| Author (Corporate) | Council of the European Union, European Parliament |
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| Series Title | Official Journal of the European Union |
| Series Details | L 148, Pages 1-5 |
| Publication Date | 31/05/2022 |
| Content Type | Legislation, News, Policy-making |
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Summary: Regulation (EU) 2022/838 - formally signed by the co-legislators on 30 May 2022 - introducing amendments to Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 as regards the collection, preservation and analysis of evidence relating to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes at Eurojust. Further information: Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 established a new legal framework for the European Union's Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust). This Agency coordinates investigations and prosecutions of serious cross-border crime in Europe and beyond. Russian launched a military invasion against Ukraine in February 2022. In March 2022, the ICC Prosecutor announced he had proceeded to open an investigation into the situation following allegations leading to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity were being committed in Ukraine. Prosecution services in several EU Member States as well as in Ukraine also started investigations of core international crimes, which are supported and coordinated by Eurojust. Due to the hostilities, evidence cannot be stored securely in Ukraine, requiring that a back-up place be urgently secured by the EU. However, while the Eurojust Regulation provides hat Eurojust supports Member States’ action in investigating and prosecuting serious crime, it does not explicitly allow Eurojust to collect, preserve and analyse such evidence in relation to this purpose. Eurojust established a case management system, which contains non-personal data and the personal data already foreseen in the Eurojust Regulation. The existing framework restricts the set-up of the case management system to temporary work files, aiming to support the follow-up on ongoing cases, and an index. The aggression against Ukraine further demonstrated the need to go beyond the Eurojust's existing case management system. This Regulation allows the Eurojust to collect, preserve and analyse evidence in relation to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and related criminal offences and, when necessary and appropriate, enable its exchange or otherwise make it available to the competent judicial authorities, national or international. It envisages the establishment of an automated data management and storage facility outside the case management system. It also extends the categories of data that Eurojust can legally process to videos and audio recordings as well as satellite images and any relevant photographs. The draft law was tabled by the European Commission on 25 April 2022. The European Parliament endorsed the proposal on 19 May, followed by the Council on 25 May. The co-legislators formally signed the Act on 30 May 2022, which was published in the Official Journal on the following day. |
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| Source Link | http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/838/oj |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs |
| Subject Tags | Police | Judicial Cooperation, Wars | Conflicts |
| Keywords | European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation [Eurojust], War in Ukraine (2022-) |
| International Organisations | European Union [EU] |
