Council Recommendation of 12 June 2007 concerning sharing of information on terrorist kidnappings
Date: 2007-06-12
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, exchange of information, fight against crime, illegal restraint, terrorism

17.8.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 214/9

III

(Acts adopted under the EU Treaty)

ACTS ADOPTED UNDER TITLE VI OF THE EU TREATY

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

of 12 June 2007

concerning sharing of information on terrorist kidnappings

(2007/562/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Kidnappings by groups/individuals that can be placed within the spectrum of international terrorism
pose a huge challenge to Member States.

To successfully resolve such situations, Member States must gather background information, establish
contacts and initiate discussions in a confidential setting.

The capacities of the Member State concerned would be significantly strengthened if it were able to
resort to experience which other Member States have gained in comparable situations.

To this end, each Member State should submit a data sheet containing key information on past
kidnappings to the other Member States giving only unclassified information after the incident has
been resolved and restricted to incidents related to international terrorism,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS,

1. Member States:

(a)

to submit, after a kidnapping incident has been resolved, the following data (1):

— country and region in which the kidnapping took place,

— number and nationality of the hostage(s),

— time and date of the kidnapping,

— time and date of the end of the incident,

— perpetrators/responsible terrorist group,

(1) In case of a kidnapping this information could help to quickly identify whether another Member State already has
experience with kidnappings of EU citizens in the same region, by the same terrorist group or under comparable
circumstances. The Member State concerned can then contact the specified contact person. Further information and
experience should be shared bilaterally in accordance with national law.

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— modus operandi of the kidnapping,

— motivation for the kidnapping,

— involvement of a mediator yes/no,

— contact person in the Member State concerned.

This information should be submitted in accordance with the format set out in Annex 1.

(b) to also submit the following additional information if appropriate:

— hostages’ reason for being in the country, language skills, gender of the hostage,

— ideology, nationality, language skills of the perpetrators,

— means used by the perpetrators to address the public,

— details on the perpetrators’ modus operandi.

This optional information should be submitted in accordance with the format set out in Annex 2.

2. If personal data are to be included, such data are to be submitted in accordance with national law.

3. Member States to compile information on all incidents which have occurred since 1 January 2002 and

submit this summary to the other Member States.

4. Member States to share information on the basis of the abovementioned principles through the BdL

network for EU-wide information sharing on terrorist incidents.

5. Member States to share, as far as possible, the information also with Europol and on the basis of the
amount and type of shared data, after one year, to examine whether it would be advisable to set up a
database at Europol.

6. Member States to draw up a list of contact details and exchange this list in order to facilitate direct

communication between contact points.

17.8.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 214/11

ANNEX 1

Notification of terrorist kidnap

(or suspected terrorist kidnap)

Please complete all fields in this box

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Official Journal of the European Union

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ANNEX 2

Completion of the following information is optional in accordance with national law