European Police Office

The objective of the proposal is not a major change in the mandate or the activities of Europol, but mainly to provide Europol with a new and more flexible legal basis. The proposal also contains substantive changes, so as to further improve Europol's functioning. It extends the mandate of Europol and it contains several new provisions, aiming to further facilitate the work of Europol, for instance on the exchange of data between Europol and other bodies of the EC/EU, like Olaf.. The proposal contains specific rules on data protection and data security, additional to the general legal framework on data protection for the third pillar that has not yet been adopted. Other changes will bring the position of Europol more in line with other bodies of the EU.

The EDPS-opinion suggests a number of improvements and concludes moreover that the Council Decision should not be adopted before the adoption by Council of a framework on data protection, guaranteeing an appropriate level of data protection.