Eurojust’s involvement in JITs Visit by the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs and the special committee for organised crime, corruption and money laundering --------  EUROJUST The Hague – The Netherlands 11th February 2013   Eurojust’s involvement in JITs and JITs funding Sylvie Petit-Leclair National Member for France at Eurojust  with the support of Vincent Jamin and Nicolas Chareyre Assistants

Overview What is a JIT ? 2. Legal framework Eurojust’s support to JITs Future

What is a JIT - Team of investigators/prosecutors/Judges - From 2 or more MS - Based on an agreement - To investigate offences with cross border dimension - Specific purpose and limited duration Sound basis for Ej involvement : JITs primilarly constitute a tool of judicial cooperation, while JITs activities require close commitment at law enforcement level Complementary police/judicial cooperation - Complementary of Ej and Ep roles

Legal framework (1) Mutual legal assistance instruments Article 13 MLA Convention 29 May 2000 Framework Decision 2002/465/JHA of 13 June 2002 EIGHTH MEETING OF THE NATIONAL EXPERTS ON JOINT INVESTIGATION TEAM

Legal framework (2) Legal framework (2) Eurojust decision Articles 6 et 7 of the Eurojust Decision : Eurojust acting through its National Member or as a College may ask the competent authorities of the Member State to set up a JIT Article 9F of the Eurojust Decision: “Each Member State shall define whether the National member participates in the joint investigation team as national competent authority or on behalf of Eurojust.” : National Member (or Deputies/assistants) shall be entitled to participate in JITs, concerning their own MS, including in their setting up(Art. 9f)

! To be considered at the earliest stage possible ! Eurojust technical and operational support to JITS (3) : JITs activities and operational phase assistance in solving practical issues : applicable rules for collecting evidence (with a view to ensuring admissibility), disclosure of information (what, how and when), limitations of powers of seconded members on the territory of the other party… Conclusion of agreements on competence : with the support of analysts, refining the scope of each national proceedings to avoid bis in idem ; sharing of jurisdiction/targets, transfer of proceedings. ! To be considered at the earliest stage possible ! preparation of operational phase : legal framework of arrests (domestic investigation or EAWS) and house searches – possible combination with MS non parties to the JIT. Support to the operational phase : the coordination center. Coordination at judicial level in real-time during a joint action

Eurojust technical and operational support to JITS (4) : Review and closing of the case re-assessing the orientations of respective proceedings ; refining the common goals Scope of respective proceedings : Offences Periods of time Suspects arrested/indicted Suspects remaining to be arrested Perspectives of the investigation : Operational phase ? Closure ? Evidence collected so far : Indication on evidence to be transmitted to JIT partner (list if possible) Indication on evidence expected from JIT partner (list if possible) Evidence remaining to be collected or missing in the case Assets seized so far : Type of assets Value of assets (if possible) Other assets that may be seized Perspectives – persons to be prosecuted in your respective country - Whenever possible, importance of periodic assessments and of a debriefing of the JIT : lessons learnt, obstacles encountered areas for improvement… EJ offers also here an avenue

A strategic tool for Eurojust : JIT funding project (5) Based on a grant awarded by the European Commission : Launched on 1 October 2010 – End : 30 September 2013 Financial support : reimbursement of costs (travel, accomodation, translation, interpretation) Logistical support : loan of equipement (mobile phones, laptops, mobile scanners, printers) Award limit per application : 50.000€ Support of 86 JITs between 22 MS Available for JITs support : 2.272.800 €

Number of received applications and supported JITs per MS Statistics (25 Oct 2010 – 6 Feb 2013)

Crime types tackled by the supported JITs Statistics (25 Oct 2010 – 6 Feb 2013)

Future Recognition of Ej role by national authorities Expertise : 5 years of experience Expertise of EJ in« classical JITs » ; currently new experience with JITS with a focus on assets recovery and JIT set up between judicial authorities Setting up of a JIT based on judicial approach (instrument of judicial cooperation) Functionning of a JIT based on judicial approach (admissibility of evidence, transfer of information…) Closing of a JIT based on judicial approach Creation of a EPPO from Eurojust

Eurojust, The Hague 11 février 2013 Thank you for your attention.