17 Cooperation between Malta and Europol
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| Opinion of the Joint Supervisory Board in respect of the draft Agreement between Malta and the European Police Office
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| Legal base | — |
| Deposited in Parliament | 19 December 2003
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| Department | Home Office |
| Basis of consideration | EM of 8 January 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None; but see (25008) File No. 3710-126: HC 42-i (2003-04), para 11 (3 December 2003)
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| To be discussed in Council | February 2004
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
17.1 An independent Joint Supervisory Board (JSB) is responsible
for reviewing the activities of the European Police Office (Europol)
to ensure that the rights of the individual are not violated in
its handling of personal data. The UK is represented on the JSB
by the Information Commissioner.
17.2 The Director of Europol has authority to negotiate
agreements with third states in order to prevent and combat organised
cross-border crime affecting the Member States of the EU. The
JSB must be consulted during the negotiation of all such agreements.
The approval of agreements requires unanimity by the Council.
17.3 A draft agreement between Malta and Europol
has been negotiated. It applies to all the areas of crime within
Europol's mandate, including unlawful drug trafficking, smuggling
of illegal immigrants, trade in human beings, motor vehicle crime,
forgery and money laundering. Malta and Europol would be authorised
to exchange not only relevant operational information but also
specialist knowledge, organised crime situation reports and information
on best practice. The draft agreement specifies the purposes for
which information may be exchanged, together with the conditions
for access to data and confidentiality requirements. Provision
is also made for the exchange of liaison officers.
17.4 The Government supports the proposal and considers
it important that Malta (and the other accession States) are able
to cooperate with Europol as soon as possible. When a country
joins the EU, it does not automatically become a member of Europol:
it has to accede to the Europol Convention separately. That is
why the proposed cooperation agreement with Malta is necessary
in the short term.
17.5 When we considered the proposal in December,[34]
we decided to keep it under scrutiny until we had seen the JSB's
opinion on it.
The JSB's opinion
17.6 The JSB has reached the opinion that, from a
data protection perspective, no obstacle exists to the draft agreement
between Europol and Malta. The Board made three detailed suggestions
for amendments to the agreement; they are intended to improve
the clarity of the text. The Government tells us that the amendments
have been incorporated in the text to be submitted to the Council
for approval.
Conclusion
17.7 We recognise the importance of cooperation
between Malta and Europol to help prevent and combat organised
cross-border crime. We wished to be sure that the proposed agreement
makes proper provision for data protection. We believe that the
JSB's opinion provides that assurance and accordingly we clear
the document from scrutiny.
34 See headnote. Back
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