 
Enforcement. Common action in these fields will support the progressive establishment of the 

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European Council of 25 March 2004 Declaration on combating terrorism. 

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area of freedom, security and justice, in which the free movement of persons remains assured 
in  the  face  of  the  new  security  challenges  that  terrorism  and  other  forms  of  serious  and 
organised  crime  pose  to  the  Union  as  a  whole.  Effectiveness  of  law  enforcement  activities 
should  build  upon  observance  of  human  rights  and  fundamental  freedoms  as  protected  by 
international, European and constitutional traditions common to Member States. Furthermore, 
while building this policy, the Commission will ensure that Community law and policies are 
duly  taken  into  account.  In  particular  such  a  policy  should  not  create  legal  uncertainty  or 
undue economic burdens on industries.  

The Commission calls on the Member States and involved parties to engage in the following 
bold, cooperative actions.  

Firstly,  to  take  the  indispensable  steps  to  make  accessible  necessary  and  relevant  data  and 
information for EU law enforcement authorities, in order to prevent and combat terrorism and 
other  forms  of  serious  or  organised  crime  as  well  as  the  threats  caused  by  them..  In  this 
respect; it should be borne in mind that often criminal activity that would not appear to come 
within the category of “serious or organised” can well lead or be connected to it. 

Secondly,  to  produce  and  use  high  quality  EU  criminal  intelligence.  Knowledge  that  will 
become available in this process will assist the political level in setting EU law enforcement 
priorities in a concerted manner, and the law enforcement authorities to confront effectively 
the crimes and threats that jeopardise our citizens’ lives, physical integrity and security.  

Thirdly,  to  enhance  trust  between  enforcement  services.  The  introduction  of  common 
conditions for instance to access data systems, and the sharing of know-how will contribute to 
set up a joint information policy platform in particular by removing objective obstacles to the 
effective sharing of information and intelligence.  

A number of considerations drive the EU Information Policy for law enforcement. They are 
related to the growing awareness of the vulnerability of the Union to threats like those posed 
by terrorist activities to the dependence of the Union on interlinked networks; to the need to 
establish  enhanced  information  flows  between  competent  authorities,  to  the  benefits  of  new 
technology and knowledge-based capabilities in boosting law enforcement action and, at the 
same  time,  enhance  data  protection,  security,  and  related  monitoring  and  supervisory 
mechanisms. 

This  communication  intends  to  improve  information  exchange  between  all  law  enforcement 
authorities,  i.e.  not  only  between  police  authorities,  but  also  between  customs  authorities, 
financial intelligence units, the interaction with the judiciary and public prosecution services, 
and all other public bodies that participate in the process that ranges from the early detection 
of  security  threats  and  criminal  offences  to  the  conviction  and  punishment  of  perpetrators. 
The fundamental role that State security and national intelligence agencies play in this regard 
is  undisputed.  The  many  inter-linked  challenges  that  the  EU  Information  Policy  for  law 
enforcement intends to address are presented in the following paragraphs. 

Finally, the external dimension must be taken into account, because of the international nature 
of  the  challenge  of  terrorism  and  organised  crime  that  we  are  trying  to  address.  Other 
countries have developed or may develop in the future their own Information Policies for Law 
Enforcement and we have already seen cases where those policies have implications for EU 
citizens and economic operators. Reciprocity issues may also arise. And multilateral solutions 
may have to be sought in specialised forums. The impact that the EU Policy would have on 

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the nationals of third countries will also need to be properly taken into account, to ensure both 
that law enforcement cooperation with those countries is not impaired and that the rights of 
citizens are respected without discrimination. 

This policy will firstly make accessible the necessary and relevant data and information, for 
law enforcement authorities in order to prevent  and combat terrorism and other forms of 
serious or organised crime as well as the threats caused by them2. Secondly, it will foster 
the  production  and  use  at  EU  level  of  high  quality  criminal  intelligence  to  assist  the 
political  decision-making  and  the  law  enforcement  authorities  in  effectively  confronting 
these crimes. Thirdly, it will support the building of trust between the competent services. 
While  building  this  policy,  Community  policies  and  Community  law  instruments  will  also 
be taken into account; in particular this policy will fully respect fundamental rights. 

The Information Policy has to take account of the following elements: 

•  The security challenge requires as a matter of necessity common and concerted action on 
an  unprecedented  scale,;  the  stakeholders  are  the  national  law  enforcement  authorities, 
national  governments,  the  European  executive  and  legislature,  and  other  bodies  at 
European and international level. 

•  The human rights challenge means striking the appropriate balance between robust data 
protection  and  due  respect  of  other  fundamental  rights  on  the  one  hand  and,  high 
performing  use  of  law  enforcement  information  aimed  at  safeguarding  essential  public 
interests such as national security and the prevention, detection, and prosecution of crime 
on the other. 

•  As  concerns  technology,  compatible  information  systems  protected  against  unlawful 
access with appropriate data protection, including the monitoring and supervision of data 
processing  and  the  auditing  of  investigation  are  needed.  Crime-proofing  of  information 
technologies should expose weaknesses and opportunities for criminal activities and focus 
on data analysis such as risk assessment and profiling. 

•  To facilitate effective co-operation, common standards for information collection, storage, 
analysis  and  exchange  will  critically  support  the  building  of  confidence  between  the 
competent services, both at national and EU level. 

•  The  implementation  of  a  multi-phased  approach  will  require  the  need  for  long-term 

sustained cooperative action.  

2 

For  the  purpose  of  this  Communication  the  expression  “data”  or  “information”  means  “data, 
information  and  intelligence”  unless  otherwise  indicated;  the  term  ‘intelligence’  refers  to  ‘criminal 
intelligence’. 

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CHAPTER 

II  –  TOWARDS  BETTER  ACCESS  TO  DATA  AND  THE 
INTRODUCTION  OF  INTELLIGENCE-LED  LAW  ENFORCEMENT  AT 
THE LEVEL OF THE EU 

2.1. 

Strategic objectives 

The  objective  of  this  Communication  is  to  establish  an  EU  Information  Policy  for  law 
enforcement  that  will  contribute  to  the  realisation  of  the  objectives  of  Art  29  TEU  by 
providing better information over secure channels for existing law enforcement cooperation 
and  laying  the  groundwork  for  the  establishment  of  effective  intelligence-led  law 
enforcement  at  local,  national  and  European  levels,  underpinned  by  the  necessary  trust 
building.  The  policy  plan  is  encompassing  legal,  technical  and  organisational  actions  that, 
taken together, will provide law enforcement authorities with a framework for cooperation in 
order to facilitate the access to and the processing of data relevant for law enforcement and to 
produce criminal intelligence. 

When looking in more detail at the Information Policy the intended results are to: 

•  optimise  access  to  information  to  further  core  law  enforcement  activities  as  well  as  to 

produce criminal intelligence; 

•  ensure that relevant data established for other than law enforcement purposes be available 
as long as appropriate, necessary and proportionate to the specific and legitimate purposes 
pursued3;  

•  set  up  or,  in  case  of  already  existing  horizontal  standards,  promote  the  effective  use  of 
common horizontal standards on access to data, clearance, confidentiality of information, 
reliability, data security and data protection, and interoperability standards for national and 
international databases; 

•  establish  agreed  intelligence  formats  to  assist  political  and  operational  decision-making 
and  promote  the  development  and  use  of  equivalent  methods  for  the  analysis  of  e.g. 
criminal  networks,  crime  threats,  risks  and profiles,  to  be  further  supported  by  economic 
harm assessments; 

•  provide  the  basis  for  the  prioritisation  of  the  EU-wide  collection  and  analysis  of 
information  and,  subsequently,  for  the  selection  of  the  best  course  of  action  in  order  to 
prevent and combat terrorism and other forms of serious or organised crime as well as the 
threats caused by them, within the set priorities; 

•  facilitate  cooperative  and  coordinated  law  enforcement  action  with  a  view  to  prevent, 
investigate,  or  disrupt,  effectively  and  as  appropriate,  terrorist  activities  and  activities 
dealing with other forms of serious or organised crime. 

Improved access to data, information and intelligence will support law enforcement in each 
Member  State  and  at  European  level  in  order  to  prevent  and  combat  terrorism  and  other 
forms  of  serious  or  organised  crime,  as  well  as  threats  caused  by  them.  Additional  added 
value will occur when data is methodically analysed in order to produce first-class criminal 
intelligence.  To  support  EU  intelligence-led  law  enforcement,  minimum  standards  for 

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A legislative proposal on data retention has been tabled by four Member States at the April 2004 JHA 
Council. The Commission foresees an open consultation on the matter. 

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national  criminal  intelligence  systems  should  be  adopted,  enabling  compatible  threat 
assessments at European level. 

2.2. 

Core  elements  for  effective  access  to  and  collection,  storage,  analysis  and 
exchange of data and information 

2.2.1.  The principle of equivalent access to data between law enforcement authorities 

The  first  core  objective  of  the  Information  Policy  for  Law  Enforcement  is  to  establish  free 
movement  of  information  between  law  enforcement  services,  including  EUROPOL  and 
EUROJUST. At present, law enforcement authorities can search databases that are nationally 
accessible.  However,  accessing  information  held  by  law  enforcement  services  from  other 
Member States poses challenges that amount to making them inaccessible in practice. 

The Information Policy aims at making this information practically accessible to all EU law 
enforcement  authorities,  including  EUROPOL  and  EUROJUST,  to  assist  them  in  the 
execution of their functions and in accordance with the rule of law. 

The principle that the Information Policy introduces to offset the challenges put forward in the 
previous chapter is the one of ‘right of equivalent access to data’. This would give EU law 
enforcement authorities and officials equivalent rights of access to data and databases within 
other  EU  Member  States  on  comparable  conditions  as  law  enforcement  authorities  in  that 
Member  State.  The  corollary  to  that  right  is  the  obligation  to  provide  access  to  law 
enforcement  officials  of  other  Member  States  under  the  same  conditions  as  national  law 
enforcement officials. 

This  implies  a  commitment  from  Member  States  to  act  within  a  EU  model  comprising 
issues such as the synchronisation of threat assessment based on a common methodology 
and systematic underpinning of threat assessment by sectoral vulnerability studies. 

The principle of equivalent access recognises that:  

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the security of the Union and its citizens is a joint responsibility,  

Member States depend on each other to enforce laws in order to prevent and combat 
terrorism  and  other  forms  of  serious  or  organised  crime,  and  contain  the  threats 
caused by them ;  

law  enforcement  authorities  in  one  Member  State  fulfil  similar  tasks  and  have 
equivalent information needs as those in other Member States; 

law enforcement authorities act lawfully when accessing data or querying databases 
in the execution of their tasks and within the boundaries set by common standards on 
data protection and data security. 

As a matter of principle, the right of equivalent access should not diminish the effectiveness 
of  existing  Mutual  Legal  assistance  instruments.  Any  potential  legal  effects  will  have  to  be 
carefully analysed. 

Transparent  and  straightforward  conditions  for  accessing  the  necessary  and  relevant 
information  for  all  EU  law  enforcement  authorities  should  be  set  up  based  on  common 
standards,  including  on  data  protection  and  data  security.  Member  States  will  be 
responsible  for  the  implementation  of  these  conditions.  A  system  to  monitor  the 

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implementation will be set up following the identification of the conditions for access in the 
course of the stock taking exercise (see paragraph 2.2.2). 
Core  obstacles  to  the  exchange  of  information  between  law  enforcement  authorities  can 
only be effectively addressed on the basis of a firm commitment of Member States to take 
concrete measures towards the setting up of a European Criminal Intelligence Model (see 
paragraph 2.3). 
The  European  Information  Policy  aims  at  the  introduction  of  the  principle  of  right  of 
equivalent  access  to  the  necessary  and  relevant  data  and  information  for  EU  law 
enforcement  authorities.  The  Commission  will  examine  with  Member  States  which 
obstacles  exist  and,  on  this  basis,  assess  the  appropriateness  of  submitting  a  legislative 
proposal  to  the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament  related  to  its  introduction  at  EU 
level.  

2.2.2. 

Scoping of the conditions for access 

The Commission proposes to carry out a full stock-tacking exercise on the basis of available 
information  as  well  as  on  information  provided  to  that  end  by  Member  States,  to  chart  the 
following elements:  

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which  data  or  databases  are  accessible  to  law  enforcement  authorities  in  Member 
States and which ones are accessed abroad, including index databases (content); 

what is the purpose of the database (purpose definition); 

which kind of law enforcement authority has access to these data (users); 

under  what  conditions  do  these  authorities  have  access  to  these  data  and  databases 
(access protocol); 

what are the technical requirements for access to these data and databases (technical 
protocols); 

how often are the data and databases accessed (relevance); 

which  data  or  databases  are  of  interest  to  law  enforcement  authorities,  but  are  not 
accessible  to  them;  what  are  the  applicable  data  protection  provisions  (scoping  of 
needs). 

The Commission intends to:  

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launch a stocktaking exercise by the end of 2004, to identify the scope, needs and 
constraints of access to data and databases by law enforcement authorities. 

launch  a  study  on  legal  provisions,  conditions,  including  IT  solutions  to  access 
(non-) law enforcement data, , and procedures related to data protection and data 
security provisions.  

2.2.3.  Data collection 

The law enforcement authorities in the EU use diverging approaches to collect and categorise 
data and information. No single forum for the classification of the confidentiality of different 
information sources exists at this moment. 

The  first  and  foremost  information  source  is  the  data  collection  of  the  law  enforcement 
administrations. Access to data not collected for law enforcement purposes is another policy 

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issue. It requires a broad and open consultation with all interested stakeholders, in view of its 
possible implications on operators and users and on Community laws and policies. 

A system to manage the different access privileges such as common European standards for 
the  authorisation  to  access  classified  information,  a  joint  system  of  users  access  profiles  to 
administer the numerous access rights, and an authenticated way to register authorised users 
(cf.  users  accounts)  would  provide  the  basis  for  an  effective  access  management.  User 
profiles could also be used to systematically monitor and audit the access to and processing of 
data that could be kept in log files and audit trail systems. 

The  Commission  intends  to  launch  studies  to  underpin  the  elaboration  of  legislative  and 
non-legislative initiatives related to minimum standards for the collection of data; common 
procedural  standards  to  classify  the  confidentiality  and  the  reliability  of  data;  common 
standards on the authorisation to access classified information, and user access profiles. 
The  Commission  will  further  organise  consultations  and  multi-disciplinary  workshops 
under  the  EU  Forum  on  the  Prevention  of  Organised  Crime  to  discuss  public  private 
partnerships  and  in  particular  on  the  access  to  data  not  collected  for  law  enforcement 
purposes. 

2.2.4.  Data exchange and processing 

Besides different ways to access data and databases on the basis of the principle of equivalent 
access, another option to make existing data and data bases better accessible is by networking 
them  or  creating  central  databases.  In  this  context  the  European  Council4  invited  the 
Commission “to submit proposals for enhanced interoperability between European databases 
(SISII, VIS and EURODAC) in order to exploit their added value within their respective legal 
and  technical  frameworks  in  the  prevention  and  fight  against  terrorism”5.  Enhanced 
interoperability  will  need  to  take  due  account  of  the  applicable  legal  provisions  on  data 
protection. 

The Commission is of the view that the only viable option for the future will be the creation 
of  interoperable  and  interconnected  EU  systems.  A  conceptually  comprehensive  IT 
architecture  that  integrates  national,  European  and  international  inter-linkages  offer  in  the 
long run considerable savings, synergies and policy opportunities, both in the area of criminal 
intelligence and in the broader context of an evolving European Security Strategy.  

A phased approach should be conceived based on the setting up of harmonised data encoding 
formats  and  access  rules  for  the  various  systems.  Early  consultations  with  stakeholders 
conducted by the European Commission6 have already identified a number of issues that may 
pose obstacles to information sharing. These include in particular the lack of: 

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common standards and conditions for data processing; 
common data accessibility standards; 
compatible crime definitions and crime statistics; 
compatible IT technologies used by law enforcement administrations; 
co-operative law enforcement cultures beyond institutional borders;  
co-operation between public and private sector actors; 

European Council of 25 March 2004 Declaration on combating terrorism. 
A separate Commission Communication will be prepared on this subject. 
Dublin Declaration and Conclusions of meetings of the Forum for the prevention of Organised Crime. 

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– 

awareness  of  common  data  protection  rules  and  a  lack  of  a  common  data  security 
framework. 

The Commission envisages submitting a communication to explore effective ways to remove 
core  obstacles  that  cause  impediments  to  data  sharing  and  which  will,  as  appropriate,  be 
supported by respective legislative initiatives. 

2.2.5.  Research 

The current European research programmes address the issue of security of information and 
communication systems and infrastructures. The Commission has already considered the need 
to  accelerate  the  preparation  of  a  European  Security  Research  Programme  to  improve 
European  citizens’  security  by  launching  a  Preparatory  Action  on  Security  Research7.  The 
‘Preparatory Action for Security Research’, which is defined for the years 2004-2006 (budget 
€ 65M) would support and finance activities to test the ground in view of the comprehensive 
European Security Research Programme from 2007 onwards.  

Terrorism and organised crime are identified as the two top concerns of European citizens (80 
%  of  EU-citizens  identify  terrorism  and  organised  crime  as  their  major  fears).  At  present, 
research  activities  related  to  criminal  intelligence  systems  or  law  enforcement  are  not 
sufficiently  covered  by  research  programmes.  Hence,  there  is  a  need  to  define  specific 
research  actions  in  addition  to  existing  programmes.  In  addition  co-financing  of  research 
activities is also possible under the AGIS programme. 

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Promote  research  on  secure  and  confidential  communication  channels  through 
the AGIS programme; 
Initiate  the  development  of  standards  for  the  secure  exchange  of  information, 
especially by and between law enforcement authorities; 
Launch specific research on the use and the implementation of European criminal 
intelligence systems, including on related common standards for meta-data, secure 
data exchanges, enhanced data protection tools, automated analysis, threat -, risk 
assessment and profiling methods. 

2.3. 

Core elements of an effective intelligence led law enforcement capability at EU 
level 

The  second  core  objective  of  the  Information  Policy  is  to  propose  steps  to  develop  EU 
intelligence-led law enforcement. Criminal intelligence assists the competent authorities in the 
performance of their strategic or operational tasks, in order to prevent and combat terrorism 
and other serious or organised crime, as well as the threats caused by them8. The introduction 
of  a  European  Criminal  Intelligence  Model  would  render  intelligence-led  law  enforcement 
effective  and  allow  for  enhanced  cooperative  action.  It  would  comprise  issues  such  as  the 
synchronisation  of  threat  assessment  based  on  a  common  methodology,  systematic 
underpinning of threat assessment by sectoral vulnerability studies and the required financial 
and human resource allocation. 

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COM (2004) 72 fin. 
Criminal  intelligence  is  divided  into  strategic  and  operational  (or  tactical)  intelligence.  Strategic 
intelligence provides insight into the question of what the threats and crimes are that must be addressed 
and operational intelligence provides tactical guidance on how best to tackle and prioritise them. 

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The  EU  Information  Policy  for  law  enforcement  aims  to  make  the  necessary  information 
available  to  an  EU  criminal  intelligence  network  to  generate  first-class  EU  criminal 
intelligence, resulting in the periodic production of EU strategic and operational assessments. 
The  availability  of  the  Europol  Information  System  will  also  play  an  important  role  in  the 
development of such an EU intelligence capability.  

The steps outlined hereafter should lead to a situation where strategic assessments are readily 
available  to  the  decision  makers  in  order  to  revise  law  enforcement  priorities  as  often  as 
necessary.  In  addition,  operational  assessments  would  become  available  to  the  Chiefs  of 
Police  Task  Force  (CPTF)  providing  the  best  available  tactical  knowledge  to  prevent  or 
combat the threats or crime, including terrorism, as prioritised by the Council.  

At  this  moment  the  EU  law  enforcement  authorities  are  not  guided  by  criminal  intelligence 
that  targets  the  security  of  the  EU  as  a  whole.  Today  an  urgent  need  exists  to  protect  EU 
citizens against new security risks and threats. Therefore it is imperative that EU strategic and 
operational  assessments  are  rapidly  made  available.  Equally  the  exchange  of  intelligence 
should be subject to the rule of law and respect for the fundamental rights of individuals.  

Therefore the following two-phased approach is envisaged: 

•  In  the  short  term,  the  Member  States’  criminal  intelligence  services  should  meet  on  a 
monthly basis, possibly under the aegis of Europol, to discuss their national strategic and 
operational  assessments.  Europol  should  contribute  with  all  intelligence  it  can  avail.  The 
resulting intelligence should be collated to produce EU strategic assessments for instance 
twice a year, and EU operational assessments every month. The EU strategic assessments 
would allow the Council to set law enforcement priorities. The CPTF should hand down 
the  operational  assessments  to  the  operational  levels  within  national  law  enforcement 
communities. 

This should, at first stage, draw on information that Member States’ criminal intelligence and 
Europol  can  lawfully  access  on  the  basis  of  current  legislation  and  make  use  of  available 
analytical tools.  

•  In  the  longer  term,  the  national  criminal  intelligence  authorities  can  start  producing 
criminal  intelligence  using  standardised  analytical  tools  on  the  basis  of  relevant  law 
enforcement data available within the Union. 

The importance of Europol would increase, since data and procedures will be more European. 
This  would  result  in  criminal  intelligence  of  a  superior  quality  as  it  would  be  more 
standardised  and  thus  more  widely  understood.  The  relations  between  Europol,  the  Council 
and the CPTF need to adapt to the changing circumstances. At that moment, the EU will be in 
a position to assert itself on the international scene as a law enforcement partner with its own 
distinct character and quality. 

The Commission envisages studying the necessary steps to establish a system for the timely 
production of reliable criminal intelligence assessment and to present a report to the Council 
by end of 2005. 

Priorities will be set by the Council on the basis of strategic assessments that are developed by 
the Criminal Intelligence Group. Such operational assessment should offer the possibility of 
obtaining  specific  outcomes,  for  instance  making  arrests,  seizing  or  forfeiting  assets  from 
criminal activities or undertaking dedicated efforts to disrupt a criminal group.  

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Commonly-used intelligence methods should be formatted to make them fit for use not only 
at the general EU level, but also to deal with specific trans-national or regional issues (e.g. the 
Baltic Sea Task Force on organised crime). The Commission and Europol should conduct a 
study  of  the  different  methods  in  use  in  Member  States'  criminal  intelligence  bodies  and 
propose  by  end  of  2005  a  European  analytical  methodology  for  criminal  intelligence. 
Connected to this, CEPOL could be requested to set up a training curriculum to teach criminal 
analysts  to  use  these  methods,  and  senior  management  to  make  best  use  of  operational 
assessments. The analytical methods that are commonly used9 should generate results that can 
be used to produce EU strategic and operational assessments.  

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

The ideas of this Communication could be endorsed by the Council as to take the 
appropriate measures for their implementation. 

Under  the  aegis  of  Europol,  the  representatives  of  Member  States’  Criminal 
Intelligence  entities  should  assemble  national  strategic  and  operational 
assessments.  

The  Council  could  call  on  the  Member  States  to  make  intelligence  available  to 
Europol, and to mandate Europol to elaborate a comprehensive threat assessment. 
Customs  and  border  control  authorities  could  be  instructed  to  coordinate  the 
production of their intelligence with Europol.  

Common crime statistics definitions and reporting standards should be developed  
Common analysis methods for the production of intelligence at EU level should be 
developed possibly under the aegis of Europol. 

2.4. 

Building of trust 

The  third  core  objective  of  the  Information  Policy  is  to  contribute  to  the  building  of  trust 
between European law enforcement authorities, officials and partners by establishing a joint 
platform of shared values, standards and policy orientations. 

The  introduction  of  common  standards  is  crucial  to  create  a  trusted  environment  for  the 
collection,  access  and  exchange  of  information  (see  in  particular  section  2.2).  Common 
standards on data access and processing as well as compatible methodologies related to threat, 
risk  and  profile  assessments  will  become  an  indispensable  basis  for  the  effective  sharing  of 
information and intelligence at strategic and operational levels. These measures will only be 
effective  if  there  is  persistent  political  support  for  the  implementation  of  a  common  law 
enforcement  space  in  the  EU,  based  on  compatible  national  criminal  intelligence  systems 
which will form together a conceptually integrated European criminal intelligence model.  

Accordingly,  formal  and  informal  working  relations  need  to  be  developed  in  order  to  make 
the system function. Training of law enforcement personnel to share a common understanding 
of  criminal  intelligence  will  contribute  to  developing  these  aspects.  CEPOL  should  play  a 
major role in this context, in particular by: 

– 

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setting up regular training courses for potential future policy decision makers and top 
managers; 

The methods are analysis in the fields of results, crime patterns, criminal markets, criminal networks, 
risks (which is used as a management tool in itself), target profiles (often called “profiling”), criminal 
business profiles, and demographic and social trends. 

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– 

– 

elaborating  a  model  curriculum  for  the  training  of  middle  managers  in  European 
criminal intelligence affairs at national levels; 
carrying out training measures related to all elements of the EU information policy. 

Other measures would reinforce networking efforts, including those based on already existing 
instruments  such  as  mutual  evaluations,  dedicated  projects  under  the  AGIS  programme  or 
activities conducted under the auspices of the Forum on the Prevention of Organised Crime.  

Finally, the role of national data supervisory authorities should duly be taken into account as 
they  will  contribute  to  establish  the  necessary  safeguards  in  support  of  the  rule  of  law  and 
provide for effective democratic control.  

Trust-  and  confidence-building  measures  and  techniques  are  of  fundamental  importance 
(common standards and methodologies) The Commission envisages to present proposals by 
the end of 2005. 

In  parallel,  the  Council  could  invite  CEPOL  to  initiate  the  development  of  a  common 
curriculum for the training of intelligence officials. 

CHAPTER 

III 

–  LEGISLATIVE 

INITIATIVES  LINKED  TO  THIS 

COMMUNICATION 

The  Commission  will  continue  to  develop  policy,  including  legislative  initiatives  in  the 
related  areas  of  protection  of  personal  data  in  the  third  pillar  and  the  use  of  passenger 
information for law enforcement purposes, the latter in accordance with the principles set out 
in the Commission’s Communication of December 200310. 

The proposal for a Framework Decision on Data protection will establish common standards 
for the processing of personal data exchanged under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union 
in  order  to  empower  access  to  all  relevant  law  enforcement  data  by  police  and  judicial 
authorities in accordance with fundamental rights. This Framework Decision should provide a 
single  general  data  protection  framework  for  the  purpose  of  co-operation  to  prevent,  detect, 
investigate and prosecute crime and threats to security. It will establish a framework for the 
more specific provisions contained in the different legal instruments adopted at EU level, and 
will further reduce the practical differences in information exchange between Member States 
on the one hand and Member States and third countries on the other hand, and embedded in it 
a mechanism that ensures the protection of fundamental rights. 

*** 

10 

COM  (2003)  826  final  of  16.12.03  on  the  Transfer  of  Air  Passenger  Name  Record  (PNR)  Data.  A 
Global EU Approach. 

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