WIREDGOV

The Council Presidency and European Parliament representatives recently (14 December 2022) reached a provisional agreement on a regulation regarding digital information exchange in terrorism cases. The agreed text is subject to approval by the Council and the European Parliament before undergoing the formal adoption procedure.

This draft regulation is part of ongoing efforts to modernise and digitalise cross-border judicial cooperation.

Pavel Blažek, Czech Minister for Justice recently said:

Terrorists know no borders, they build their networks, prepare and perpetrate their attacks across EU member states. To be able to stop them, our judicial authorities also need to have a cross- border view. The new digital system agreed today will allow to better cross-check information and make sure any links are detected, no matter where in the EU a terrorist crime was committed.

Currently, member states share information with Eurojust on cases related to terrorism via various channels. This information is then included in the European judicial counter-terrorism register, a technically outdated system that does not allow for proper cross-checking of information.

The proposal aims to remedy these shortcomings and allow Eurojust to play a stronger and more proactive role in supporting coordination and cooperation between national authorities investigating and prosecuting terrorist offences.

Under the proposed rules, member states will need to provide Eurojust with information on any criminal investigations regarding terrorist offences as soon as such cases are referred to the judicial authorities. The proposal:

• creates a modern, digital case-management system which stores this information and allows it to be cross-checked
• empowers Eurojust to better detect links between transnational investigations and prosecutions in the field of terrorism and to proactively inform member states about the links found
• creates a secure digital communication channel between member states and Eurojust
• simplifies cooperation with third countries by granting liaison prosecutors seconded to Eurojust access to the case-management system

• A digital future for Europe (background information)

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