BETA


2021/0411(COD) Law enforcement information exchange

Progress: Awaiting Parliament's position in 1st reading

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead LIBE DÜPONT Lena (icon: EPP EPP) VITANOV Petar (icon: S&D S&D), KELLER Fabienne (icon: Renew Renew), RIBA I GINER Diana (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), VANDENDRIESSCHE Tom (icon: ID ID), KANKO Assita (icon: ECR ECR), DALY Clare (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL)
Committee Opinion BUDG
Committee Opinion CONT CHINNICI Caterina (icon: S&D S&D) Luke Ming FLANAGAN (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL), Sophia IN 'T VELD (icon: RE RE), Petri SARVAMAA (icon: PPE PPE)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
TFEU 087-p2

Events

2022/10/19
   EP - Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations confirmed by plenary (Rule 71)
2022/10/17
   EP - Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations announced in plenary (Rule 71)
2022/10/13
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading
Details

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Lena DÜPONT (EPP, DE) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Information exchange between law enforcement authorities of Member States, repealing Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA.

The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows:

Subject matter

Members proposed that this Directive should establish harmonised rules for the adequate and rapid exchange of information between the competent law enforcement authorities of the Member States where necessary and proportionate for the purpose of preventing, detecting or investigating criminal offences.

Requests for information to the Single Point of Contact

Where a Member State has provided in national law that, in addition to its Single Point of Contact, its competent law enforcement authorities may also submit requests for information directly to the Single Points of Contact of other Member States, it should send the Commission a list of competent law enforcement authorities .

Time limits

Members considered that to ensure a rapid exchange of information , it is justified to set harmonised time limits. The amended text divides the time limits into five categories, taking into account the urgency of the request, the type of crime, the level of availability (direct or indirect access), and the need to request judicial authorisation. Priority should be given to urgent requests relating to information concerning a serious crime, which can be directly accessed by the requested Single Point of Contact/authority ( eight hours ), while ten days should apply to all non-urgent requests that require judicial authorisation.

Refusals of requests for information

Member States should ensure that their Single Point of Contact only refuses to provide information if it has been found to be outdated, inaccurate, not specific, harmful to the vital interests or the physical integrity of a natural or legal person or be used for politically motivated purposes or for manifest breaches of fundamental rights.

Secure communication channel

The amended text stipulated that Members States should ensure that requested information is only sent through the Secure Information Exchange Network Application of Europol (SIENA). They should also ensure that their Single Point of Contact, as well as all their competent law enforcement authorities that may be involved in the exchange of information under this Directive, are directly connected to SIENA, including, where appropriate, from mobile devices to facilitate the exchange of information between frontline-officers, especially in border regions.

Cooperation between Single Points of Contact

Member States should encourage practical cooperation between their Single Point of Contact and competent law enforcement authorities for the purposes of this Directive. The Commission should organise regular meetings between the Single Points of Contact, at least once a year, to support the sharing of best practice related to the exchange of information between law enforcement authorities.

Reporting and transposition

Members proposed shortening the reporting periods to two years for the assessment of the Directive’s implementation and four years for the report in its effectiveness and on its impact on law enforcement cooperation and the protection of personal data.

As regards its transposition, this has been reduced from two years to one year.

Documents
2022/10/10
   EP - Vote in committee, 1st reading
2022/10/10
   EP - Committee decision to open interinstitutional negotiations with report adopted in committee
2022/07/14
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2022/07/14
   EP - Committee opinion
Documents
2022/06/07
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2022/05/18
   ESC - Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report
Documents
2022/03/31
   EP - DÜPONT Lena (EPP) appointed as rapporteur in LIBE
2022/03/07
   EDPS - Document attached to the procedure
2022/02/21
   EP - CHINNICI Caterina (S&D) appointed as rapporteur in CONT
2022/01/27
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading
2021/12/09
   EC - Document attached to the procedure
Documents
2021/12/09
   EC - Document attached to the procedure
2021/12/09
   EC - Document attached to the procedure
2021/12/09
   EC - Legislative proposal published
Details

PURPOSE: to legislate on organisational and procedural aspects of information exchange between law enforcement authorities in the EU with a view to contributing to the effective and efficient exchange of such information, hence protecting a fully functioning and resilient Schengen area.

PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: the Schengen area is the largest free travel area in the world. It allows more than 420 million people to move freely and goods and services to flow unhindered. By removing border controls between Member States, the Schengen area has become part of our European way of life. However, the growing mobility of people within the EU also creates additional challenges in preventing and fighting criminal threats, and in ensuring public safety.

In an area without internal border controls, police officers in one Member State should have, within the framework of the applicable Union and national law, the possibility to obtain equivalent access to the information available to their colleagues in another Member State. In this regard, law enforcement authorities should cooperate effectively and by default across the Union .

The existing legal framework on the exchange of information between law enforcement authorities of Member States (the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA ) should be updated and replaced, so as to facilitate and ensure, through the establishment of clear and harmonised rules , the adequate and rapid exchange of information between the competent law enforcement authorities of different Member States.

This proposal forms part of a coherent package also comprising a proposal for a Council Recommendation reinforcing operational cross-border police cooperation, a proposal for a Regulation revising the Automated Data Exchange Mechanism for Police Cooperation (Prüm II) as well as a proposal amending the Schengen Borders Code.

CONTENT: the proposed Directive establishes rules for the exchange of information between the law enforcement authorities of the Member States where necessary for the purpose of preventing, detecting or investigating criminal offences. Information exchange will ensure police officers make relevant information available to their counterparts in other Member States. The proposal includes:

Precise, consistent and common rules to ensure equivalent access to information

The proposal states that if information is available concerning a criminal offence in a Member State, it must, as a general rule, be made available to other Member States' law enforcement authorities as well, under the same conditions.

Single contact point and clear time limits

Member States should put in place a ‘Single Point of Contact’, operational 24/7, adequately staffed and acting as a ‘one-stop shop’ for information exchange with other EU countries. The information requested should be made available within 8 hours (for urgent cases), up to maximum 7 days (in other cases). Requests can only be refused in well-defined cases, for instance if the information would jeopardise the success of an ongoing investigation, harm the vital interest of a person, go against the essential interests of the security of the Member State or if the required judicial authorisation is refused.

Single channel for information exchange

The proliferation of communication channels used for the transmission of law enforcement information between Member States and of communications relating thereto should be remedied, as it hinders the adequate and rapid exchange of such information.

In this regard, the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA), managed by Europol, will become the default channel of communication. All relevant authorities and single points of contact should use and be directly connected to SIENA for all exchanges of information and related communications covered by the Directive.

Reinforcing Europol’s role as the EU criminal information hub

The proposal seeks to guarantee a stronger role for Europol as the EU criminal information hub.

Europol should be in copy of exchanges from single points of contact or law enforcement authorities concerning offences falling under the scope of its mandate.

Budgetary implications

The necessary IT upgrades in both Single Points of Contact and Police and Customs Cooperation Centres were estimated to amount to a maximum one-off total of EUR 11.5 million. These costs (one-off investment) are deemed acceptable and proportionate to the identified problem and do not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the specific objectives set out by this proposal for a Directive. Apart from the costs potentially covered by Member States’ programmes under the Internal Security Fund, there will be no other costs borne at EU level.

Documents

  • Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading: A9-0247/2022
  • Amendments tabled in committee: PE735.476
  • Committee opinion: PE732.691
  • Committee draft report: PE732.767
  • Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report: CES0264/2022
  • Document attached to the procedure: OJ C 154 08.04.2022, p. 0007
  • Document attached to the procedure: N9-0016/2022
  • Document attached to the procedure: SEC(2021)0420
  • Document attached to the procedure: EUR-Lex
  • Document attached to the procedure: SWD(2021)0374
  • Document attached to the procedure: EUR-Lex
  • Document attached to the procedure: SWD(2021)0377
  • Legislative proposal published: COM(2021)0782
  • Legislative proposal published: EUR-Lex
  • Document attached to the procedure: SEC(2021)0420
  • Document attached to the procedure: EUR-Lex SWD(2021)0374
  • Document attached to the procedure: EUR-Lex SWD(2021)0377
  • Document attached to the procedure: OJ C 154 08.04.2022, p. 0007 N9-0016/2022
  • Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report: CES0264/2022
  • Committee draft report: PE732.767
  • Amendments tabled in committee: PE735.476
  • Committee opinion: PE732.691
AmendmentsDossier
214 2021/0411(COD)
2022/06/23 CONT 18 amendments...
source: 734.193
2022/07/14 LIBE 196 amendments...
source: 735.476

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
docs/8
date
2022-10-13T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2022-0247_EN.html title: A9-0247/2022
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
events/3
date
2022-10-13T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2022-0247_EN.html title: A9-0247/2022
events/3/summary
  • The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Lena DÜPONT (EPP, DE) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Information exchange between law enforcement authorities of Member States, repealing Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA.
  • The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows:
  • Subject matter
  • Members proposed that this Directive should establish harmonised rules for the adequate and rapid exchange of information between the competent law enforcement authorities of the Member States where necessary and proportionate for the purpose of preventing, detecting or investigating criminal offences.
  • Requests for information to the Single Point of Contact
  • Where a Member State has provided in national law that, in addition to its Single Point of Contact, its competent law enforcement authorities may also submit requests for information directly to the Single Points of Contact of other Member States, it should send the Commission a list of competent law enforcement authorities .
  • Time limits
  • Members considered that to ensure a rapid exchange of information , it is justified to set harmonised time limits. The amended text divides the time limits into five categories, taking into account the urgency of the request, the type of crime, the level of availability (direct or indirect access), and the need to request judicial authorisation. Priority should be given to urgent requests relating to information concerning a serious crime, which can be directly accessed by the requested Single Point of Contact/authority ( eight hours ), while ten days should apply to all non-urgent requests that require judicial authorisation.
  • Refusals of requests for information
  • Member States should ensure that their Single Point of Contact only refuses to provide information if it has been found to be outdated, inaccurate, not specific, harmful to the vital interests or the physical integrity of a natural or legal person or be used for politically motivated purposes or for manifest breaches of fundamental rights.
  • Secure communication channel
  • The amended text stipulated that Members States should ensure that requested information is only sent through the Secure Information Exchange Network Application of Europol (SIENA). They should also ensure that their Single Point of Contact, as well as all their competent law enforcement authorities that may be involved in the exchange of information under this Directive, are directly connected to SIENA, including, where appropriate, from mobile devices to facilitate the exchange of information between frontline-officers, especially in border regions.
  • Cooperation between Single Points of Contact
  • Member States should encourage practical cooperation between their Single Point of Contact and competent law enforcement authorities for the purposes of this Directive. The Commission should organise regular meetings between the Single Points of Contact, at least once a year, to support the sharing of best practice related to the exchange of information between law enforcement authorities.
  • Reporting and transposition
  • Members proposed shortening the reporting periods to two years for the assessment of the Directive’s implementation and four years for the report in its effectiveness and on its impact on law enforcement cooperation and the protection of personal data.
  • As regards its transposition, this has been reduced from two years to one year.
events/4
date
2022-10-13T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2022-0247_EN.html title: A9-0247/2022
events/5
date
2022-10-17T00:00:00
type
Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations announced in plenary (Rule 71)
body
EP
events/6
date
2022-10-19T00:00:00
type
Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations confirmed by plenary (Rule 71)
body
EP
docs/8
date
2022-10-13T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2022-0247_EN.html title: A9-0247/2022
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
events/4
date
2022-10-13T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2022-0247_EN.html title: A9-0247/2022
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting committee decision
New
Awaiting Parliament's position in 1st reading
events/2
date
2022-10-10T00:00:00
type
Vote in committee, 1st reading
body
EP
events/3
date
2022-10-10T00:00:00
type
Committee decision to open interinstitutional negotiations with report adopted in committee
body
EP
docs/4
date
2022-05-18T00:00:00
docs
url: https://dmsearch.eesc.europa.eu/search/public?k=(documenttype:AC)(documentnumber:0264)(documentyear:2022)(documentlanguage:EN) title: CES0264/2022
type
Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report
body
ESC
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/6
date
2022-07-14T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CONT-AD-732691_EN.html title: PE732.691
committee
CONT
type
Committee opinion
body
EP
docs/5
date
2022-07-14T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/LIBE-AM-735476_EN.html title: PE735.476
type
Amendments tabled in committee
body
EP
procedure/Legislative priorities
  • title: Joint Declaration 2022 url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/thematicnote.do?id=41360&l=en
committees/0/shadows
  • name: VITANOV Petar group: Group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats abbr: S&D
  • name: KELLER Fabienne group: Renew Europe group abbr: Renew
  • name: RIBA I GINER Diana group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance abbr: Verts/ALE
  • name: VANDENDRIESSCHE Tom group: Identity and Democracy abbr: ID
  • name: KANKO Assita group: European Conservatives and Reformists Group abbr: ECR
  • name: DALY Clare group: The Left group in the European Parliament - GUE/NGL abbr: GUE/NGL
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/3
date
2022-03-07T00:00:00
docs
type
Document attached to the procedure
body
EDPS
docs/3
date
2022-03-07T00:00:00
docs
type
Document attached to the procedure
body
EDPS
docs/4/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/LIBE-PR-732767_EN.html
docs/4
date
2022-06-07T00:00:00
docs
title: PE732.767
type
Committee draft report
body
EP
docs/3
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2021-12-09T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/4
date
2022-03-07T00:00:00
docs
type
Document attached to the procedure
body
EDPS
committees/0/rapporteur
  • name: DÜPONT Lena date: 2022-03-31T00:00:00 group: Group of European People's Party abbr: EPP
committees/2/rapporteur
  • name: CHINNICI Caterina date: 2022-02-21T00:00:00 group: Group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats abbr: S&D
events
  • date: 2022-01-27T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading body: EP
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
  • LIBE/9/07908
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Preparatory phase in Parliament
New
Awaiting committee decision
procedure/title
Old
Fight against crime: information exchange between law enforcement authorities of Member States
New
Law enforcement information exchange
committees/2
type
Committee Opinion
body
EP
committee_full
Budgetary Control
committee
CONT
associated
False
commission
  • body: EC dg: Migration and Home Affairs commissioner: JOHANSSON Ylva
committees/1/opinion
False
docs/3/docs/0
url
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2021&nu_doc=0782
title
EUR-Lex
docs/3/summary
  • PURPOSE: to legislate on organisational and procedural aspects of information exchange between law enforcement authorities in the EU with a view to contributing to the effective and efficient exchange of such information, hence protecting a fully functioning and resilient Schengen area.
  • PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council.
  • ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
  • BACKGROUND: the Schengen area is the largest free travel area in the world. It allows more than 420 million people to move freely and goods and services to flow unhindered. By removing border controls between Member States, the Schengen area has become part of our European way of life. However, the growing mobility of people within the EU also creates additional challenges in preventing and fighting criminal threats, and in ensuring public safety.
  • In an area without internal border controls, police officers in one Member State should have, within the framework of the applicable Union and national law, the possibility to obtain equivalent access to the information available to their colleagues in another Member State. In this regard, law enforcement authorities should cooperate effectively and by default across the Union .
  • The existing legal framework on the exchange of information between law enforcement authorities of Member States (the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA ) should be updated and replaced, so as to facilitate and ensure, through the establishment of clear and harmonised rules , the adequate and rapid exchange of information between the competent law enforcement authorities of different Member States.
  • This proposal forms part of a coherent package also comprising a proposal for a Council Recommendation reinforcing operational cross-border police cooperation, a proposal for a Regulation revising the Automated Data Exchange Mechanism for Police Cooperation (Prüm II) as well as a proposal amending the Schengen Borders Code.
  • CONTENT: the proposed Directive establishes rules for the exchange of information between the law enforcement authorities of the Member States where necessary for the purpose of preventing, detecting or investigating criminal offences. Information exchange will ensure police officers make relevant information available to their counterparts in other Member States. The proposal includes:
  • Precise, consistent and common rules to ensure equivalent access to information
  • The proposal states that if information is available concerning a criminal offence in a Member State, it must, as a general rule, be made available to other Member States' law enforcement authorities as well, under the same conditions.
  • Single contact point and clear time limits
  • Member States should put in place a ‘Single Point of Contact’, operational 24/7, adequately staffed and acting as a ‘one-stop shop’ for information exchange with other EU countries. The information requested should be made available within 8 hours (for urgent cases), up to maximum 7 days (in other cases). Requests can only be refused in well-defined cases, for instance if the information would jeopardise the success of an ongoing investigation, harm the vital interest of a person, go against the essential interests of the security of the Member State or if the required judicial authorisation is refused.
  • Single channel for information exchange
  • The proliferation of communication channels used for the transmission of law enforcement information between Member States and of communications relating thereto should be remedied, as it hinders the adequate and rapid exchange of such information.
  • In this regard, the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA), managed by Europol, will become the default channel of communication. All relevant authorities and single points of contact should use and be directly connected to SIENA for all exchanges of information and related communications covered by the Directive.
  • Reinforcing Europol’s role as the EU criminal information hub
  • The proposal seeks to guarantee a stronger role for Europol as the EU criminal information hub.
  • Europol should be in copy of exchanges from single points of contact or law enforcement authorities concerning offences falling under the scope of its mandate.
  • Budgetary implications
  • The necessary IT upgrades in both Single Points of Contact and Police and Customs Cooperation Centres were estimated to amount to a maximum one-off total of EUR 11.5 million. These costs (one-off investment) are deemed acceptable and proportionate to the identified problem and do not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the specific objectives set out by this proposal for a Directive. Apart from the costs potentially covered by Member States’ programmes under the Internal Security Fund, there will be no other costs borne at EU level.