Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA
Modified by
  • Regulation (EU) 2022/991 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 8 June 2022amending Regulation (EU) 2016/794, as regards Europol’s cooperation with private parties, the processing of personal data by Europol in support of criminal investigations, and Europol’s role in research and innovation, 32022R0991, June 27, 2022
Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 11 May 2016on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA CHAPTER IGENERAL PROVISIONS, OBJECTIVES AND TASKS OF EUROPOL
Article 1Establishment of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation1.A European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) is hereby established with a view to supporting cooperation among law enforcement authorities in the Union.2.Europol as established by this Regulation shall replace and succeed Europol as established by Decision 2009/371/JHA.
Article 2DefinitionsFor the purposes of this Regulation:(a)"the competent authorities of the Member States" means all police authorities and other law enforcement services existing in the Member States which are responsible under national law for preventing and combating criminal offences. The competent authorities shall also comprise other public authorities existing in the Member States which are responsible under national law for preventing and combating criminal offences in respect of which Europol is competent;(b)"strategic analysis" means all methods and techniques by which information is collected, stored, processed and assessed with the aim of supporting and developing a criminal policy that contributes to the efficient and effective prevention of, and the fight against, crime;(c)"operational analysis" means all methods and techniques by which information is collected, stored, processed and assessed with the aim of supporting criminal investigations;(d)"Union bodies" means institutions, bodies, missions, offices and agencies set up by, or on the basis of, the TEU and the TFEU;(e)"international organisation" means an organisation and its subordinate bodies governed by public international law, or any other body which is set up by, or on the basis of, an agreement between two or more countries;(f)"private parties" means entities and bodies established under the law of a Member State or third country, in particular companies and firms, business associations, non-profit organisations and other legal persons that are not covered by point (e);(g)"private persons" means all natural persons;(h)"personal data" means any information relating to a data subject;(i)"data subject" means an identified or identifiable natural person, an identifiable person being a person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data or an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that person;(j)"genetic data" means all personal data relating to the genetic characteristics of an individual that have been inherited or acquired, which give unique information about the physiology or the health of that individual, resulting in particular from an analysis of a biological sample from the individual in question;(k)"processing" means any operation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data or sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction;(l)"recipient" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body to which data are disclosed, whether a third party or not;(m)"transfer of personal data" means the communication of personal data, actively made available, between a limited number of identified parties, with the knowledge or intention of the sender to give the recipient access to the personal data;(n)"personal data breach" means a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed;(o)"the data subject's consent" means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of his or her wishes by which the data subject, either by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to personal data relating to him or her being processed;(p)"administrative personal data" means personal data processed by Europol other than operational personal data;(q)"investigative data" means data that a Member State, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office ("the EPPO") established by Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12 October 2017 implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office ("the EPPO") (OJ L 283, 31.10.2017, p. 1)., Eurojust or a third country is authorised to process in an ongoing criminal investigation related to one or more Member States, in accordance with procedural requirements and safeguards applicable under Union or national law, that a Member State, the EPPO, Eurojust or a third country submitted to Europol in support of such an ongoing criminal investigation and that contain personal data that do not relate to the categories of data subjects listed in Annex II;(r)"terrorist content" means terrorist content as defined in Article 2, point (7), of Regulation (EU) 2021/784 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2021/784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online (OJ L 172, 17.5.2021, p. 79).;(s)"online child sexual abuse material" means online material constituting child pornography as defined in Article 2, point (c), of Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (OJ L 335, 17.12.2011, p. 1). or pornographic performance as defined in Article 2, point (e), of that Directive;(t)"online crisis situation" means the dissemination of online content stemming from an ongoing or recent real world event which depicts harm to life or to physical integrity, or calls for imminent harm to life or to physical integrity, and aims to or has the effect of seriously intimidating a population, provided that there is a link, or a reasonable suspicion of a link, to terrorism or violent extremism and that the potential exponential multiplication and virality of that content across multiple online services are anticipated;(u)"category of transfers of personal data" means a group of transfers of personal data where the data relate to the same specific situation, and where the transfers consist of the same categories of personal data and the same categories of data subjects;(v)"research and innovation projects" means projects regarding matters covered by this Regulation for the development, training, testing and validation of algorithms for the development of specific tools, and other specific research and innovation projects relevant for the achievement of Europol’s objectives.
Article 3Objectives1.Europol shall support and strengthen action by the competent authorities of the Member States and their mutual cooperation in preventing and combating serious crime affecting two or more Member States, terrorism and forms of crime which affect a common interest covered by a Union policy, as listed in Annex I.2.In addition to paragraph 1, Europol's objectives shall also cover related criminal offences. The following shall be considered to be related criminal offences:(a)criminal offences committed in order to procure the means of perpetrating acts in respect of which Europol is competent;(b)criminal offences committed in order to facilitate or perpetrate acts in respect of which Europol is competent;(c)criminal offences committed in order to ensure the impunity of those committing acts in respect of which Europol is competent.
Article 4Tasks1.Europol shall perform the following tasks in order to achieve the objectives set out in Article 3:(a)collect, store, process, analyse and exchange information, including criminal intelligence;(b)notify the Member States, via the national units established or designated pursuant to Article 7(2), without delay of any information and connections between criminal offences concerning them;(c)coordinate, organise and implement investigative and operational actions to support and strengthen actions by the competent authorities of the Member States, that are carried out:(i)jointly with the competent authorities of the Member States; or(ii)in the context of joint investigation teams in accordance with Article 5 and, where appropriate, in liaison with Eurojust;(d)participate in joint investigation teams, as well as propose that they be set up in accordance with Article 5;(e)provide information and analytical support to Member States in connection with major international events;(f)prepare threat assessments, strategic and operational analyses and general situation reports;(g)develop, share and promote specialist knowledge of crime prevention methods, investigative procedures and technical and forensic methods, and provide advice to Member States;(h)support Member States' cross-border information exchange activities, operations and investigations, as well as joint investigation teams, including by providing operational, technical and financial support;(ha)provide administrative and financial support to Member States’ special intervention units as referred to in Council Decision 2008/617/JHACouncil Decision 2008/617/JHA of 23 June 2008 on the improvement of cooperation between the special intervention units of the Member States of the European Union in crisis situations (OJ L 210, 6.8.2008, p. 73).;(i)provide specialised training and assist Member States in organising training, including with the provision of financial support, within the scope of its objectives and in accordance with the staffing and budgetary resources at its disposal in coordination with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL);(j)cooperate with the Union bodies established on the basis of Title V of the TFEU, with OLAF and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) established by Regulation (EU) 2019/881 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2019/881 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) and on information and communications technology cybersecurity certification and repealing Regulation (EU) No 526/2013 (Cybersecurity Act) (OJ L 151, 7.6.2019, p. 15)., in particular through the exchange of information and provision of analytical support in areas that fall within their respective competences;(k)provide information and support to EU crisis management structures and missions established on the basis of the TEU, within the scope of Europol's objectives as set out in Article 3;(l)develop Union centres of specialised expertise for combating certain types of crime falling within the scope of Europol's objectives, in particular the European Cybercrime Centre;(m)support Member States’ actions in preventing and combating forms of crime listed in Annex I which are facilitated, promoted or committed using the internet, including by:(i)assisting the competent authorities of the Member States, upon their request, in responding to cyberattacks of suspected criminal origin;(ii)cooperating with competent authorities of the Member States with regard to removal orders, in accordance with Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2021/784; and(iii)making referrals of online content to the online service providers concerned for their voluntary consideration of the compatibility of that content with their own terms and conditions;(r)support Member States in identifying persons whose criminal activities fall within the forms of crime listed in Annex I and who constitute a high risk for security;(s)facilitate joint, coordinated and prioritised investigations regarding persons referred to in point (r);(t)support Member States in processing data provided by third countries or international organisations to Europol on persons involved in terrorism or in serious crime and propose the possible entry by the Member States, at their discretion and subject to their verification and analysis of those data, of information alerts on third-country nationals in the interest of the Union ("information alerts") in the Schengen Information System (SIS), in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, amending and repealing Council Decision 2007/533/JHA, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1986/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Decision 2010/261/EU (OJ L 312, 7.12.2018, p. 56).;(u)support the implementation of the evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis under Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013, within the scope of Europol’s objectives, through the provision of expertise and analyses, where relevant;(v)proactively monitor research and innovation activities that are relevant for the achievement of Europol’s objectives and contribute to such activities by supporting related activities of Member States and by implementing its own research and innovation activities, including projects for the development, training, testing and validation of algorithms for the development of specific tools for the use by law enforcement authorities, and disseminate the results of the activities to the Member States in accordance with Article 67;(w)contribute to creating synergies between the research and innovation activities of Union bodies that are relevant for the achievement of Europol’s objectives, including through the EU Innovation Hub for Internal Security, and in close cooperation with Member States;(x)support, upon their request, Member States’ actions in addressing online crisis situations, in particular by providing private parties with the information necessary to identify relevant online content;(y)support Member States’ actions in addressing the online dissemination of online child sexual abuse material;(z)cooperate, in accordance with Article 12 of Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 laying down rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of certain criminal offences, and repealing Council Decision 2000/642/JHA (OJ L 186, 11.7.2019, p. 122)., with Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) established pursuant to Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73)., through the relevant Europol national unit or, if allowed by the relevant Member State, by direct contact with the FIUs, in particular through the exchange of information and the provision of analyses to Member States to support cross-border investigations into the money laundering activities of transnational criminal organisations and terrorist financing.In order for a Member State to inform, within a period of 12 months after Europol has proposed the possible entry of an information alert referred to in the first subparagraph, point (t), other Member States and Europol on the outcome of the verification and analysis of the data and on whether an alert has been entered in SIS, a periodic reporting mechanism shall be put in place.Member States shall inform Europol of any information alerts entered in SIS and of any hit on such information alerts, and may inform, through Europol, the third country or international organisation that provided the data leading to the entry of the information alert on hits on such information alert, in accordance with the procedure set out in Regulation (EU) 2018/1862.2.Europol shall provide strategic analyses and threat assessments to assist the Council and the Commission in laying down strategic and operational priorities of the Union for fighting crime. Europol shall also assist in the operational implementation of those priorities, in particular in the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), including by facilitating and providing administrative, logistical, financial and operational support to operational and strategic activities led by Member States.3.Europol shall provide strategic analyses and threat assessments to assist the efficient and effective use of the resources available at national and Union level for operational activities and the support of those activities. Europol shall also provide threat assessment analyses based on the information it holds on criminal phenomena and trends to support the Commission and the Member States in carrying out risk assessments.4.Europol shall act as the Central Office for combating euro counterfeiting in accordance with Council Decision 2005/511/JHACouncil Decision 2005/511/JHA of 12 July 2005 on protecting the euro against counterfeiting, by designating Europol as the Central Office for combating euro counterfeiting (OJ L 185, 16.7.2005, p. 35).. Europol shall also encourage the coordination of measures carried out to fight euro counterfeiting by the competent authorities of the Member States or in the context of joint investigation teams, where appropriate in liaison with Union bodies and the authorities of third countries.4a.Europol shall assist the Member States and the Commission in identifying key research themes.Europol shall assist the Commission in drawing up and implementing the Union framework programmes for research and innovation activities that are relevant to achieve Europol’s objectives.Where appropriate, Europol may disseminate the results of its research and innovation activities as part of its contribution to creating synergies between the research and innovation activities of relevant Union bodies in accordance with paragraph 1, first subparagraph, point (w).Europol shall take all necessary measures to avoid conflicts of interest. Europol shall not receive funding from a given Union framework programme where it assists the Commission in identifying key research themes and in drawing up and implementing that programme.When designing and conceptualising research and innovation activities regarding matters covered by this Regulation, Europol may, where appropriate, consult the Joint Research Centre of the Commission.4b.Europol shall support the Member States in the screening, as regards the expected implications for security, of specific cases of foreign direct investments into the Union under Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union (OJ L 79 I, 21.3.2019, p. 1). that concern undertakings that provide technologies, including software, used by Europol for the prevention and investigation of crimes that fall within Europol’s objectives.5.Europol shall not apply coercive measures in carrying out its tasks.Europol staff may provide operational support to the competent authorities of the Member States during the execution of investigative measures, at their request and in accordance with their national law, in particular by facilitating cross-border information exchange, by providing forensic and technical support and by being present during the execution of those measures. Europol staff shall not, themselves, have the power to execute investigative measures.5a.Europol shall respect the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ("the Charter"), in the performance of its tasks.
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