Transcript Eurojust ICT - City College

EPOC: Empowering Judicial Cooperation
through Eurojust
Matthias Ruckdäschel, ICT Project Officer, Eurojust
(ICT4Justice, Thessaloniki, 24 October 2008)
This Presentation
• Aim:
– To explain how the EPOC software empowers international
judicial cooperation against serious crimes
• Structure:
– Judicial cooperation and Eurojust
– ICT tool: EPOC, the Case Management System used at Eurojust
– EPOC IV: the way forward
Eurojust
• What is Eurojust?
– Council Decision 2002/187/JHA, setting up Eurojust with a view to
reinforcing the fight against serious crime, modified by Decision
2003/659/JHA – a EU body
• Who is Eurojust?
– Composition: 27 National Members (prosecutors/judges, one
nominated by each Member State), Deputies/Assistants and
Administration staff supporting casework (e.g. analysts)
• Objectives:
– Stimulate and improve the co-ordination of cross-border
investigations and prosecutions
– Improve co-operation between the competent authorities in
Member States
– Support otherwise the competent authorities of the Member States
to render their investigations and prosecutions more effective
The CMS
• Why a Case Management System (CMS)?
–
–
–
–
A legal requirement: Eurojust Decision and data protection rules
A need: ICT tool for the operational work
Not only to register cases, but also to work effectively
EPOC software used as CMS
• EPOC has been developed since 2002 through three
projects co-funded by the European Commission
• EPOC partners today:
Bulgaria (EPOC IV), France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovenia,
Eurojust and CM Sistemi SpA (Rome)
• EPOC design based on Eurojust Decision
CMS Functionality
• Support to management and coordination of
investigations and prosecutions which Eurojust is
assisting
• Data Management:
– Facilitation of access to information / interaction between NMs
(Temporary Work Files and Index)
– Enable cross-references between entities (persons, places, etc)
and automatic detection of potential links between cases
• Enforcement of Eurojust Data Protection Rules
• Exchange of information (structured data) between
Eurojust and National Authorities (prototype in testing)
The Structure of a TWF
• Every TWF holds some general information
(statistical purposes)
• A TWF contains a number of “Documents”:
– Files (i.e. the electronic versions of a real paper document, e.g.
rogatory letters) may be attached to a document
– Structured data and links: operational entities (e.g. persons,
places,etc.) and relationships between them
• Each TWF has private and shared sections:
– Private section: Only the owner delegation can access the data
– Shared section: The owner of the data and involved parties can
access the data
– Index of data: Procedural information accessible by every user
Example of a Document
Document: Specific Request
From: Prosecutor in Lyon
To:
National Member for France, Eurojust
Subject: Information on Slovenian suspect requested
Attachments:
File 1:
MLA Request
File 2:
Additional
information
Structured Data:
Name:
Mr. X
DOB:
01.02.74
Street:
Bake Str.
Place:
Ljubljana
Country:
SI
Person 1
Place 1
Entities of Interest (Excerpt)
International
extension
State
in
structure
Case
related
Criminal
organization
Place
related
related
related
related
membership
Crime
Person
related
has
progress
type
type
Legal Person
Identification
document
Penal
proceeding
nationality
Crime type
connected
Id. document
type
issued
Bank
account
Financial
institution
Example of two interconnected Offices
General
Prosecution office
Romanian Desk
Department for Org.
Crime & Terrorism
Slovenian Desk
E-POC
Anti-corruption
Department
.
.
.
Computer
Network
E-POC
.
.
.
Polish Desk
Security Aspects
• Functional security
– Login/password mechanism
– Users have user profiles, to identify available functions
– Encrypted channel between users and application
• Data security
–
–
–
–
–
Each information has a data owner (working group)
Data visibility is related to the delegation each user belongs to
Security classification
Personal data time limits
Log of all the data access
The Future
• Technical evolution (software currently based on
technology from 2002/2003) ongoing
• Limited access to EPOC from networks with a lower
security level
• Extension of the EPOC usage: EPOC IV
• Revised Eurojust Decision
Objectives of EPOC IV
• Drafting of a (general) data format to exchange data related to
criminal cases between judicial authorities in the EU
• Implementation of that data format in EPOC and in national
case management systems to facilitate interoperability
• Connection of three national systems with each other and
Eurojust through EPOC
• Identify and address needs for future coordination; ensure
consistent future development and usage
• Analyse the connection between organised crime and
corruption based on the exchange of statistics between the
Italian Desk and the IT High Commissioner against Corruption
EPOC IV – State of Play
• Grant awarded (Criminal Justice Programme 2008),
agreement to be signed
• Project could start in December 2008
• Project is ambitious but the deliverables are expected to
have a high impact on the efficiency of judicial
cooperation in the EU
• Some space (travel costs) foreseen for further partners
and experts in data exchange in the judicial domain
To sum up
• EPOC software is based on consistent and robust legal
framework on security and data protection
• Eurojust CMS: system developed at European level to
deal with data on criminal investigations and
prosecutions (judicial cooperation)
• Ground for further developments in Europe (EPOC IV,
e-Justice umbrella)
• Further partners to EPOC IV are welcome to join
Questions?