Europaworld 19/3/2004 European Commission new actions and existing measures to combat terrorism

It is essential in the fight against terrorism for the relevant services to have the fullest and most up-to-date information possible in their respective fields, including information on convictions. The Commission will propose by the end of March 2004 a proposal for a Council Decision aimed at broadening the exchanges of information on convictions for terrorist offences and cooperation between Member States, Europol and Eurojust. It represents a major element for avoiding infiltration of terrorist groups in legal activities in the objective to fight against financing of terrorism.

· The establishment of a European Register on convictions and disqualifications for individuals and bodies corporate should also be envisaged as a real contribution to the effectiveness of the fight against crime in general, and terrorism in particular. The Commission will issue proposals before the end of this year in order to establish such a register.
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· Work is to be launched in the Forum on Organised Crime Prevention for the establishment of a database of persons, groups and entities covered by restrictive measures for the fight against terrorism or under criminal proceedings for terrorist offences. This work will be undertaken in partnership with the private sector and in liaison with Europol.
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· Freezing the funds or other financial assets and economic resources of individuals, groups and entities involved in terrorism is a key tool to combat terrorism. Several legal instruments have been adopted in the wake of September 11 events under the Title V of the TEU, which provide for the freezing of the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of persons, groups and entities involved in acts of terrorism. The lists of terrorist organisations/assets should become operational and reactive on a "real time" basis. They urgently need to be streamlined and the Commission is ready to assist Member States in that regard. Allowing for modification of the lists under qualified majority voting is an option as is the replacement of the present three lists by only two, one on suspected cases/threats, the other one as a record of past terrorist activity. This last list, to be set up in a form of a court record, should cover not only decisions on the freezing of assets connected to terrorism but also all condemnations for terrorist behaviour.
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Exchange of information/a clearing house

The Union should put in place a new coordination mechanism for the exchange of information -a clearing house mechanism - where law enforcement, judicial authorities and intelligence services meet to enhance mutual trust and exchange operational intelligence enabling each to perform its duty properly. Europol and Eurojust should be fully involved, together with national intelligence and law enforcement networks. In accordance with the Treaty provisions, the Commission could be fully associated. The priorities of the aims of such exchange of information mechanism should be set up by Council, although one could think of prioritising its activities on (i) the method of recruitment of terrorist organisations, (ii) the identification of the sleeping cells, (iii) their financial powerbases in civil society and (iv) their external connections The exchange of information among and between national authorities and at EU level must be dramatically improved. More than new institutions or bodies, the Union has to come forward with a comprehensive across the board methodology for the exchange of information.

This new coordination mechanism should neither be a European CIA not just a second pillar instrument. Terrorism is first and foremost an internal security matter and therefore the mechanism we suggest to establish should exchange information mostly within a third pillar umbrella. In this way, we put existing Community, Union, international and national - networks in dialogue among themselves rather than losing time destroying existing and creating new procedurally time-consuming institutions and bodies.

Traceability and control of the weapons of terror and precursors

· We need to urgently review whether we have adequate measures in place to allow us to monitor and trace bomb-making materials such as explosives, detonators, and radioactive sources as well as precursors. Detection and traceability should become our key words here. The tracing and checking of dangerous goods and explosives should be made possible by creating new databases or upgrading existing databases such as SIS II with new functionalities, as well as making full use of advanced technologies such as satelliteenhanced (GALILEO) RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) tracking.
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· The Member States must strengthen the identification, control and interception of illegal trafficking in WMD materials. This should include (i) Member States' support for international initiatives aimed at disrupting WMD networks, (ii) the interception of illegal WMD shipments, as well as measures aimed at enhancing controls on WMD related material in the EU, including the transit and transhipment of sensitive materials and (iii) the development of common policies related to criminal sanctions for illegal export, brokering and smuggling of such material.
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Bio-terrorism

Tackling bio-terrorism requires specific Health Security measures. It is also apparent that the health and security communities are not communicating as they should and that urgent action should be taken in order to remedy this state of affairs. Building on work already done, the EU and Member States should accelerate the implementation of a Health Security Strategy addressing in particular (i) the adoption of a general EU Emergency Preparedness Plan, (ii) joint emergency planning and response exercises, (iii) an agreed risk incidence classification scale, and (iv) most crucially, ensuring the mutual availability of adequate stocks of medicines and vaccines. A European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will be established in 2005 and will prioritise the coordination of efforts to improve surveillance, notification, response, assistance, communication and laboratory capacity on health security matters.

Existing legislative instruments relevant to the fight against terrorism, and draft measures already on the Council table

The Union has already put in place a series of legislative measures to combat terrorism. But implementation of these measures is often slow, poor an inadequate.

The 5 Member States which have not yet taken the necessary measures to put the European Arrest Warrant(1) into their national law should do so as a matter of top priority. And transposition is not enough: the Commission will report at the end of this year on the measures Member States have taken and on the operational working of the European Arrest Warrant, a matter which the Commission and Eurojust are monitoring constantly;

In the wake of 11 September 2001, the Union adopted a landmark Framework Decision on the fight against terrorism(2) to ensure that the definition of terrorist crimes is similar across the Union and to set common minimum maximum sentences applicable to these atrocious crimes. Three Member States have not fully reported on the implementation of this legislation, and for the others it is not yet clear that national measures fully implement the requirements of the Framework Decision. In the coming weeks the Commission will report the failings in no uncertain terms to the Council and will do all it can to ensure that the Member States take the necessary measures;

The 2000 EU Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and its 2001 Protocol provide for improvements to the rules on mutual assistance. It includes provisions relating to cross-border requests for interception of communications and monitoring of bank accounts. No legal deadline was set for implementation of this instrument. To date only four Member States have formally ratified the Convention, although other Member States have adopted the necessary legislation.

In relation to tackling the means by which terrorist organisations finance their activities, it is essential that Member States take the necessary measures to implement the Framework Decision on money laundering, the identification, tracing, freezing, seizing and confiscation of instrumentalities and the proceeds of crime(3) which limits Member States' reservations in respect of the 1990 Council of Europe Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of crime and approximates penalties for money laundering offences.

The deadline for implementation of this instrument was 31 December 2002, and although all but one of the Member States have informed the Commission of the measures taken to implement it, in some cases the information provided was not complete.

The Framework Decision on joint investigation teams(4) provides an essential operational tool for allowing investigators from two or more Member States to work together to tackle cross-border criminal activities. The instrument should have been implemented by Member States by the start of 2003; however, to date only nine Member States have notified transposition measures to the Commission;

Furthermore, attention should be given to ensuring that the full use is made of the tools set up by two Council Decisions relevant for the fight against terrorism, namely the Decision establishing Eurojust(5) and the Decision on the implementation of specific measures for police and judicial cooperation to combat terrorism(6). Under this latter instrument all Member States are required to establish national contact points responsible for collecting all relevant information concerning and resulting from national criminal investigations and prosecutions with respect to terrorist offences involving listed individuals, groups or entities, and for passing that information on to Europol and Eurojust. But two Member States have not yet established their national contact points to exchange information on terrorism with Eurojust and Europol.

Looking to the future, the Commission urges all Member States to demonstrate their compliance with the Framework Decision on the execution in the European Union of orders freezing property or evidence(7) by the deadline of 2 August 2005;

The Commission calls on Member States to rapidly implement the existing legislation on maritime and aviation security, in particular Regulation 2320/2002 on civil aviation security, Regulation 1486/2003 on procedures on Commission inspections in the field of civil aviation security and the not yet published Regulation on enhancing port and ship facility security.

Draft instruments relevant to the fight against terrorism which the Justice and Home Affairs Council should adopt as a matter of priority :

Draft Framework Decision on the confiscation of crime-related proceeds, instrumentalities and property, which seeks to ensure that all Member States have effective rules governing the confiscation of proceeds of crime, including extended powers of confiscation. The Council reached political agreement on this instrument on 19 December 2002, but formal adoption has to await the lifting of constitutional and parliamentary reservations by two Member States;

Draft Framework Decision on attacks against information systems, which responds to the increasing concern at the potential threat posed by cyber-terrorism. Political agreement was reached on 28 February 2003 but parliamentary reservations are still pending by three Member States;

Draft Framework Decision on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to confiscation orders. Discussions on this instrument are nearing completion and the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers should be urged to find agreement on it at their meeting of 30 March 2004;

Draft Framework Decision on the European Evidence Warrant for obtaining objects, documents and data for use in proceedings in criminal matters(8). This proposal applies the mutual recognition principle to obtaining certain types of evidence and thereby replaces the existing mutual assistance regime in this area.

(1) Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 relative on the European Arrest Warrant and surrender procedures between the Member States, JO L 190 of 18.7.2002, p.1

(2) Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the fight against terrorism, JO L 164 of 22.6.2002, p.3

(3) Council Framework Decision of 26 June 2001 on money laundering, the identification, tracing, freezing, seizing and confiscation of instrumentalities and the proceeds of crime, JO L 182 of 5.7. 2001, p.1

(4) Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on joint investigation teams, JO L 162 of 20.6.2002, p.1

(5) Council Decision of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime, JO L 63 of 6.3.2002, p.1

(6) Council Decision of 19 December 2002 on the implementation of specific measures for police and judicial cooperation to combat terrorism in accordance with Article 4 of Common Position 2001/931/CFSP

(7) Council Framework Decision of 22 July 2003 on the execution in the European Union of orders freezing property or evidence, JO L 196 of 2.8.2003, p.45

(8) COM(2003)688 of 14 November 2003