EUROPOL will not be ready until year 2000 (feature)
01 March 1996
The best "experts" assessment for the date when the Europol computer systems will be ready is "mid-1999" according to a report agreed by the General Affairs Council on 26-27 February - just three weeks before the scheduled meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers on 19-20 March. The two reports agreed by the General Affairs Council set an additional budget for 1996 of ECU 1.4 million to start work on the Europol computer systems, and agreed the new Group "Europol" could set up a series of working groups.
The first report, on "The Europol Computer System", says:
"the Europol computer system is, in fact, a system, or rather an ensemble of systems, that includes the national units of the 15 member states as well as Europol itself."
It goes on to say the Europol's own computer system has "to be defined" in a way that will allow it to "link" up with "the systems of national units" and:
"It is also advisable to take into account other national and international systems, such as the Schengen Information System and that of Interpol.."
As to the timing it would be realistic "to aim for the end of 1998" but allowing for "delay from the side of the supplier" and "the making of key decisions.. could postpone the completion of the project until mid-1999."
The report sets out the new working groups being set up to effect the computer system:
Group "Europol": in charge of the "strategic direction" including experts from member states.
Project committee: headed by the Director of Europol with "police and information technology experts" from the 15 member states and the Commission.
Project units: a) "project coordination" unit; b) "quality assurance" unit; c) "project support" unit.
"permanent committees" and "ad hoc sub-groups": covering areas such as data protection, the needs of the users, the security of the data, communications, implementation and training, the management of the system and the support of users.
The second report empowers the Group "Europol" to set up "one or several working sub-groups" working to a mandate and deadline set by the Group "Europol".
Immediately following this Council meeting the tender for the Europol computer system was posted on 27 February:
"Europol will be a centre of information and intelligence for the Member States of the European Union in accordance with the Europol Convention. Operational, strategic, technical and other information will be made available from information stored in Europol databases or it will be obtained by Europol from the sources in Europe and worldwide."
The tender notice that "the service provider, the subcontractors, the personnel and all persons concerned with the performance of the contract shall be subject to prior and ongoing security checks and bound by the statutory provisions regarding professional secrecy."
Europol debate in European Parliament
At its plenary session in Strasbourg on 14 March the European Parliament urged national parliaments not to ratify the Europol Convention until the issue of the European Court of Justice had been settled. The parliament adopted a report from the Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs Committee by a majority (213 for, 44 against and 32 abstentions). The report was considerably amended in the session with the parliament insisting that the knowledge acquired via data processing on the basis of the Europol Convention must be monitored by the European Parliament; information concerning the political opinions, religious beliefs and other personal data communicated by a State or a third party or another organisation must not be placed into a Europol file. An amendment by Mmes Roth and Lindholm (Greens) asks the Council to eliminate all reference to such data and the parliament wants better protection by extending individual rights concerning information and verification.
Row over data
The row over the data to be held u