MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/5C635F66/ARTICLE69F.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" [ARTICLE 69F]

POLICING:

UNION POLICING MEASURES WILL EVENTUAL= LY BE REACHED

THROUGH ENHANCED COOPERATION

AND CRIMINAL DATA WILL NOT HAVE PROTECTION

 [ARTICLE 69F]

 

 

AMENDMENT TO: Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and t= he Treaty establishing the European Community (Lisbon, 13 December 2007)<= /span>

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Policy Area:

Treaty= on the Functioning of the European Union, Part Three Policies and Internal Act= ions of the Union, Title IV – Area of Freedom, security and Justice, Chapt= er 5 – Police cooperation, Article 69F

 

Amendment:

Clause= 2, page 1, line 12, after ‘excluding’ insert –

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‘= ;(i) Article 2, paragraph 68, inserted Chapter 5 and Ar= ticles 69F to 69H TEC (TFEU) relating to police cooperation; and=

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(ii)’.

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<= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Lisb= on Treaty: =

“= ;POLICE COOPERATION<= /span>

68) The following Chapter 5 and Articles 69 F, 69 G and = 69 H shall be inserted. Articles 69 F and 69 G shall replace the current Article= 30 of the Treaty on European Union, and Article 69 H shall replace Article 32 thereof.

"CHAPTER 5 POLICE COOPERATION

ARTICLE 69 F

1. The Union shall establish police cooperation involving all the Member States' competent authorities, including police, customs and other speci= alised law enforcement services in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences.

2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the European Parliam= ent and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedu= re, may establish measures concerning:

(a) the collection, storage, processing, analysis and exchange of relevant information;

(b) support for the training = of staff, and cooperation on the exchange of staff, on equipment and on resear= ch into crime-detection;

(c) common investigative tech= niques in relation to the detection of serious forms of organ= ised crime.

3. The Council, acting in accordance with a special legislative procedure, may establish measures concerning operational cooperation between the authorities referred to in this Article. The Council shall act unanimously after consulting the European Parliament.<= /span>

In case of the absence of unanimity in the Council, a gr= oup of at least nine Member States may request that the draft measures be refer= red to the European Council. In that case, the procedure in the Council shall be suspended. After discussion, and in case of a consensus, the European Counc= il shall, within four months of this suspension, refer the draft back to the Council for adoption.

Within the same timeframe, in case of disagreement, and = if at least nine Member States wish to establish enhanced cooperation on the b= asis of the draft measures concerned, they shall notify the European Parliament,= the Council and the Commission accordingly. In such a case, the authorisation to proceed with enhanced cooperation referred to in Article 10(2) of the Tr= eaty on European Union and Article 280 D(1) of this Treaty shall be deemed to be granted and the provisions on enhanced cooperation shall apply.<= /span>

The specific procedure provided for in the second and th= ird subparagraphs shall not apply to acts which constitute a development of the Schengen acquis.”

 

Consolidated Treaty Article(s):

 “Article 30<= /span>

1. Common action in the field of police cooperation shall include:

(a) operational cooperation between the competent authorities, including the police, customs and other s= pecialised law enforcement services of the Member States in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences;

(b) the collection, storage, processing, analysis and exchange of relevant information, including information held by law enforce= ment services on reports on suspicious financial transactions, in particular thr= ough Europol, subject to appropriate provisions on the protection of personal da= ta;

(c) cooperation and joint initiatives in training, the exchange of liaison officers, secondments, the use of equipment, and forensic research;

(d) the common evaluation of particular investigative techniques in relation to the detection of serious forms of organised crime.

2. The Council shall promote cooperation through Europol= and shall in particular, within a period of five years after the date of entry = into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam:

(a) enable Europol to facilitate and support the preparation, and to encourage the coordination and carrying out, of specific investigative actions by the competent authorities of the Member States, including operational actions of joint teams comprising representatives of Europol in a support capacity;

(b) adopt measures allowing Europol to ask the competent authorities of the Member States to conduct and coordinate their investigat= ions in specific cases and to develop specific expertise which may be put at the disposal of Member States to assist them in investigating cases of organised crime;

(c) promote liaison arrangeme= nts between prosecuting/investigating officials specialisi= ng in the fight against organised crime in close cooperation with Europol;

(d) establish a research, documentation and statistical network on cross-border crime.”

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Expl= anation:

This new Article proves that whilst t= he European Union is willing to freely pass on the personal crime-related data= of UK citi= zens around the 27 Member States, it will not allow for any data protection safeguards. The new Article 69f provides for the Union to “establi= sh police cooperation involving all the Member States' competent authorities, including police, customs and other specialised law enforcement services in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of crim= inal offences.” This provision is based on present Article 30 (1) TEU. The= re is no significant change in the Union powers in this area as the scope of cooperation between the competent authorities is the same. However, whereas Article 30 (1) (b) created a provision for “the collection, storage, proce= ssing, analysis and exchange of relevant information, including information held by law enforcement services on reports on suspicious financial transactions, in particular through Europol, subject to appropriate provisions on the protec= tion of personal data”, the new Article has not provided for any guarantee= d data protection safeguards.

 

Second, if Member States do not attain Council unanimity in legislating for a new measure, then the provision will still go ahead through enhanced cooperation. According to Article 69F, if the Council has= not reached the required unanimity, a group of at least nine Member States may request that the draft measures to be referred to the European Council and = the procedure will be temporarily suspended. The European Council w= ould decide by consensus and in case of agreement the draft goes back to the Cou= ncil for adoption.

 

If the European Council is unable to find an agreement wi= thin four months, and if at least nine Member States wish to establish ‘enhanced cooperation’, on the basis of the draft measures in question, a notif= ication to the European Parliament, the Council and t= he European Commission will be enough. According to this provision, the required authorisation is usually &= #8220;deemed to be granted.” The non-participati= ng States cannot prevent the others from going ahead with further integration.= The controls over UK policing and law enforcement agencies will be jeopardised since there appears to be no provision fo= r the protection of criminal data in this Article and in any case, when enhanced cooperation (based on super-Union cooperation) develops, then it is only a matter of time before it becomes EU law and the UK is then forced to submit= to the obligatory methods of unified police cooperation.