With the collection and processing of data at the centre of Europol’s work and the corresponding means in place, it is implicit that large amounts of personal data are stored in Europol’s files, analysed by its experts and exchanged between the Europol units, EU Member States and even third parties. To some, this image might give cause for concern.
Nowadays, we cannot even take part in a lottery or become member of a gym without someone gaining access to our personal data and potentially using it for commercial purposes. A multi-national law enforcement agency with the power to collect and analyse large amounts of data might make even more extensive use of our personal information. Are we heading for ‘1984’ reloaded?
It is obvious that in the area of law enforcement, the highest standards of data protection and security are of utmost importance. The unparalleled means of collecting and analysing data available in our day and age bring with them an obligation to respect each individual’s right to have their personal data duly protected. To live up to this responsibility, it is essential to minimise the danger of abuse and the risk of data leaks, whether intentional or unwitting. The popular principle that ‘whatever is not forbidden is allowed’ does not apply in the context of data protection. In so far as it is necessary for the achievement of Europol’s objectives, the organisation may process information, including personal data, only for special purposes as laid down in its legal framework.
The idea to establish a setting for efficient cooperation between European law enforcement authorities to tackle transnational crime is almost as old as the notion of European unity itself. Borne out of concerns about international terrorism in the 1970s, the idea soon grew to cover other areas of cross-border crime within the European Community. In 1999, Europol, the European Police Office, was established mainly as an intelligence broker for coordinated police work in the European Union.
In today’s Europe of open borders, the threats to our security are not diminishing. Organised crime groups, terrorist attacks, pan-European fraud networks and international drug cartels are only a few examples in this context. New dangers are emerging in the form of cybercrime, VAT fraud and other sophisticated crimes which abuse modern technology and the freedoms offered by the EU’s open borders.
To counter these threats and protect the internal security of the European Union and the safety of its citizens, Europol and its staff of more than 900 have been vested with unprecedented powers, competences and resources.
The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation is established with a view to support cooperation among law enforcement authorities in the EU. In that sense, Europol is often perceived as some kind of ‘European FBI’. However, Europol agents are not armed with guns, searching for criminals out the streets. Its officers have no direct enforcement powers. Instead, when Europol officials enter the field, they do so in a supportive function and under the lead of national authorities.
Nevertheless, Europol has powerful capabilities of its own. The agency is a hub of information, a centre of criminal intelligence and a workplace for top analysts and experts from all EU Member States. Like the spider’s web that is part of its logo, Europol interconnects the national law enforcement authorities of the European Union, receives and distributes information, and coordinates joint operations.
Europol’s objectives are to support and strengthen action by the competent authorities of Member States in preventing and combating serious crime affecting two or more Member States, and against terrorism and forms of crime which affect a common interest covered by a Union policy.
The tasks of the agency in providing that support are to:
Collect, store, process, analyse and exchange information, including criminal intelligence.
Notify the Member States of any information and connections between criminal offences concerning them.
Coordinate, organise and implement investigative and operational actions to support and strengthen actions by the competent authorities of Member States.
Provide information and analytical support to Member States.
Prepare threat assessments, strategic and operational analyses and general situation reports.
Develop, share and promote specialist knowledge of crime prevention methods, investigative procedures and technical and forensic methods, and provide advice as well as training to Member States.
Support Member States’ cross-border information exchange activities, operations and investigations, as well as joint investigation teams, including by providing operational, technical and financial support.
Provide administrative and financial support to Member States’ special intervention units.
Provide special training and assist Member States in organising training activities.
Cooperate with Union bodies, in particular through the exchange of information and provision of analytical support in areas that fall within their respective competences.
Provide information and support to EU crisis management structures and missions.
Develop Union centres of specialised expertise for combating certain types of crime.
Support Member States’ actions in preventing and combating crimes under Europol’s mandate and identifying the persons committing such crimes.
Facilitate joint, coordinated and prioritised investigations regarding suspects and convicted persons.
Support Member States in processing data provided by third countries or international organisations to Europol.
Support the implementation of the evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis, within the scope of Europol’s objectives.
Proactively monitor research and innovation activities that are relevant for the achievement of Europol’s objectives and contribute to such activities.
Contribute to creating synergies between the research and innovation activities of Union bodies.
Support, upon their request, Member States’ actions in addressing online crisis situations.
Support Member States’ actions in addressing the online dissemination of child sexual abuse material;
Data protection as an asset in fighting serious crime and terrorism
Europol has established a number of centres of specialised expertise for preventing and combating types of crime falling within the scope of its objectives. The focus of these organisational entities within the Operations Directorate is on the most prominent contemporary challenges affecting safety in the EU. Data protection is considered as an asset in the fight against serious crime and terrorism.
Since the beginning of 2013, Europol is the home of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).
A related feasibility study carried out for the European Commission states that, next to operational considerations, strong data protection safeguards constitute one of the main factors for having the centre launched at Europol.
EC3 serves to:
strengthen and integrate operational and analytical capacities for cybercrime investigations in the European Union, including a reinforcement of the cooperation with Member States, international partners and the private sector;
evaluate and monitor existing preventive and investigative measures in the area of cybercrime;
support the development of training and awareness-raising initiatives of law enforcement, judicial authorities and the private sector;
facilitate the reporting of cybercrimes and simplify subsequent processing of the information by Member States’ law enforcement authorities via interlinking national cybercrime alert platforms to a central European cybercrime alert platform;
improve cooperation with the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) as well as national/governmental Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) on law enforcement relevant aspects of cyber security.
The main axes of functionality of EC3 are thus to be seen in analysis/intelligence capabilities, investigative support, training as well as cooperation with law enforcement and non-law enforcement partners.
Next to the ever-growing threat by cybercrime, Europe is currently facing a vicious, new form of international terrorism. The clear shift in strategy of carrying out special forces-style attacks in the international environment, with a particular focus on Europe, as well as a growing number of foreign terrorist fighters, demonstrates the new challenges facing the EU and its Member States.
To ensure an effective response to these challenges, in January 2016 Europol created the European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC), an operations centre and hub of expertise that reflects the growing need for the EU to strengthen its response to terror.
The ECTC focuses on:
tackling foreign fighters;
sharing intelligence and expertise on terrorism financing (through the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme and the Financial Intelligence Unit);
online terrorist propaganda and extremism (through the EU Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU));
illegal arms trafficking;
international cooperation among counter terrorism authorities.
One prominent entity within the ECTC is the EU Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU), which was established to browse the internet for social media accounts promoting Islamist extremist terrorist propaganda. The aim is to have such accounts shut down by the providers. The EU IRU was set to comprise the following core tasks:
coordinate and share the identification tasks (flagging) of terrorist and violent extremist online content with relevant partners;
carry out and support referrals quickly, efficiently and effectively, in close cooperation with industry;
support competent authorities, by providing strategic and operational analysis;
act as a European Centre of Excellence for the above tasks.
Times of crisis always influence the public debate on the relationship between freedom and security in that they make the pendulum swing towards security. This has triggered concerns that our fundamental rights will be watered down and our civil liberties be wiped away in an overreaction by governments taking away exactly those freedoms which we should in fact be defending, not only against terrorists but also against public entities.
However, the political decision to establish the ECTC at Europol also underlines the commitment to observance of fundamental rights including the right to data protection and privacy.
Another important challenge is the unprecedented increase in the number of irregular migrants arriving in the EU since 2014. Europol’s research indicates that 90 % of these migrants have their journey facilitated by a criminal organisation.
The European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC) is an essential aspect of the EU’s response to the migrant crisis with the aim of tackling this illicit multi-billion-euro trade. The EMSC forms part of the European Serious and Organised Crime Centre (ESOCC) as another entity based on Europol’s robust data protection regime.
The European Serious Organised Crime Centre (ESOCC) at Europol aims to provide the most effective and agile operational support to the EU Member States' investigations in prioritised cases related to serious and organised crime. This encompasses criminal intelligence analysis, provision of specific expertise, deployments in the field, real-time information exchange and other capabilities.
ESOCC is continuously developing and enhancing its internal and external cooperation and coordination, making use of the necessary horizontal services from other Europol departments and national experts from the Member States.
The department is particularly focused on:
development of the High Value Target/Operational Task Force (OTF) concept and related OTF grant funding scheme;
development of the Analysis Projects (AP) structure;
development and use of machine learning and other relevant ICT tools connected to investigations into serious and organised crime;
development of Drugs Liaison Task Force at Europol;
developing cooperation with the major harbours in the EU, in relation to serious and organised crime activities;
development and implementation of the short-term Seconded National Experts (SNE) concept;
implementation of the relevant EU policies on serious and organised crime, based on Europol products such as SOCTA.
In this regard, the ESOCC must achieve all these operational priorities in compliance with strong data protection safeguards.
During 2021, ESOCC provided extensive operational support to 742 Member States’ serious and organised crime investigations. This led to the arrest of over 12 000 suspects and the seizure of over EUR 700 million in cash.
The European Financial and Economic Crime Centre (EFECC) at Europol enhances Europol’s operational and strategic support by preventing and combating financial and economic crime in the European Union. EFECC promotes the consistent use of financial investigations and asset forfeiture while forging alliances with public and private entities. EFECC supports law enforcement (and relevant public authorities) in their international financial crime investigations and aims at improving the recovery of criminal assets.
EFECC provides direct, vertical support to EU Member States and other strategic and operational partners, while also working closely with the other operational centres at Europol. In particular, EFECC seeks to:
provide operational and analytical support to Europol partners and Member States in investigations relating to financial and economic crime, in particular relating to corruption, counterfeiting, forgery of money, fraud, tax fraud and money laundering;
support Europol partners and Member States in their efforts to trace, identify, freeze and seize criminal assets.
assist all competent authorities of Member States in fulfilling their mandate (e.g. by offering criminal analysis etc.);
provide expertise in the economic and financial crime areas of EFECC;
provide strategic support and engage with major relevant public and private stakeholders.
In most cases, these objectives require the processing of personal data. Consequently, EFECC must act in accordance with the applicable data protection framework, which will be further explained in the following sections.