International Police Cooperation Sub-Directorate - EUROPOL National Unit

Introduction

One of the commitments and obligations that the Republic of Cyprus had to fulfill upon joining the E.U. was its accession to the Convention of the European Police Service, known as EUROPOL.

Οn 04/07/2003, the operational cooperation agreement with EUROPOL was signed and so upon fulfillment of all its obligations, Cyprus acceded fully into the EUROPOL Convention on 01/09/2004.

Mission

EUROPOL shall support and strengthen action by the competent authorities of the Member States and their mutual cooperation in preventing and combating serious crime affecting two or more Member States, terrorism and forms of crime which affect a common interest covered by a Union policy.

EUROPOL’s Tasks

For a member state to ask for assistance from other member states and for checks in their national archives, the crime must:

• involve two or more member states
• be connected to organized crime
• be one of the crimes included in Annex I of EUROPOL Regulation (2016/794)).

National EUROPOL Unit

The National Unit of EUROPOL is a part of the European Union and International Police Cooperation Directorate and along with the INTERPOL National Bureau the SIRENE Office and Liaison Office, they compose the International Police Cooperation Sub-Directorate. The Unit consists of five Police members, whilst, two members of the Police have been seconded to EUROPOL (The Hague) acting as Liaison Officers.

Duties of the National Unit

The duties of the National Unit are to:

• Respond to requests from EUROPOL for information and advice through the commission of their respective agencies
• Supply EUROPOL with information which is needed in order to fulfill its mission and its objectives
• Keep and maintain up to date information.
• Evaluate the information it receives and forward it to the relevant authorities (i.e. the Police, Department of Customs and Excise or the Unit for Combating Money Laundering (MOKAS)).
• Issue and transmit requests to EUROPOL on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus national law enforcement agencies, for advice, information and analysis.
• Organization and coordination of operational meetings between the Authorities of the Republic of Cyprus and the Authorities of other Member States.
• Prepare the participation of Cyprus Police at Meetings of the Management Board of EUROPOL.
• Registering in EUROPOL’s information system (Europol Information System – E.I.S.), information in relation to cases investigated by Cyprus Police which fall into Europol’s section of activities.
• Coordinate the representation of Cyprus in meetings held by EUROPOL,
• Coordinate the representation of Cyprus in meetings held in relation to EMPACT programs (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats).
• Coordinate the representation of Cyprus in pan-European operations in which our country participates in cooperation with EMPACT National Coordinator.

In order to carry out its duties, the Unit has access to national databases. Furthermore, it has direct access to most Police databases. In addition it maintains a close and continuous cooperation with Cyprus Information Agency, the Department of Customs and Excise, the Tax Department and MOKAS. Also it has moved onto a horizontal connection of its Information Exchange System (SIENA), with all the above-mentioned agencies (except the Tax Department), as well as with all other competent national police agencies, in order to achieve immediate and secure exchange of information, requests and other analytical products.

This allows the Unit to deal directly with almost all requests, without having to refer to other services.

Operational Analysis Projects – APs

Operational Analysis Projects (APs), concern a specific class/species of offences, in relation to which, all affected Member States or Third Members participate by providing information which is being administrated by a specific group of EUROPOL’s analysts and experts. In order to create an Analysis Project the approval on behalf of the Joint Supervision Authority is needed.

At the present stage there are 30 Analysis Projects, which handle various offences such as terrorism, illegal immigration, drugs, the manufacture and falsification of Euro, etc.

EUROPOL National Unit coordinates the participation and representation of Cyprus in Europol’s Analytical Files. At the present stage, Cyprus Police participates in 22 Analysis Projects. In addition, a number of other national law enforcement agencies such as MOKAS, Customs and Excise Department and Tax Department also participate in three other Analysis Projects.

EUROPOL’s Central Data Base

The Convention of EUROPOL prescribes the constitution and operation of a central data base, in which all information affiliated with searches on behalf of Member States and EUROPOL is stored. In other words, this is EUROPOL’s electronic record, which is considered to be the most important and substantive duty of EUROPOL.

EUROPOL’s central data base is consisted of three systems:

- EUROPOL Information System (EIS)

- Analysis System
- Index System