EU: Interim solution for Europol computer system
01 September 1998
Planning and development of the Europol Computer System (TECS) began in earnest in 1996, with the first phase resulting in the production of the "Statement of Requirement" delivered by British company CREW-Services. The second phase saw consultants UNISYS consider the specifications of the "Operational Requirement" which they submitted in June of this year.
It has been clear for some time that TECS will not be fully operational until 2001. According to a high-ranking official in Europol's IT department, this delay has more to do with political disagreement than technical problems. While the "architecture" of the system has not changed, there have been disputes over access to the data it will hold. All national units will have access to the "information system", a kind of EU-wide criminal records database, but access to the operational and strategic "analysis system" will be restricted to Europol's analysts and liaison officers (see Statewatch, vol 4 no 5 and vol 6 no 2). Some states have been pushing for wider access to the "hot" intelligence. The official also acknowledged the rather slow process of planning and development, which he said will be accelerated during the next phases. TECS components will be divided into equipment for early delivery, in 2000, and for later delivery the following year.
By Autumn 1997 the Europol Working Party and the K.4 Committee had agreed on an interim solution for TECS and this was then approved by the JHA Council in March. This solution consists largely of a provisional version of Europol's future analysis system and is now ready. It will go online when the Convention comes into force on 1.10. 98.
Tests of the interim system have been carried out since the summer. Using the deficient legal basis of common measures which refer to national laws, actual analyses were started. Data on real persons were stored under the authority of the respective Member State, which then "shared" the data with the others. The data were then delivered to Europol, or in strict legal terms to the liaison officer, via the already functioning e-mail network. According to the Europol source, these are not "analysis work files" under the Convention, but "analysis cases" under national laws. This is a good example of the EU's disregard for national law, and the ease with which it can be circumvented.
The technical tests revealed an unlimited capacity for the interim analysis system: 5,000 analysis files could run parallel at the same time. However, we were told that in practise Europol will only have several hundred work files at any one time, some containing thousands of data sets. There will also be no technical limitation to the information system; which will hold an estimated one million data sets. These developments reflect lessons learned from the Schengen Information System (SIS). The SIS was originally conceived for 8 member states and the problems that came with Schengen's enlargement led to the decision to construct a new system. Crucially, all the data in the C.SIS (the central system) is replicated in the N.SIS (national). However, it is as yet unclear whether this will be the same for the Europol information system or whether they will opt for a different technical solution. TECS entire budget is 35 million Ecu, of which 5 million is for the project team. When planning began this figure was 20 million.
Interim Solution for the Europol Computer System, Limite, 11220/1/97, 17.11.97.