The Association of Chief Police Officers - Parliament

Association of Chief Police Officers –Written evidence9. 2009/371/JHA - Establishing the European Police Office (Europol).Membership of Europol is required and demanded by a number of other measures -not least the EIO which the UK has already signed up to. As such, the UK is obligedto remain a member of Europol so we need to opt back in.10. 2009/934/JHA - Adopting the implementing rules governing Europol'srelations with partners, including the exchange of personal data andclassified information. Irrespective of this measure, membership of Europol isneeded for a number of areas such as JITs, SIS and EC3. See the main report formore information.11. 2009/935/JHA - Determining the list of third countries with which Europolshall conclude agreements. Irrespective of this measure, membership of Europolis needed for a number of areas such as JITs, SIS and E3C. See the main report formore information.12. 2009/948/JHA - Prevention and settlement of conflicts of exercise ofjurisdiction in criminal matters. This role is filled by Eurojust which the UK usesparingly. That said, membership of Europol is needed for a number of areas such asJITs, SIS and EC3. See the main report for more information.13. 2009/968/JHA - Adopting the rules on the confidentiality of Europolinformation. Irrespective of this measure, membership of Europol is needed for anumber of areas such as JITs, SIS and EC3. See the main report for more informationTPMs that ACPO consider that we should opt back into1. 2000/375/JHA - Combat child pornography (CP)on the internet. The orderis merely a best practice document which the UK already exceeds. There are plusesand minuses in this TPM. On the plus side it requires member states to shareinformation on CP matters quickly and for law enforcement in each state to processrequests for information as a matter of urgency. This does not adversely affect theUK as we do this anyway, but it is useful to have as it ensures that other states dothe same with our requests. If we left this then the rest of the EU would be under noobligation to treat UK requests as urgent. They may do, but the point is that they arenot obliged to and where resources are scarce, if any country is going to be put tothe bottom of the pile it will be the countries where there are not mandatoryobligations in force. The other side is the requirement to inform Eurojust of all CPmatters which is a little cumbersome but in reality it is not done in every caseanyway. Another plus is that it requires close coordination of states when it comesto the removal of CP material from the internet. Again, a most useful provision giventhe international nature of on-line CP. Finally it makes requirements for the retentionand interception of communications data for the prosecution of CP matters. Thisensures a common standard that is continually updated as technology evolves.Although there are some minuses, on the whole this is a positive TPM and we shouldopt back into it.2. 2000/586/JHA - Establishing a procedure for amending Articles 40(4) and(5), 41(7) and 65((2) of the Convention implementing the SchengenAgreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common20