Home | Observatories Index STATEWATCH OBSERVATORY IT Systems and Information Exchange for Police and Judicial Cooperation in the European Union Index European Criminal Records Information System European Police Records Index System Information Exchange Platform for Law Enforcement Authorities Last updated 27/02/2013: News articles added The Information Exchange Platform for Law Enforcement Authorities (IXP) is a proposal of the former Spanish presidency intended to centralise access to all of the EU's law enforcement databases and information exchange instruments. One proposal suggests that access could be extended to police forces, judicial bodies, and even goes so far as to suggest that bodies of the Council's General Secretariat could have access. It is currently being discussed as part of work on the EU's information management strategy, and the Commission has given cautious approval to the project in a recent communication, stating that: "There are benefits from facilitating use of existing channels and systems, but that further assessment is needed of the costs/benefits of an Information Exchange Platform, who would provide the funding, and how the project would be governed. This assessment should also involve the IT Agency." News & Analysis 18/12/2012 Statewatch News Online: Commission rules out new law enforcement databases - but seeks more data for Europol A communication from the European Commission published last Saturday states that the exchange of information amongst Europe's law enforcement agencies "generally works well" and that "no new EU-level law enforcement databases or information exchange instruments are therefore needed at this stage," providing some relief to critics of what seemed to be an almost-endless expansion of European law enforcement database and computer networking projects. 25/01/2012 Statewatch News Online: EU pushes ahead with plans for greater law enforcement data access At the meeting of the Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection on 11th January, a document from Europol outlining a "high level solution definition" for the Information Exchange Platform for Law Enforcement Agencies (IXP) was approved. This permits further work to be undertaken on the IXP, prior to its implementation in three phases, which will see progressively greater access to (and convergence and harmonisation of) law enforcement databases and computer systems across the EU. 03/09/2011 Bürgerrechtler: Datenschutz kommt bei EU-Strafverfolgung unter die Räder A German news article discussing the findings of the Statewatch Analysis Implementing the "principle of availability". 03/09/2011 Statewatch Analysis: Implementing the "principle of availablity": the European Criminal Records Information System, the European Police Records Index System, the Information Exchange Platform for Law Enforcement Authorities An analysis of the development and functioning of the ECRIS, as well as an examination of the development of the EPRIS and IXP. Documents 02/10/2012 NOTE from: Europol to: Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Target information management architecture (IMS Action 10) - Draft vision on EU law enforcement information exchange (14157/12) 25/06/2012 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (11782/12) Discussions on 11749/1/11 are postponed (see 11749/11) and "one delegation suggested to keep in mind the political aspects of the Information Management Strategy and wondered to what extent the political level should be informed about ongoing work." (page 2) 18/06/2012 Presidency: Outcome of COPE 12 / The Hague, 26-27 April 2012 (11508/12) Notes from the European Police Chiefs Conference 2012, at which there was discussion of information exchange tools (mostly Prum), including the IXP (pages-6-7). 25/04/2012 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (8390/12) Questions over Interpol's involvement in the project. 07/02/2012 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (6097/12) Notes that the COPE 12 conclusions on "Future information exchange concepts and privacy by design" should be taken into account when developing the IXP. 08/12/2011 Europol: Europol Work Programme 2012 "Europol actively contributes to the implementation of the EU Information Strategy, in particular related to three action points: Action point 4 - information exchange platform for law enforcement agencies; Action point 9 - standards and guidelines for product management; Action point 10 - target information management architecture... Europol will also in 2012 further explore new opportunities created by the Europol Council Decision such as the possibility to establish new systems processing personal data" (p. 13, emphasis added) 15/04/2011 Presidency: Draft interim report on the Implementation of the 1st Action List (8420/11) See page 3. 14/04/2011 Europol: Implementation of EUROPOL led action points related to the IMS action list - Progress report (9074/11) See page 2. 22/12/2010 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (18190/10) See page 4. 09/11/2010 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (15670/10) "EUROPOL confirmed that the platform is intended as a search tool and would not create access rights to information on law enforcement beyond existing national ones" (p.7) 15/10/2010 Note from: Europol, to Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Implementation of the EUROPOL led action points related to the IMS action list - Progress report (11087/10) See page 2. 02/07/2010 Ad hoc Group on Information Exchange: Summary of discussions (11536/10) See page 5. 15/06/2010 Europol: Business Concept for an Information Exchange Platform for Law Enforcement Agencies (11117/10) See also: 11117/2/10 REV 2 and 11117/10 REV 3 "The IXP will serve as a single, secure gateway to available information, products and services of relevance to cross-border law enforcement cooperation involving EU Member States and potentially associated third countries. This implies the dispatching of end-users to existing products and services where relevant. The measures in place governing access rights, authorisation, security and data protection compliance are not affected by the establishment of the IXP" (p.2) 31/03/2010 Europol: Plan for the Programme Definition for the Information Exchange Platform for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) (IMS Action 4) (7752/10) More detail emerges about the interested parties: "The programme definition for the Information Exchange Platform for LEAs is executed under the authority of the Ad Hoc Working Party on Information Exchange (WP). It is driven by the Spanish Presidency and Europol and supported by Germany, Estonia, Lithuania and other interested partners represented in the WP." (p.2) 02/03/2010 Ad hoc Group on Information Exchange: Summary of discussions (5858/10) See page 4. At this point the project was named the Police Information Exchange Platform (PIEP) - "Delegations welcomed the concept as ambitious and offering opportunities for numerous synergies." 18/01/2010 Presidency: Draft Action list for the implementation of IMS (16951/1/09) See p.19 14/01/2010 Presidency: Presentation of the Police Information Exchange Platform (PIEP) project (5281/10) Home | Observatories Index © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals/"fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.