Forslag til EUROPA-PARLAMENTETS OG RÅDETS FORORDNING om styrkelse af politisamarbejdet i forbindelse med forebyggelse, opdagelse og efterforskning af smugling af migranter og menneskehandel og om forøgelse af Europols støtte til forebyggelse og bekæmpelse af disse former for kriminalitet og om ændring af forordning (EU) 2016/794

EN EN
EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Brussels, 28.11.2023
COM(2023) 754 final
2023/0438 (COD)
Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
on enhancing police cooperation in relation to the prevention, detection and
investigation of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, and on enhancing
Europol’s support to preventing and combating such crimes and amending Regulation
(EU) 2016/794
Offentligt
KOM (2023) 0754 - Forslag til forordning
Europaudvalget 2023
EN 1 EN
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal
Migrant smuggling is a criminal activity that disrespects human life and strips people of
dignity in the pursuit of profit, violating people’s fundamental rights and undermining the
migration management objectives of the EU.
Fighting and preventing migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings is one of the
priorities of the European Union and crucial to addressing irregular migration in a
comprehensive way. Criminal networks take advantage of people’s despair and use land, sea
and air routes to facilitate irregular migration, putting people’s lives at risk and seek in every
way to maximize their profits.
In her State of the Union address of 13 September 2023, President von der Leyen called for
the strengthening of all tools at the Union’s disposal to effectively counter migrant smuggling,
by updating the current, sometimes more than 20-year old legislative framework,
strengthening the governance on smuggling and the role of EU agencies, in particular of
Europol, and intensifying cooperation between Justice and Home Affairs Agencies, Member
States as well as with partner countries to tackle this issue globally. She also emphasised the
need to work with partners to tackle this global challenge, which is why the Commission is
organising an International Conference, creating a Global Alliance with a Call to Action to
fight people smuggling.
Migrant smuggling to and within the EU is reaching new heights, fuelled by increasing
demand due to emerging and deepening crises, most notably economic recessions,
environmental emergencies caused by climate change, as well as conflicts and demographic
pressure in many third countries. Migrant smuggling drives the increase of irregular arrivals
to the EU: in 2022, around 331 000 irregular entries were detected at the EU external borders,
the highest level since 2016, representing a 66% increase compared to the previous year1
. In
2023, until end of September approximately 281 000 irregular border crossings were detected
at the external borders of the EU, representing an 18% increase compared to the same period
in 2022. This coincides with an increase in the smuggling activities, evidenced by a new
record with over 15 000 migrant smugglers reported to the European Border and Coast Guard
Agency (Frontex) in 20222
. Taking into account the increase in irregular arrivals and the
various worldwide crises in a range of countries of origin and transit, consistently high and
possibly increasing migratory flows to Europe and related smuggling criminal activities can
be expected.
It is estimated that more than 90% of the irregular migrants who reach the EU make use of
smugglers, mostly organised in criminal groups. Moreover, smuggling networks make
substantial profits from their criminal activities, ranging between EUR 4.7-6 billion
worldwide annually3
. Providing a strong and firm response to smugglers’ activities is
therefore of primary importance to reducing irregular migration. It is estimated that the
activities of ruthless migrant smugglers, especially at sea, resulted in a staggering death toll of
1
Frontex Risk analysis 2023/2024.
2
Frontex Risk analysis for 2023/2024.
3
Global study on smuggling of migrants (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2018).
EN 2 EN
over 28 000 people4
since 2014.
Around half of the migrant smuggling networks are also involved in other crimes5
, such as
trafficking in human beings, drugs and firearms smuggling, while also facilitating
unauthorised movements within the EU. Law enforcement and judicial authorities are faced
with multiple and constantly evolving challenges: the rapidly changing and adapting modi
operandi of smugglers; the increased use of threats and violence vis-à-vis the migrants as well
as law enforcement authorities6
; the difficulties to locate and arrest smugglers who hide in
countries outside the EU; the use of a broad variety of means of transport, including
unseaworthy, less detectable vessels (such as fishing boats and makeshift metal boats), road
vehicles in which migrants are dangerously concealed, as well as commercial and charter
flights increasingly used to bring migrants to countries close to or bordering the EU, from
where migrants then seek to irregularly enter the EU7
; the use of digital tools at all stages of
the process, with online advertising of smuggling services, routes and prices as well as for
forging documents; the use of crypto-currencies, digital money or other unofficial forms of
payment (e.g. hawala)8
.
Tackling migrant smuggling is essential to dismantling organised crime networks that cause
human rights violations, and death, and to countering the increase in irregular migration to the
EU. A comprehensive and sustainable approach to migration requires a combination of robust
and efficient actions complementing mutually beneficial partnerships with countries of origin
and transit, addressing the root causes of migration and in particular irregular migration, and
at the same time fighting organised crime including migrant smuggling and trafficking in
human beings. The New Pact on Migration and Asylum1
puts preventing and countering
migrant smuggling at the centre of its comprehensive approach to migration.
This proposal for a Regulation is part of a package of measures aiming to modernise and
strengthen the existing legal framework and provide the Union with rules which are fit for
purpose. It is accompanied by a proposal for a Directive on preventing and countering the
facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay. That proposal introduces a modern EU
criminal law instrument that clearly defines and effectively sanctions organised criminal
networks responsible for migrant smuggling, harmonises penalties that take account of the
seriousness of the offence, improves the jurisdictional reach, reinforces Member States
resources to tackle and prevent migrant smuggling, and improves data collection and
reporting.
This package is presented on the day of the International Conference launching “a Global
Alliance to counter migrant smuggling”. With this Conference, the Commission is creating a
framework for strong political cooperation with international partners by calling for shared
commitments and actions to jointly counter migrant smuggling globally.
These three initiatives complement existing initiatives in the area of countering migrant
smuggling and implement the renewed EU action plan against smuggling (2021-2025) by
updating the existing EU legal framework to sanction migrant smugglers acting on the
migratory routes and setting out a new modern, legal, operational and international
cooperation framework against migrant smuggling for the years to come.
This proposal for a Regulation forms part of a coherent package also comprising of the
4
IOM, Missing migrants project, https://missingmigrants.iom.int/region/mediterranean.
5
Estimates by Europol.
6
Europol Spotlight (2023) Criminal Networks in Migrant Smuggling.
7
Frontex, Risk Analysis for 2023/2024
8
Europol Spotlight (2023), Criminal Networks in Migrant Smuggling
EN 3 EN
abovementioned proposal for a Directive on preventing and countering the facilitation of
unauthorised entry, transit and stay. Together, these proposals seek to modernise the legal
framework to fight the smuggling of migrants, to ensure that we have the necessary legal and
operational tools to respond to the new modus operandi of smugglers, as set out in the
Commission work programme 2024 announced on 17 October 2023.
Objective of the proposal
The overall objective of this proposal is to reinforce Europol’s role in the fight against
migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, and, in particular, the role of the
European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling.
In order to step up the prevention, detection and investigation of migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings, this proposal pursues the following specific objectives.
(1) Strengthening inter-agency cooperation on migrant smuggling and trafficking in
human beings
In order to facilitate a more effective, timely and systematic coordination and exchange of
information on countering migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings between Union
agencies, the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling at Europol will be composed of
Europol staff and seconded national experts and involve Member States’, Eurojust and the
European Border and Coast Guard Agency liaison officers that should be permanently posted
to Europol to ensure regular exchange of information and operational cooperation and
coordination. In the meantime, the Justice and Home Affairs Agencies have the opportunity to
strengthen their cooperation on the basis of their respective mandates and optimise the
exchange of information to counter migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
Eurojust is a key actor in the enhancement of the judicial response to migrant smuggling,
supporting complex cases entailing cross-border judicial coordination and Joint Investigation
Teams relating to criminal investigations of migrant smuggling cases.
(2) Strengthening steer and coordination on countering migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings at EU level
In order to address insufficient strategic analysis, coordination and steer at EU level, the
proposal sets out specific strategic tasks of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling
with a view to providing a framework for the implementation of strategic and operational
priorities of the Union by monitoring trends in migrant smuggling and trafficking in human
beings, providing annual reports, strategic analyses, threat assessments and situational updates
on migratory routes, as well as investigative and operational action. Regarding its strategic
tasks, the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling will meet at least twice a year with
representatives of each Member State, Eurojust, the European Border and Coast Guard
Agency, the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) and
the Commission to ensure effective steer and coordination. In addition, the European Centre
Against Migrant Smuggling will support Europol’s Executive Director in requesting the
initiation of criminal investigations.
(3) Improving information sharing on migrant smuggling and trafficking in human
beings
The proposed regulation strengthens Member States’ obligations to share information,
including biometrics, on migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings with Europol,
including through requiring the establishment of direct connections for their competent
authorities and immigration liaison officers to Europol’s Secure Information Exchange
Network Application (SIENA). The Commission also proposes to task the European Centre
Against Migrant Smuggling to identify cases of migrant smuggling or trafficking in human
EN 4 EN
beings that may require cooperation with third countries, including by exchanging personal
data; this aims to support the Executive Director in deciding on the transfer of personal data to
third countries on a case-by-case basis in accordance with Article 25(5) of the Europol
Regulation.
(4) Reinforcing Member States’ resources to prevent and combat migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings
In order to help Member States to effectively counter migrant smuggling and exchange
relevant information with Europol, it is proposed that they designate specialised services for
combating migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, provide for the adequate
resourcing of these services, connect these services to SIENA, and task the European Centre
Against Migrant Smuggling to act as a network of specialised services.
(5) Reinforcing Europol’s support to the prevention and combatting of migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings through operational task forces and
Europol deployments for operational support
It is proposed to codify and further develop the concept of operational task forces and set out
a new tool in the form of Europol deployments for operational support, as advanced tools for
coordination and analytical, operational, technical, and forensic support, upon request of the
Member States or proposal by the Europol Executive Director. The proposal includes the
creation of a pool of experts working in their Member States that can be placed at the
immediate disposal of Europol for deployments, and it sets obligations for the Member States
to ensure the effective implementation of these tools. Third countries may also participate in
operational task forces, and Europol deployments for operational support may take place in
third countries.
To fulfill these objectives, the Commission also proposes to increase the financial and human
resources of Europol to response to the operational needs and to address the identified gaps.
• Consistency with existing provisions in the policy area
The present proposal is consistent with existing and upcoming policy provisions in the
domain of law enforcement cooperation, including Europol. Law enforcement cooperation is
an area of shared competence between the EU and the Member States. In recent years,
progress was made to improve the exchange of information cooperation between Member
States and to reduce as much as possible the space in which terrorists and serious criminals
operate. Following the migration crisis of 2015, the general architecture of Justice and Home
Affairs (JHA) information systems and databases was overhauled with a focus on
interoperability. The legislative framework on counterterrorism and information exchange
was strengthened in 2017, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Europe. In response to
pressing operational needs to face the changing security landscape and calls by the co-
legislators for stronger support from Europol, the regulation on Europol was reinforced in
2022. The new Europol mandate entered into force in June 2022, allowing Europol to step up
its expertise and operational capabilities, to better support Member States in combating
serious and organised crime and terrorism. The mandate also strengthens Europol’s data
protection framework and the oversight of the European Data Protection Supervisor.
The proposal is also in line with the existing EU legislative framework on countering
migrants smuggling, also known as Facilitators Package, composed of Directive 2002/90/EC
establishing a common definition of the offence of facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit
and residence2
, and Framework Decision 2002/946/JHA on the strengthening of the penal
framework to prevent the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and residence3
. It is also
coherent with the renewed EU action plan against smuggling (2021-2025) that calls for
EN 5 EN
strengthening of operational cooperation between EU Member States’ law enforcement
agencies, relevant EU agencies, Europol in particular, and partner countries, in the
dismantling of migrant smuggling criminal networks as well as with the Toolbox addressing
the use of commercial means of transport to facilitate irregular migration to the EU. The Anti-
Smuggling Operational Partnerships with key countries of origin and transit form an integral
part of the comprehensive migration partnerships that the EU is developing with partner
countries. Enhancing the fight against migrant smuggling is a joint interest, as origin, transit
and destination countries share the common goal to fight against criminal networks and
protect people from possible abuses and exploitation. Migrant smuggling remains a serious
challenge that needs to be continuously, concertedly and collectively tackled further.
Preventing and fighting migrant smuggling is a key objective of the EU Security Union
Strategy, the EU Strategy to tackle Organised Crime and the New Pact on Migration and
Asylum.
• Consistency with other Union policies
As regards Europol’s support to Member States, this legislative initiative takes account of
Union’s policies in the area of judicial cooperation in criminal matters, notably the role of
Eurojust9
in supporting and strengthening coordination and cooperation between national
investigating and prosecuting authorities in relation to serious crime, and judicial cooperation
through Joint Investigation Teams10
. The legislative initiative also takes into account of the
Union’s external policies, notably the work of EU delegations and security experts in third
countries and common security and defense policy missions and operations.
This legislative initiative takes full account of the relevant EU data protection legislation (see
section 3 below on fundamental rights).
2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY
• Legal basis
The legal bases of the legislative initiative are Articles 85, 87 and 88 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Article 85(1) TFEU provides that Eurojust's
mission shall be to support and strengthen coordination and cooperation between national
investigating and prosecuting authorities in relation to serious crime affecting two or more
Member States or requiring a prosecution on common bases, on the basis of operations
conducted and information supplied by the Member States' authorities and by Europol. Article
87(1) provides that the Union shall establish police cooperation involving all the Member
States' competent authorities, including police, customs and other specialised law enforcement
services in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences. Article
88(2) TFEU provides that the European Parliament and the Council, by means of regulations
adopted in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall determine Europol's
structure, operation, field of action and tasks. These tasks may include: (a) the collection,
storage, processing, analysis and exchange of information, in particular that forwarded by the
authorities of the Member States or third countries or bodies; and (b) the coordination,
organisation and implementation of investigative and operational action carried out jointly
9
Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 on the
European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust), and replacing and repealing Council
Decision 2002/187/JHA, PE/37/2018/REV/1, OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 138–183.
10
Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on joint investigation teams, OJ L 162, 20.6.2002, p. 1–3.
EN 6 EN
with the Member States' competent authorities or in the context of joint investigative teams,
where appropriate in liaison with Eurojust.
• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)
According to the principle of subsidiarity laid down in Article 5(3) TEU, action at EU level
should be taken only when the aims envisaged cannot be achieved sufficiently by Member
States alone and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be
better achieved by the EU.
Member States are responsible for the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of
internal security11
and the Union shall respect Member States’ essential state functions,
including maintaining law and order and safeguarding national security12
. As serious crime
and terrorism are often of a transnational nature, action at national level alone cannot counter
them effectively. In particular criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling are
characterised by their global, collaborative and agile nature13
. This is the reason why Member
States choose to work closely together within the framework of the EU. They seek to
coordinate their law enforcement action and cooperate in addressing shared security
challenges. They decide to pool resources at EU level and share expertise. As the EU agency
for law enforcement cooperation, Europol is a strong expression of this endeavour by the
Member States to keep their citizens safe by working together.
Europol provides a robust framework and a sophisticated crime-fighting toolbox for Member
States to coordinate their law enforcement action. In particular, Europol serves as the EU
criminal information hub minimising criminal intelligence gaps and focusing on data from
live, complex investigations. Europol provides agile and real-time operational support ranging
from operational analysis to operational coordination and brings together relevant partners for
joint action. Member States use their liaison officers at Europol and the information exchange
channel the agency provides to exchange information and cooperate in their criminal
investigations. Member States pool resources by tasking Europol to process their information
in its databases and provide joint analysis. This has put Europol at the heart of the European
security architecture.
Evolving security threats, in particular migrant smuggling, call for effective EU level support
to the work of national law enforcement authorities. While there are differences in the way
Member States counter specific types of crime, their law enforcement authorities can choose
where to seek EU-level support from Europol and what joint initiatives to participate in.
Besides, law enforcement authorities across all Member States face the same evolving
security threats. Consequently, there is a need for EU action to step up the support to Member
States in fighting serious crime and terrorism to keep pace with these threats.
Consequently, Member States alone would not be able to effectively tackle all the challenges
addressed by this proposal.
• Proportionality
According to the principle of proportionality laid down in Article 5(4) TEU, there is a need to
match the nature and intensity of a given measure to the identified problem. All problems
addressed in this legislative initiative call, in one way or another, for EU-level support for
Member States to tackle these problems effectively:
11
Article 72 TFEU.
12
Article 4(2) TFEU.
13
Europol (2023), Criminal networks in migrant smuggling, Europol Spotlight Report series, Publications
Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
EN 7 EN
Inter-agency cooperation and coordination on countering migrant smuggling and trafficking
in human beings at EU level needs to be strengthened and intensified: By strengthening
cooperation and coordination between Europol, the European Border and Coast Guard
Agency and Eurojust, and by establishing the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling,
and by setting its tasks and composition, the EU agencies will be better placed to ensure that
migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings can be tackled more effectively and
efficiently at EU level than at national level.
Strategic steer and coordination on these crimes at EU level needs to be stepped up to allow
for targeted strategic analysis, steer, and coordination of investigative and operational action
at EU level and among Member States. Establishing the European Centre Against Migrant
Smuggling, and setting its tasks and composition, will also contribute to fighting against
migrant smuggling and trafficking of human beings more effectively and efficiently at EU
level than at national level.
Information sharing on migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings among the
Member States and with Europol, but also with third countries needs to become stronger and
more systematic to ensure that migrant smuggling can be tackled more effectively and
efficiently at EU level, notably, by explicitly referring to the two crimes when it comes to
Member States’ general obligation on information sharing, by tasking Europol to process
biometric data effectively and efficiently in support of Member States, in accordance with the
existing safeguards on the processing of biometrics, and by establishing the Secure
Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA).
As regards national structures to combat migrant smuggling, as already underlined in the
renewed EU action plan against smuggling (2021-2025), not all Member States have the
necessary structures at national level to combat migrant smuggling, and to cooperate
effectively with Europol. This gap can be tackled more effectively and efficiently at EU level
than at national level, by providing that Member States should designate specialised services
for combating migrant smuggling, connect these specialised services to SIENA and by tasking
the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling to act as a network of specialised services.
Europol’s on the ground support to Member States to counter migrant smuggling needs to be
enhanced. This need can be addressed more effectively and efficiently at EU level than at
national level, by establishing the operational task forces and Europol deployment for
operational support.
As the EU agency for law enforcement cooperation, Europol is well positioned to provide this
EU-level support. Indeed, Europol has proven very effective in supporting national law
enforcement authorities in countering serious crime and terrorism and specifically migrant
smuggling. There are clear synergies and economies of scale for Member States resulting, for
example, from the use of the reserve pool and the specialised support provided by Europol, or
from the expertise that a specialised centre such as the European Centre Against Migrant
Smuggling can offer to Member States. Member States expect, and operationally need, the
same level of support from Europol when it comes to evolving security threats, such as
migrant smuggling.
Law enforcement cooperation at EU-level through Europol neither replaces different national
policies on internal security nor substitutes the work of national law enforcement authorities.
Differences in the legal systems and traditions of the Member States, as acknowledged by the
Treaties14
, remain unaffected by this EU level support.
14
Article 67(1) TFEU.
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• Choice of the instrument
Pursuant to Article 88(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and given
that Europol’s mandate is set out in Regulation (EU) 2016/794, the strengthening of Europol’s
mandate – which is part of this proposal – has to take the form of a regulation.
3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
• Stakeholder consultations
Migrant smuggling poses challenges to law enforcement, notably because of the agility and
complexity of the involved criminal networks and their adaptiveness to changes in irregular
migration’s dynamics and to the law enforcement response. These challenges have been well
identified by Europol and Member States and discussed at Justice and Home Affairs Council
and European Council meetings. The role of Europol in countering migrant smuggling has
been discussed both in the Council and in Europol, including by its Management Board.
Furthermore, the European Court of Auditors special report in 2021 on Europol’s support to
fight migrant smuggling identified the need to reinforce Europol’s role in fighting migrant
smuggling, notably to enable Europol to use all relevant external sources of information,
including biometric data, and to enhance data exchange with its partners15
.
Furthermore, the Commission services gathered necessary input and views on the relevance,
effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value of this legislative initiative through a
questionnaire disseminated to Member States to identify operational needs and gaps when it
comes to Europol’s support on migration smuggling, as well as other needs and opportunities
when it comes to strengthening Europol’s mandate. In addition, following the discussions in
the Law Enforcement Working Party, the Commission services consulted Member States at
expert level, through a dedicated virtual workshop on 14 November 2023. Member States
were generally supportive of strengthening Europol’s legal mandate in preventing and
combatting migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
The stakeholder consultation process identified that there are five areas where action is
needed at EU level, namely: a) the inter-agency cooperation on migrant smuggling, b) the
strategic steer and coordination on countering migrant smuggling, c) information sharing, d)
national structures specialised in combating migrant smuggling, and e) Europol’s operational
support on the ground.
The results of the consultation were incorporated throughout the preparation of the legislative
initiative.
• Impact assessment
This legislative proposal is not supported by an Impact Assessment considering that the
Commission had little or no choice available, notably due to the urgent operational needs to
improve Europol’s support to Member States on countering migrant smuggling. This proposal
nevertheless builds on the evidence gathered by the European Court of Auditors special report
in 2021 on Europol’s support to fight migrant smuggling and the feedback received during the
stakeholder consultations.
• Fundamental rights
Processing of personal data for law enforcement purposes in general, and for the support
15
Europol support to fight migrant smuggling: a valued partner, but insufficient use of data sources and result
management. European Court of Auditors, 2021.
EN 9 EN
provided by Europol in particular requires ensuring full compliance with fundamental rights
as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and notably the rights to the protection of
personal data16
and to respect for private life17
. This proposal takes full account of these legal
requirements.
4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS
This legislative initiative would have an impact on the budget and staff needs of Europol. It is
estimated18
that an additional budget of around EUR 50 million and around 50 additional
posts would be needed for the overall period of the current Multiannual Financial Framework
2021-2027. This will ensure that Europol has the necessary resources to carry out fully and
efficiently the new tasks described in articles 5 and 6 of this Regulation as well as its revised
mandate. Europol’s new tasks in this legislative proposal would therefore require additional
financial and human reinforcements compared to the resources earmarked in the Multiannual
Financial Framework 2021-2027, which foresaw an increase of 160 Temporary Agents with
an associated cost of EUR 114 million and a total additional EU contribution of EUR 178
million to the budget of Europol. This legislative initiative also opens the possibility for
Member States to contribute directly to Europol’s budget, where necessary and required by
existing or new tasks.
5. OTHER ELEMENTS
• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements
The monitoring and evaluation of Europol’s reinforced mandate would largely be performed
by the applicable mechanisms under the existing Europol Regulation. Article 68 provides for
an evaluation which assesses, in particular, the impact, effectiveness and efficiency of
Europol and of its working practices and may address the possible need to modify the
structure, operation, field of action and tasks of Europol, and the financial implications of any
such modification. Further to this evaluation, the Commission will gather data through its
representation in Europol’s Management Board meetings and its supervision, along with the
Member States, of Europol’s work (Article 11).
• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal
This legislative initiative proposes the following:
• Establishing in law the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling within
Europol and a governance framework to regulate and support its activities: the
legislative initiative establishes the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling as a
Union centre of specialised expertise for combating migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings. The European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling
should be the focal point to support Member States in the prevention and combating
of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings and, in this context, should
perform specific strategic and operational tasks. [Article 3]
• Providing for the composition of the European Centre Against Migrant
Smuggling: the legislative initiative provides for the composition of the European
Centre Against Migrant Smuggling and the specific entities that should be involved
16
Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (hereinafter, ‘the Charter’).
17
Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (hereinafter, ‘the Charter’).
18
Based on Europol 2023 Establishment Plan and the resources allocation per activity in the Europol
programming document 2023-2025
EN 10 EN
in carrying out its tasks, both for the purpose of strategic analysis, and for the
purpose of operational and technical support to the prevention and combating of
migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings. The European Centre Against
Migrant Smuggling should be supported by all other relevant Europol’s internal
structures. [Article 4]
• Defining the strategic and operational tasks of the European Centre Against
Migrant Smuggling: the legislative initiative provides for the detailed tasks of the
Centre for the purposes of strategic analysis as well as operational and technical
support for the prevention and combating of migrant smuggling and trafficking in
human beings. At strategic level, these tasks include providing strategic analyses and
threat assessments, providing support to the operational implementation of the
strategic and operational priorities, supporting the coordination, cooperation and
exchange of information, monitoring migrant smuggling and trafficking in human
beings, and preparing an annual report. In this context, the European Centre Against
Migrant Smuggling will also hold a meeting of the entities represented in the centre
at least twice a year to ensure effective steer and coordination at Union level. At
operational level, the tasks of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling
include coordinating, organising and implementing investigative and operational
actions to support and strengthen actions by the competent authorities of the Member
States, supporting Member States’ cross-border information exchange activities,
operations and investigations, as well as joint investigation teams and operational
task forces, and identifying cases of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human
beings that may require advanced operational support. [Article 5, 6]
• Providing for the designation of specialised services within the competent
authorities of the Member States to prevent and combat migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings: the legislative initiative provides that each Member
State should designate one or more specialised services to prevent and combat
migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, including through criminal
investigations, and ensure that these services collect and share all relevant
information as soon as possible through SIENA with Europol and other Member
States. [Article 8]
• Providing Europol with the necessary advanced tools to support Member States in
preventing and combating migrant smuggling and other crimes falling within the
scope of Europol’s objectives: the legislative initiative establishes operational task
forces as coordination mechanisms set up by Member States with the support of
Europol to conduct joint, coordinated and prioritised criminal intelligence activities
and investigations notably on criminal networks and groups and individual criminal
actors. The legislative initiative sets out minimum requirements concerning the
active and timely involvement of the Member States, such as providing all relevant
information to Europol, and that Europol should make available its advanced
analytical, operational, technical, forensic and financial support to these Member
States. Third countries may also participate in operational task forces. [Article 9]
• Providing that Europol should be able to deploy officers in the territory of a
Member State, upon request of that Member State, to provide analytical,
operational, technical and forensic support in liaison and in agreement with the
competent authorities of that Member State: the host Member State should be able
to ensure a minimum set of requirements such as providing all relevant information
to Europol. Europol should be able to deploy rapidly, especially in exceptional cases
of urgency. Staff and experts deployed by Europol should be able to carry out
EN 11 EN
investigative non-coercive measures that relate to data processing in liaison and in
agreement with the competent authorities of the Member State concerned, in
accordance with the Europol Regulation and that Member State’s national law.
Moreover, Europol should set up a reserve pool of Member States’ highly qualified
law enforcement experts with specialised profiles that can be placed at the immediate
disposal of Europol for operational deployment to provide specialised support.
Europol should also be able to deploy staff and seconded national experts in third
countries with which it cooperates on the basis of an adequacy decision, and
international agreement concluded between the Union and that third country pursuant
to Article 218 TFEU, or a cooperation agreement between Europol and that third
country concluded before 1 May 2017. [Article 9]
• Clarifying the nature of operational support that Europol staff may provide to
Member States’ law enforcement authorities on the ground in operations and
investigations: the legislative initiative clarifies that Europol staff may provide
operational support to the competent authorities of the Member States during the
execution of investigative measures, at their request and in accordance with their
national law, including in the context of the implementation of operational task
forces and Europol deployment for operational support. Europol staff should be able
to execute non-coercive investigative measures in liaison and in agreement with the
competent authorities of the Member State concerned, and in accordance with the
Europol Regulation and that Member State’s national law, when so requested by a
Member State in accordance with its national law and authorised by the Europol
Executive Director. [Article 9]
• Enhancing cooperation between Europol and third countries: the legislative
initiative sets out rules to better involve Member States’ migration liaison officers
deployed in third countries in enhancing the sharing of information by third countries
to counter migrant smuggling and supply this information to Europol, directly or
through the Europol national unit, using SIENA. [Article 8]
• Identifying cases of migrant smuggling requiring cooperation with third countries
that may require transfers of personal data in individual cases for the purpose of
the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences, or the
execution of criminal sanctions: the legislative initiative tasks the European Centre
Against Migrant Smuggling to identify such cases. The transfers of personal data by
Europol to third countries in these cases may, in the absence of an adequacy decision
or of adequate or appropriate data protection safeguards, be carried out in accordance
with Article 25(5) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794. [Article 6]
• Strengthening Europol’s role in the fight against criminal offences related to the
violation of Union restrictive measures: the legislative initiative includes these
offences within the forms of crime listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2016/794.
Unrelated to migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, the proposed
Regulation extends the list of crimes which fall within Europol’s competence by
including in Annex I to the Europol Regulation the “violation of Union restrictive
measures”. This responds to requests by Member States to allow Europol to support
them in the fight against violations of Union restrictive measures, which currently is
possible only where such a violation also constitutes another form of crime contained
in Annex I to the Europol Regulation, for example money laundering. However, not
all violations of Union restrictive measures would fall within the crimes currently set
out in Annex I to the Europol Regulation. The inclusion of the violation of Union
restrictive measures in Annex I to the Europol Regulation would complement the
EN 12 EN
proposed Directive on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the
violation of Union restrictive measures.19
[Article 9]
19
COM(2022) 684 final (2.12.2022).
EN 13 EN
2023/0438 (COD)
Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
on enhancing police cooperation in relation to the prevention, detection and
investigation of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, and on enhancing
Europol’s support to preventing and combating such crimes and amending Regulation
(EU) 2016/794
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular
Article 85(1), Article 87(2), and Article 88(2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,
Whereas:
(1) The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) was
established by Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the
Council20
to 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.
(2) Migrant smuggling is a criminal activity that disrespects human life and dignity of
people in the pursuit of profit, undermining the fundamental rights of the people
concerned as well as the migration management objectives of the Union. The
European Council, in its conclusions of 9 February 2023, reaffirmed the importance of
the fight against smugglers and affirmed the willingness to step up its action to prevent
irregular departures and loss of life, also by intensifying cooperation with countries of
origin and transit. To this effect, it is also important to strengthen the response of law
enforcement to migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings by reinforcing the
capabilities of Europol, and in particular its Union centre of specialised expertise for
combating migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
(3) A “European Migrant Smuggling Centre” was created in 2016 by the Management
Board of Europol in accordance with Article 11(1), point (s), of Regulation (EU)
2016/794 as such a Union centre of specialised expertise. It has continuously evolved
since its inception and has expanded its range of activities in order to provide the best
support to the Member States as a dynamic platform for operational cooperation, the
exchange of information, and coordination between the Member States and partners
20
Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European
Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions
2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA (OJ L 135 24.5.2016, p.
53, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/794/oj.
EN 14 EN
engaged in the fight against migrant smuggling and the trafficking in human beings.
The increases in irregular arrivals in the Union and in unauthorised movements within
the Union, the rapid adaptability of criminal organised groups, the development of
new modi operandi and sophisticated methods urgently require a significant
reinforcement of the role of Europol’s Union centre of specialised expertise for
combating migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings by establishing it as a
permanent structure within Europol and by strengthening the level of its engagement
in supporting the Member States in the prevention and combating of migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings. Its name should be “European Centre
Against Migrant Smuggling”.
(4) The European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling should provide strategic,
operational and technical support to Member States to prevent and combat migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings. As part of its strategic tasks, it should
provide a framework for the implementation of strategic and operational priorities of
the Union by monitoring trends in migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
To that end it should provide annual reports, strategic analyses, threat assessments and
situational updates on migratory routes and modi operandi, including indications that
private parties may be used for migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings. In
the context of fulfilling its strategic and operational tasks, the European Centre
Against Migrant Smuggling should cooperate with the European External Action
Service and Common Security and Defense Policy missions and operations, where
appropriate and relevant, in line with their respective mandates and competences, as
well as in accordance with Europol’s mandate.
(5) In order to strengthen inter-agency cooperation on migrant smuggling and trafficking
in human beings, the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling should provide a
means to enhance cooperation and coordination between Europol and other Union
agencies, notably with Eurojust and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, in
line with their respective legal frameworks, including through working arrangements
between the Union agencies.
(6) In order to support its strategic analysis in the prevention and combating of migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings, the European Centre Against Migrant
Smuggling should, for strategic tasks, be supported by a cooperation framework
composed of Europol staff and involve representatives of the Commission, Member
States’ specialised services, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice
Cooperation (Eurojust) and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. The
European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling should hold a meeting of the entities
represented in the centre at least twice a year to ensure effective steer and coordination
at Union level. To enable that centre to fulfil its tasks, other relevant internal structures
of Europol should provide it with all necessary support. In order to maximise the
effectiveness of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling, Europol should be
able to invite, in particular, the main actors of the European Multidisciplinary Platform
Against Criminal Threats (‘EMPACT’) as well as other relevant Union bodies or
agencies when needed.
(7) As part of the operational and technical support to Member States, the European
Centre Against Migrant Smuggling should ensure coordination of investigative and
operational actions of the Member States, including through supporting Member
States’ cross-border information exchange, operations and investigations, in particular
in the framework of EMPACT, including by providing operational, technical, forensic
and financial support. Furthermore, Europol should provide support to Member States
EN 15 EN
in identifying cases of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings where
investigations would need to be initiated, where needed in liaison with Eurojust, in
cases that require setting up of operational task forces or Europol deployments for
operational support, and cases that may require cooperation with third countries,
including by exchanging personal data.
(8) The transfer of personal data by Europol to third countries may, in the absence of an
adequacy decision or of adequate or appropriate data protection safeguards, be carried
out in accordance with Article 25(5) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794. In particular, cases
of migrant smuggling identified by the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling
that require cooperation with third countries could require transfers of personal data in
individual cases for the purpose of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution
of criminal offences, or execution of criminal sanctions.
(9) For the purpose of strengthening operational and technical support to preventing and
combating migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, the European Centre
Against Migrant Smuggling should, for operational tasks, involve liaison officers from
the Member States, Eurojust and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency to
ensure an effective, timely and systematic coordination and exchange of information
on countering migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings at Union level,
ensuring a stronger inter-agency cooperation within their respective competences and
with Member States. Other relevant internal structures of Europol should also provide
all necessary support. Liaison officers from Eurojust and the European Border and
Coast Guard Agency liaison officers should be posted as permanent representatives to
Europol for this purpose. Europol should be able to involve other relevant Union
bodies or agencies to draw on the expertise falling within their competencies where
relevant.
(10) EMPACT brings together a wide range of competent authorities in a partnership
approach and constitutes both the framework for a coordinated response against
organised and serious international crime and a catalyst to operationalise the Union
security policies and strategies. To increase a multidisciplinary, holistic, and consistent
response to prevent and combat migrant smuggling and the trafficking in human
beings, as well as related crimes and enabling factors, Europol and all key stakeholders
should increase their connections within EMPACT and the operational support to the
activities developed by that platform.
(11) To ensure the appropriate involvement of judicial authorities in criminal investigations
for offences relating to migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, the need
to strengthen the mandate of Eurojust in relation to migrant smuggling and in relation
to the amendments in the Europol mandate should be evaluated as part of the
evaluation in accordance with Article 69 (1) Regulation (EU) 2018/1727.
(12) Europol should be the Union criminal information hub and act as a service provider, in
particular by providing a secure network for the exchange of data, such as the secure
information exchange network application (SIENA), aimed at facilitating the exchange
of information between Member States, Europol, other Union bodies, third countries
and international organisations. SIENA should enable swift, secure and user-friendly
communication and exchange of operational and strategic crime-related information
and intelligence and have a strong focus on interoperability with other systems at
Europol and other cooperating states and organisations.
(13) Active engagement of the Member States and sharing of information with Europol is
key to ensuring a comprehensive and coordinated Union approach to countering
EN 16 EN
migrant smuggling. With a view to strengthening Member States’ capacities, Member
States should designate specialised services for countering migrant smuggling,
ensuring that they are adequately resourced to prevent and combat migrant smuggling
and can share information on criminal investigations with Europol efficiently and
effectively. In order to harmonise the sharing of information between the Member
States and Europol on migrant smuggling, Member States should ensure that their
designated services for countering migrant smuggling are directly connected to SIENA
to facilitate the sharing of information. This is in line with Directive (EU) 2023/977 of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 on the exchange of
information between the law enforcement authorities of Member States and repealing
Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA. Member States’ immigration liaison
officers posted in third countries should also share information with Europol; for this
purpose, they should also be connected to SIENA in order to ensure that they can carry
out the sharing of information referred to in paragraph 1 in an efficient and effective
manner.
(14) In order to ensure efficient sharing of information related to migrant smuggling among
Member States and with Europol, especially in case of large criminal networks
involving numerous suspects, Member States should employ the most appropriate
supporting tools provided by Europol such as dedicated data loaders. Conversely, and
so as to access and make the best use of all information and intelligence available at
Union level on the corresponding cases, and in full respect of the appropriate data
protection safeguards, Member States and Union agencies should systematically
consult Europol information in the course of ongoing investigations related to migrant
smuggling, including by using the hit/no hit tools provided by Europol such as the
Querying Europol Systems (QUEST+) technical system interface.
(15) To prevent, detect and investigate cross-border serious organised crime and terrorism,
coordination and concerted action is necessary. In addition to the possibility of the
Member State to set up a joint investigation team in accordance with Council
Framework Decision of 13 June 2002, Member States should be able to set up an
operational task force to reinforce law enforcement cooperation with the support of
Europol. This coordination mechanism among Member States’ police authorities and
other law enforcement services should, with the support of Europol, enable them to
conduct joint, coordinated and prioritised criminal intelligence activities and
investigations notably on criminal networks and groups as well as individual criminal
actors, including persons whose criminal activities fall within the forms of crime for
which Europol is competent and who constitute a high risk for security. In order to
ensure the well-functioning and the effectiveness of that mechanism, Member States
setting up, participating in, or supporting an operational task force should be able to
ensure a minimum set of requirements concerning their active and timely involvement,
such as providing all relevant information to Europol, and Europol should be able to
make available its advanced analytical, operational, technical, forensic and financial
support to those Member States. Third countries should be able to participate in or
support an operational task force.
(16) Where the criminal intelligence activities carried out in an operational task force result
in the opening of criminal investigations in one or more Member States that may
benefit from setting up a joint investigation team, or where the criminal investigations
supported by an operational task force may benefit from setting up a joint
investigation team, Europol should propose the setting up of a joint investigation team
to the Member States concerned and take measures to assist them in accordance with
EN 17 EN
Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2016/794. In such cases, Europol should closely liaise
with Eurojust, where appropriate.
(17) Europol should be able to deploy staff including seconded national experts in
accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/794 in the territory of a Member State upon
request of that Member State, to provide analytical, operational, technical and forensic
support in liaison and in agreement with the competent authorities of that Member
State. These deployments should notably take place in the context of complex, large-
scale and high-profile investigations, including in the context of joint investigation
teams, in liaison with Eurojust where appropriate, or operational task forces. These
deployments should also support further security checks against Europol or national
databases in order to facilitate rapid information exchange to strengthen controls at the
Union’s external borders (secondary security checks), or migration management
support teams in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European
Parliament and of the Council21
. Europol should also make use of these deployments
to support Member States in relation to major international events. Europol should
also be able to deploy staff and seconded national experts in third countries with which
it cooperates on the basis of an adequacy decision, an international agreement
concluded between the Union and that third country pursuant to Article 218 TFEU, or
a cooperation agreement between Europol and that third country concluded before 1
May 2017.
(18) In order to ensure that Europol can provide effective support by way of deployment,
the host Member State should be able to ensure a minimum set of requirements such
as providing all relevant information to Europol. Europol should be able to deploy
staff and seconded national experts rapidly, even in exceptional cases of urgency. The
deployed Europol staff and seconded national experts should be able to carry out
investigative non-coercive measures that relate to data processing in liaison and in
agreement with the competent authorities of the Member State concerned, and in
accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/794 and that Member State’s national law.
(19) Furthermore, in the context of Europol deployments for operational support, Europol
should set up a reserve pool of Member States’ highly qualified law enforcement
experts with specialised profiles that can be placed at the immediate disposal of
Europol for operational deployment to provide specialised support. The experts’
reserve pool should include specialists in criminal analysis, forensics, investigation,
languages and coordination. The Member States should ensure that their experts are
available to take part, as seconded national experts, in Europol deployments for
operational support, at the request of Europol. That obligation should not apply to
third countries where Europol deploys staff and seconded national experts for
operational support.
(20) The reinforcement of Europol’s legal framework provides an opportunity to clarify
that Europol’s objectives should also expressly cover violations of Union restrictive
measures. Union restrictive measures are an essential tool for safeguarding the
Union’s values, security, independence and integrity, consolidating and supporting
democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the principles of international law and
21
Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2019 on the
European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624 (OJ
L 295, 14.11.2019, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1896/oj).
EN 18 EN
maintaining international peace, preventing conflicts and strengthening international
security in line with the aims and principles of the United Nations Charter. Violations
of Union restrictive measures therefore constitute a form of crime which affects a
common interest covered by Union policy, and in relation to which Europol should
have competence to act in order to support and strengthen action by the Member
States.
(21) [In accordance with Article 3 of the Protocol (No 21) on the position of the United
Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice, annexed
to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union, Ireland has notified its wish to take part in the adoption and application of this
Regulation.] OR
(22) [In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No 21 on the position of the United
Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice, annexed
to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union, and without prejudice to Article 4 of that Protocol, Ireland is not taking part in
the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application.]
(23) In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No 22 on the position of Denmark,
annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union, Denmark is not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation and is
not bound by it or subject to its application.
(24) [The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted, in accordance with Article
42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council22
,
and has delivered an opinion on […]23
.
(25) Since the objectives of this Regulation to reinforce the prevention, detection and
investigation of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings cannot be
sufficiently achieved by the Member States acting alone given the cross-border nature
of these crimes, but can rather, by reason of the effects of cooperation and information
sharing, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in
accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on
European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that
Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those
objectives.
(26) This Regulation fully respects the fundamental rights and safeguards, and observes the
principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union (‘the Charter’), in particular the right to respect for private and family
life and the right to the protection of personal data as provided for by Articles 7 and 8
of the Charter, as well as by Article 16 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union.
(27) Regulation (EU) 2016/794 should therefore be amended accordingly,
22
Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the
protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC)
No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39,
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1725/oj).
23
OJ C …
EN 19 EN
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Subject matter and scope
This Regulation lays down rules to enhance police cooperation and the support of the
European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) in preventing and
combating migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, by:
(a) establishing a European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling within Europol and a
governance framework to regulate and support its activities;
(b) enhancing cooperation and coordination between the Member States, Europol and
other Union agencies;
(c) reinforcing the exchange of information between the Member States and with Europol;
(d) providing Europol with the necessary tools to support and strengthen actions by the
competent authorities of the Member States and their mutual cooperation in preventing
and combating criminal offences falling within Europol’s objectives;
(e) enhancing cooperation between Europol and third countries.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
(1) ‘migrant smuggling’ means any of the activities referred to in Articles 3, 4 and 5 of
Directive [XXX] [ laying down minimum rules to prevent and counter the facilitation
of unauthorised entry, transit and stay in the Union, and replacing Council Directive
2002/90/EC and Council Framework Decision 2002/946 JHA]24
;
(2) ‘trafficking in human beings’ means any of the activities referred to in Articles 2 and 3
of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council25
;
(4) ‘competent authorities’ means the competent authorities of the Member States defined
in Article 2, point (a), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
(5) ‘immigration liaison officer’ means a liaison officer deployed in a third country by the
competent authorities of a Member State, in accordance with its national law, to deal
with immigration-related issues, including when those issues are only a part of the
liaison officer’s duties.
24
[please add the title and the publication reference]
25
Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and
combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework
Decision 2002/629/JHA (OJ L 101, 15.4.2011, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2011/36/oj).
EN 20 EN
Chapter II
GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRE AGAINST
MIGRANT SMUGGLING
Article 3
European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling
The European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling is established within Europol as a Union
centre of specialised expertise as referred to in Article 4(1), point (l), of Regulation (EU)
2016/794. It shall support Member States in the prevention and combating of migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings and shall perform the tasks set out in Articles 5
and 6.
Article 4
Composition of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling
1. The European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling shall be composed of Europol staff
and involve representatives of the following entities in carrying out the strategic tasks
referred to in Article 5:
(a) a representative of each Member State, from a national specialised service
referred to in Article 7;
(b) a representative of Eurojust;
(c) a representative of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency;
(d) at the discretion of Europol and, after consultation of the Member States, one
or more representatives involved in the operational implementation of the
strategic and operational priorities of the Union for combating migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings, in particular in the European
Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT).
The European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling shall hold a meeting of the entities
referred to in points (a) to (d) at least twice a year and the Commission shall
participate in such meeting.
Europol may invite other entities to be involved in carrying out the activities referred
to in Article 5, including other relevant Union bodies or agencies.
2. The European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling shall be composed of Europol staff
and involve representatives of the following entities in carrying out the operational
tasks referred to in Article 6:
(a) for each Member State a liaison officer referred to in Article 8 of Regulation
(EU) 2016/794 specifically designated to deal with migrant smuggling;
(b) a liaison officer of Eurojust as a permanent representative at Europol;
(c) a liaison officer of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency as a
permanent representative at Europol.
EN 21 EN
Europol may invite other entities to be involved in carrying out the activities referred
to in Article 6, including other relevant Union bodies or agencies.
3. For the purpose of paragraph 2 of this Article, and in accordance with Article 4(1),
point (g), of Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 of the European Parliament and of the
Council26
, Eurojust shall deploy a liaison officer, acting in accordance with that
Regulation, to the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling.
4. For the purposes of paragraph 2 of this Article as well as Article 68(1), point (b),
Article 87(1), point (d) and Article 90 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896, and in
accordance with Article 68(2) and (5) of that Regulation, the European Border and
Coast Guard Agency shall deploy a liaison officer, acting in accordance with that
Regulation, to the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling.
5. For the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 2, and to facilitate the fulfilment of the strategic
and operational tasks set out in Articles 5 and 6 of this Regulation, the European
Centre Against Migrant Smuggling shall be provided with the necessary support by all
other relevant parts of Europol’s internal structures.
Article 5
Strategic tasks of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling
The strategic tasks of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling shall be the following:
(a) providing strategic analyses and threat assessments to assist the Council and the
Commission in laying down strategic and operational priorities of the Union for the
prevention and combating of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, in
accordance with Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
(b) providing a framework to support the operational implementation of the strategic and
operational priorities of the Union for the prevention and combating of migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings, in particular in the framework of the
EMPACT, in accordance with Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
(c) supporting the coordination, cooperation and exchange of information on migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings between Union agencies, notably with
the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Eurojust and, where appropriate,
other relevant Union bodies or agencies, in line with their respective legal
frameworks, including through working arrangements between them, in accordance
with Article 4(1), point (j), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
(d) monitoring migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings taking place in the
Union and in third countries, in cooperation with Member States, relevant Union
bodies or agencies and, where appropriate, third countries, in accordance with Article
4(1), point (f), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794, and regularly providing information to
26
Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 on
the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust), and replacing and repealing
Council Decision 2002/187/JHA (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 138,
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1727/oj).
EN 22 EN
the Member States and the Commission, including aggregated statistical data and
situational updates derived from information shared by Member States;
(e) providing strategic analyses and threat assessments to support the implementation of
operational task forces referred to in Article 5a of Regulation (EU) 2016/794 and
Europol deployments for operational support referred to in Article 5b of Regulation
(EU) 2016/794, in accordance with Article 4(1), point (f), of Regulation (EU)
2016/794;
(f) providing strategic analyses and threat assessments to support the implementation of
Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794 on requesting the initiation of a criminal
investigation into migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, in accordance
with Article 4(1), point (f), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
(g) providing strategic analyses and threat assessments to Member States and the
Commission as well as relevant Union agencies or bodies, where appropriate, on
routes and modi operandi of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings,
including on indications that private parties may be used for migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings, in accordance with Article 4(1), point (f), of Regulation
(EU) 2016/794;
(h) providing strategic analyses and threat assessments to Member States and the
Commission as well as relevant Union agencies or bodies, where appropriate, on the
prevention and combating of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, in
accordance with Article 4(1), point (f), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
(i) preparing an annual report on migrant smuggling and on trafficking in human beings,
identifying the main operational priorities and possible related actions at Union level,
in accordance with Article 4(1), point (f), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794.
Article 6
Operational tasks of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling
The operational tasks of the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling shall be the
following:
(a) coordinating, organising and implementing investigative and operational actions to
support and strengthen actions by the competent authorities of the Member States in
preventing and combating migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings,
including when these crimes are facilitated, promoted or committed using the internet,
including social media, and including in the context of Europol deployments for
operational support, in accordance with Article 4(1), points (c) and (m), of Regulation
(EU) 2016/794;
(b) supporting Member States’ cross-border information exchange activities, operations
and investigations, as well as joint investigation teams and operational task forces, on
migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, including by providing analytical,
operational, technical, forensic and financial support, in accordance with Article 4(1),
point (h), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
(c) providing administrative, logistical, financial and operational support to operational
activities led by Member States, in particular in the framework of EMPACT, in
accordance with Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
EN 23 EN
(d) supporting the Europol Executive Director in evaluating, in accordance with Article
5b(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794, requests made by Member States for Europol
deployments for operational support related to migrant smuggling and trafficking in
human beings, including in the prioritisation of such requests based on operational
needs;
(e) identifying cases of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings that may
require the setting up of an operational task force in accordance with Article 5a of
Regulation (EU) 2016/794, and informing the Europol Executive Director of such
cases;
(f) identifying cases of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings that may
require Europol deployments for operational support in accordance with Article 5b of
Regulation (EU) 2016/794, and informing the Europol Executive Director of such
cases;
(g) identifying cases of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings that may
require the application of Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2016/794 on requests by
Europol for the initiation of a criminal investigation and informing the Europol
Executive Director of such cases;
(h) identifying cases of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings that may
require cooperation with third countries, including by exchanging personal data.
Chapter III
COOPERATION BETWEEN MEMBER STATES AND EUROPOL ON
PREVENTING AND COMBATING MIGRANT SMUGGLING AND TRAFFICKING
IN HUMAN BEINGS
Article 7
National specialised services to prevent and combat migrant smuggling and trafficking
in human beings
1. Each Member State shall designate, one year after the entry into force of this
Regulation at the latest, one or more specialised services within its competent
authorities, in accordance with national law, to prevent and combat migrant smuggling
and trafficking in human beings, including through criminal investigations. Each
Member State shall immediately after such designation inform the Commission
thereof.
2. Each Member State shall ensure that its specialised services designated in accordance
with paragraph 1 of this Article collect all relevant information concerning and
resulting from criminal investigations into migrant smuggling and trafficking in
human beings and share such information as soon as possible with Europol and other
Member States in accordance with Article 8.
3. Each Member State shall connect, one year after the entry into force of this Regulation
at the latest, its specialised services designated in accordance with paragraph 1 of this
Article directly to Europol’s Secure Information Exchange Network Application
(SIENA) referred to in Article 2, point (w), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794. Each
Member State shall immediately after such connection inform the Commission
thereof.
EN 24 EN
4. Each Member State shall provide its specialised services designated in accordance
with paragraph 1 with adequate resources to ensure that those specialised services are
equipped to prevent and combat effectively migrant smuggling and trafficking in
human beings, and to collect and share information in accordance with paragraph 2 in
an effective and efficient manner.
5. Each Member State shall make available an appropriate number of staff members of
the specialised services designated in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article for
the reserve pool referred to in Article 5b(6) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794, so that those
staff members can participate in Europol deployments for operational support as
seconded national experts.
Article 8
Provision of information concerning criminal offences on migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings to Europol and the Member States
1. Each Member State shall, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/794, provide
Europol with information held by its competent authorities and relating to criminal
offences on migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
2. Each Member State shall provide the information referred to in paragraph 1 of this
Article to Europol in a timely manner.
3. Each Member State shall provide other Member States and, at the same time, Europol
with information held by its competent authorities and relating to criminal offences on
migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings where there are objective reasons
to believe that such information could be relevant to those other Member States for the
purpose of preventing, detecting or investigating such criminal offences in those
Member States.
4. Each Member State shall use SIENA to provide the information referred to in
paragraph 3 of this Article to other Member States and Europol, in accordance with
Article 8(4) and Article 18(2), point (d), of Regulation (EU) 2016/794.
5. Each Member State shall connect its immigration liaison officers to SIENA. Where it
is not possible to connect an immigration liaison officer to SIENA due to imperative
technical reasons related to the situation in the third country of deployment, that
immigration liaison officer shall submit the information referred to in paragraph 1 to a
national competent authority through other secure channels. That competent authority
shall provide the information to Europol, directly or through the Europol national unit,
using SIENA.
Chapter IV
ENHANCING EUROPOL’S SUPPORT TO COMBATING MIGRANT SMUGGLING
AND TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS
Article 9
Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2016/794
Regulation (EU) 2016/794 is amended as follows:
(1) in Article 2, the following points (w), (x) and (y) are added:
EN 25 EN
‘(w) ‘SIENA’ means the secure information exchange network application, managed by
Europol, aimed at facilitating the exchange of information;
(x) ‘operational task force’ means a coordination mechanism set up by Member States
among their competent authorities with the support of Europol to conduct joint, coordinated
and prioritised criminal intelligence activities and investigations into a crime falling within
the scope of Europol’s objectives that requires coordinated and concerted action;
(y) ‘Europol deployment for operational support’ means the deployment of Europol staff
or seconded national experts in the territory of a Member State, upon request of that Member
State, to provide analytical, operational, technical and forensic support in liaison and in
agreement with the competent authorities of that Member State.’;
(2) Article 4 is amended as follows:
(a) paragraph 1 is amended as follows:
(i) point (c) is replaced by the following:
‘(c) coordinate, organise and implement investigative and operational actions to support
and strengthen actions by the competent authorities of the Member States, that are carried out:
(i) jointly with the competent authorities of the Member States;
(ii) in the context of joint investigation teams in accordance with Article 5 and, where
appropriate, in liaison with Eurojust;
(iii) in the context of operational task forces in accordance with Article 5a;
(iv) in the context of Europol deployments for operational support in accordance with Article
5b;’;
(ii) point (h) is replaced by the following:
‘(h) support Member States' cross-border information exchange activities, operations and
investigations, as well as joint investigation teams and operational task forces, including by
providing analytical, operational, technical, forensic and financial support;’;
(iii) point (l) is replaced by the following:
‘(l) develop Union centres of specialised expertise for combating certain types of crime
falling within the scope of Europol's objectives, including the European Cybercrime Centre
and, in accordance with Regulation (EU) …/… of the European Parliament and of the
Council* [Regulation on Combating Migrant Smuggling], the European Centre Against
Migrant Smuggling;
_________
* Regulation (EU) …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council of … on enhancing
police cooperation in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings, and on enhancing Europol’s support to
preventing and combating such crimes and amending Regulation (EU) 2016/794 (OJ L …,
ELI: …)’;
(iv) point (s) is replaced by the following:
‘(s) facilitate joint, coordinated and prioritised criminal intelligence activities and
investigations, including with regard to persons referred to in point (r), and including through
operational task forces and Europol deployments for operational support;’;
(v) the following point (za) is added:
EN 26 EN
‘(za) support Member States with the effective and efficient processing of biometric data.’;
(b) paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:
‘5. Europol shall not apply coercive measures in carrying out its tasks.
Europol staff may provide operational support to the competent authorities of the Member
States during the execution of investigative measures by those authorities, at their request and
in accordance with their national law, including in the context of the implementation of
operational task forces and Europol deployment for operational support, in particular by
facilitating cross-border information exchange, by providing analytical, operational, technical
and forensic support, and by being present during the execution of those measures.
Europol staff shall have the power to execute non-coercive investigative measures themselves
provided that Europol has been requested to do so by a Member State in accordance with its
national law and the Executive Director has authorised Europol staff to execute the requested
non-coercive investigative measures.
Europol staff shall carry out such non-coercive investigative measures in liaison and in
agreement with the competent authorities of the Member State concerned, and in accordance
with this Regulation and the national law of that Member State.’;
(3) the following Articles 5a and 5b are inserted:
‘Article 5a
Operational task forces
1. Member States may set up an operational task force for the duration of certain
dedicated criminal intelligence activities or investigations. Europol shall facilitate the
setting up and support the implementation of an operational task force.
2. The Member States setting up an operational task force shall agree with Europol on
the planning, coordination and implementation of the criminal intelligence activities
and investigations of the operational task force.
3. The Member States setting up an operational task force shall ensure coherence and
synergies with the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against
Criminal Threats (EMPACT).
4. The Member States setting up an operational task force may decide to invite other
Member States, third countries and other partners referred to in Article 23 to
participate in or support the operational task force. The participation of third countries
and other partners in the operational task force shall take place in accordance with this
Regulation.
5. To support the implementation of an operational task force, Europol shall make
available the analytical, operational, technical, forensic and financial support provided
for by this Regulation, in accordance with paragraph 2.
6. Each Member State setting up, or participating in, or supporting an operational task
force shall, in accordance with the planning, coordination and implementation referred
to in paragraph 2:
(a) provide all relevant information without delay to Europol and to the other
Member States setting up, participating in, or supporting the operational task force,
using SIENA and, where appropriate, make information directly accessible in
accordance with Article 20(2a);
EN 27 EN
(b) make use of the analytical, operational, technical, forensic and financial
support provided by Europol;
(c) initiate certain dedicated criminal intelligence activities and investigations in
accordance with national law where required to address the crime to which the
operational task force relates;
(d) initiate parallel financial investigations in accordance with national and Union
law to identify and seize criminal assets;
(e) engage its liaison officers deployed in third countries where criminal activities
are investigated in the context of the operational task force to enhance cooperation
and information sharing, and provide Europol with the information obtained, in
accordance with Union and national law.
7. The Executive Director may propose setting up an operational task force to the
competent authorities of the Member States concerned via their national units where
the Executive Director considers it would add value to combating a crime falling
within the scope of Europol’s objectives.
8. The Management Board shall adopt implementing rules for the setting up and
implementation of operational task forces.
Article 5b
Europol deployment for operational support
1. A Member State may request, in accordance with its national law, Europol
deployment for operational support on its territory to make use of the analytical,
operational, technical, forensic and financial support provided by Europol to prevent
and combat crimes falling within Europol’s objectives.
2. Europol deployment for operational support shall take place in the context of complex
and large-scale investigations requiring Europol’s support, including in the context of
joint investigation teams or operational task forces, or to support checks against
relevant databases to strengthen controls at the Union’s external borders, or migration
management support teams in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the
European Parliament and of the Council or to provide support to Member States in
major international events.
3. The Executive Director shall evaluate the request made by a Member State in
accordance with paragraph 1 and may approve the Europol deployment for operational
support for a limited period of time that can be renewed, considering the operational
needs and its available resources. The decision of the Executive Director shall be
based on a risk assessment.
4. Once the Executive Director has approved the request made by a Member State in
accordance with paragraph 1, that Member State and Europol shall jointly agree on the
modalities of the Europol deployment for operational support. Europol staff and
seconded national experts deployed in the Member State shall operate in accordance
with this Regulation, notably Article 4(5), and in accordance with the national law of
the Member State in whose territory the deployment takes place.
5. In exceptional cases of urgency requiring immediate Europol deployment for
operational support in the territory of a Member State, that Member State and the
Executive Director shall ensure that the steps set out in paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 take
place within a period of 72 hours.
EN 28 EN
6. Europol shall set up a reserve pool of Member States’ experts for the purpose of
Europol deployments for operational support. The reserve pool shall constitute a
reserve of experts working in their Member States that can be placed at the immediate
disposal of Europol for that purpose. The Member States shall ensure that their experts
are available to take part, as seconded national experts, in Europol deployments for
operational support at the request of Europol.
7. The Member State in whose territory the Europol deployment for operational support
takes place shall, in accordance with the agreed modalities referred to in paragraph 4:
(a) provide all relevant information without delay to Europol, where possible by
making information in national databases directly accessible to the Europol staff and
seconded national experts deployed in its territory in accordance with its national
law;
(b) make use of the analytical, operational, technical and forensic support provided
by the Europol staff deployed in its territory;
(c) enable the Europol staff and seconded national experts deployed in its territory
to be present during the execution of investigative measures.
8. The Executive Director may propose the Europol deployment for operational support
in the territory of a Member State to the competent authorities of that Member State
via its national unit where the Executive Director considers it would add value to
preventing or combating a crime falling within the scope of Europol’s objectives.
9. The Management Board shall adopt implementing rules for the preparation and
implementation of Europol deployments for operational support, including on the
number and profiles of experts to be included in the reserve pool and any subsequent
changes thereto.
10. This Article shall apply mutatis mutandis where Europol deployment for operational
support takes place in a third country as referred to in Article 25(1), point (a), (b) or
(c).
___________
* Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13
November 2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations
(EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624 (OJ L 295, 14.11.2019, p. 1,
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1896/oj).’;
(5) in Article 18(2), point (d) is replaced by the following:
‘(d) facilitating, including through SIENA, the exchange of information between Member
States, Europol, other Union bodies, third countries, international organisations and private
parties;’;
(6) Annex I is amended as follows:
(a) the sixth indent (“immigrant smuggling”) is replaced by the following:
‘- migrant smuggling’;
(b) the following indent is added:
‘- violation of Union restrictive measures’.
EN 29 EN
Chapter V
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 10
Entry into force and applicability
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in
the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in the Member States in
accordance with the Treaties.
Done at Brussels,
For the European Parliament For the Council
The President The President
EN 0 EN
LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT 'AGENCIES'
EN 1 EN
1. FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE 3
1.1. Title of the proposal/initiative 3
1.2. Policy area(s) concerned 3
1.3. The proposal relates to 3
1.4. Objective(s) 3
1.4.1. General objective(s) 3
1.4.2. Specific objective(s) 4
1.4.3. Expected result(s) and impact 9
1.4.4. Indicators of performance 9
1.5. Grounds for the proposal/initiative 11
1.5.1. Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term including a detailed timeline for roll-out of
the implementation of the initiative 11
1.5.2. Added value of Union involvement (it may result from different factors, e.g. coordination
gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For the purposes of this
point 'added value of Union involvement' is the value resulting from Union intervention which
is additional to the value that would have been otherwise created by Member States alone.
12
1.5.3. Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past 12
1.5.4. Compatibility with the Multiannual Financial Framework and possible synergies with other
appropriate instruments 13
1.5.5. Assessment of the different available financing options, including scope for redeployment
14
1.6. Duration and financial impact of the proposal/initiative 15
1.7. Management mode(s) planned 15
2. MANAGEMENT MEASURES 16
2.1. Monitoring and reporting rules 16
2.2. Management and control system(s) 17
2.2.1. Justification of the management mode(s), the funding implementation mechanism(s), the
payment modalities and the control strategy proposed 17
2.2.2. Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up to
mitigate them 17
2.2.3. Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio of "control costs ÷
value of the related funds managed"), and assessment of the expected levels of risk of error (at
payment & at closure) 18
2.3. Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities 19
3. ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE 19
EN 2 EN
3.1. Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s)
affected 19
3.2. Estimated impact on expenditure 20
3.2.1. Summary of estimated impact on expenditure 20
3.2.2. Estimated impact on [body]'s appropriations 21
3.2.3. Estimated impact on [body]'s human resources 23
3.2.4. Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework 27
3.2.5. Third-party contributions 27
3.3. Estimated impact on revenue 28
EN 3 EN
LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT 'AGENCIES'
1. FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE
1.1. Title of the proposal/initiative
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on enhancing police
cooperation in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings, and on enhancing Europol’s support to preventing and combating
such crime, and amending Regulation (EU) 2016/794
This proposal for a Regulation on combating Migrant smuggling and trafficking in human
beings forms part of a coherent package also comprising a proposal for a Directive on
preventing and countering the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay. Together,
these proposals seek “to modernise the legal framework to fight the smuggling of migrants, to
ensure that we have the necessary legal and operational tools to respond to the new modus
operandi of smugglers”, as set out in the Commission work programme 2024 announced last
17 October.
1.2. Policy area(s) concerned
Policy area: Home Affairs
Activity: Security
12 10 01 : Europol
1.3. The proposal relates to
 a new action
 a new action following a pilot project/preparatory action27
the extension of an existing action
 a merger of one or more actions towards another/a new action
1.4. Objective(s)
1.4.1. General objective(s)
In response to pressing operational needs and the identification of gaps when it comes countering
migrant smuggling, the Commission work programme for 2024 announced that it will “propose to
modernise the legal framework to fight the smuggling of migrants, to ensure that we have the
necessary legal and operational tools to respond to the new modus operandi of smugglers” (see
COM(2023) 638 final). This followed up on related announcements made by President Von der
Leyen in the State of the Union 2023. The legislative initiative is expected to improve the fight
against migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, notably by enhancing Europol’s
support to help Member States on combating Migrant Smuggling, Trafficking in human beings
and other related forms of crime falling into Europol’s mandate.
27
As referred to in Article 58(2)(a) or (b) of the Financial Regulation.
EN 4 EN
The general objectives of this legislative initiative result from the Treaty-based goals:
1. for Europol to support and strengthen action by the Member States’ law enforcement
authorities 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 policy28
.
2. To enhance police cooperation involving all the Member States' competent authorities,
including police, customs and other specialised law enforcement services in relation to the
prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences29
.
1.4.2. Specific objective(s)
The specific objectives derive from the general objectives outlined above and reflect the
subject matter and scope as described in article 1 of this Regulation :
Specific objective n°1: strengthening Europol and its European Centre Against Migrant
Smuggling as the Centre of gravity for EU-level investigative and operational action as well as
strategic analysis;
Specific objective n°2: enhancing cooperation and coordination between the Member States,
Europol and other Union agencies;
Specific objective n°3: reinforcing Europol as the EU criminal information hub on migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings and fully developing the exchange of information
between the Member States, Europol, other EU agencies as well as third countries;
Specific objective n°4: providing Europol with the necessary tools to prevent and combat
migrant smuggling and other crimes falling within the scope of Europol’s objectives.
Specific objective n°1: strengthening Europol and its European Centre Against Migrant
Smuggling (EMSC) as the Centre of gravity for EU-level investigative and operational
action as well as strategic analysis
The aim is to reinforce Europol and its EMSC as the Centre of gravity for identifying EU-level
strategical and operational actions in the fight against migrant smuggling. EU-wide strategical
analysis and threat assessments with the participation of other EU agencies including Frontex
and Eurojust will help more efficiently support Council and Agencies priorities in that domain,
notably in the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal
Threats (EMPACT), whereas investigative and operational actions led by Member States will
benefit from regional, targeted analysis based on more information and intelligence from
Member States and Agencies contributions.
Under this objective, additional resources are required to fulfil the new strategic and
operational tasks referred to respectively in articles 5 and 6 of this Regulation:
28
Article 88 TFUE
29
Article 87 TFUE
EN 5 EN
To increase the number of investigative specialists and data analysts, notably, in the
European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling in order to increase the number of Europol-
supported Operational Task Forces (OTFs)30
and other investigations on organised migrant
smuggling and THB and the related accessory and predicate offenses, as well as on-site
operational support services in countries of origin, transit and destination. Complex
investigations against migrant smuggling and THB networks must cover all aspects of
the criminal activities: logistics, financial or digital. Europol should also bring its operational
services closer to national investigative teams and ensure that it has the capabilities to support
Member States' authorities on the spot during the implementation of investigative measures.
To increase the number of OSINT/Social Media Monitoring Specialists to provide open
source and social media monitoring, social network analysis and related operational expert
services to support Member States’ investigations and preventive measures concerning
organised migrant smuggling and THB affecting the countries of origin, transit and/or
destination. Europol should have capacities to promote the real-time and high-quality
processing of the collected online information during the implementation of Member States
investigative measures.
To increase the number of Forensics, Decryption and Data Specialists to ensure
extraction and processing large and complex data sets collected from the countries of
origin, transit and destination, including both member States and Third Countries. Real-time
and high-quality data access and processing as well as the related data science expertise
needs to be ensured to ensure the use of lawfully collected biometric data and to create new
models for analysing complex data, which more often than before originate from outside the
EU. Europol should also bring these operational services closer to national investigative teams
and ensure that it has the capabilities to support Member States' authorities with Forensics,
Decryption and Data Specialists during the implementation of investigative measures.
Specific objective n°2: enhancing cooperation and coordination between the Member
States, Europol and other Union agencies
Responding to the gaps identified on the insufficient inter-agency cooperation and on the
insufficient steer and coordination on countering migrant smuggling at EU level, the aim is to
establish a governance structure for effective inter-agency cooperation, steer and
coordination, both at strategic and operational level. Migrant smuggling and THB cases
being of a high cross-border nature and being notably supported by other types of serious
crimes such as money laundering or document counterfeiting, Europol’s unique capacity to
enrich the criminal picture by cross-checking existing information and intelligence coming
from Member States, third countries and relevant international organisations, or other EU
agencies on behalf of Member States, will be strengthened, so as to better support Member
States’ effort against migrant smuggling.
Under this objective, additional resources are required to fulfil the new strategic and
operational tasks referred to respectively in articles 5 and 6 of this Regulation :
30
In 2022, Europol supported a total of 195 priority investigations on migrant smuggling, including 9 Operational
Task Forces. Related services were mainly provided by 34 EMSC staff, who worked primarily at the agency's HQ.
Additional resources are required to allow the increase of the number of supported migrant smuggling and human
trafficking investigations, including the regional OTFs. From an overall perspective, OTFs are a flexible
instrument and their duration and size varie considerably. OTFs are a long-lasting and resource intensive
engagement (ranging from 4 to 150 staff involved, subject to case-specific conditions and threat (e.g. reacting to
threat-to-live situations).
EN 6 EN
Asset Tracing and Financial Investigation Specialists and Analysts: to provide asset–
tracing, financial expertise and related analysis services to support Member States’
investigations concerning organised migrant smuggling, human trafficking and related crimes
and to enhance seizing and confiscation of proceeds of crime in the countries of origin,
transit and destination, including both Member States and third parties31
.
Strategic Analysts and Data Specialists: to support Member States’ investigations,
strategic and operational prioritisation, crime prevention and crime trend monitoring
concerning organised migrant smuggling and related crimes by providing strategic analysis
services covering the countries of origin, transit and destination, including both Member States
and Third Countries. Europol should have capabilities to support Member States' authorities
with Threat Assessments, Early Warning Detection and signal and detection Analysis, Risk
Assessments and other strategic analysis reports.
Specific objective n°3: reinforcing Europol as the EU criminal information hub on
migrant smuggling and THB and fully developing the exchange of information between
the Member States, Europol, other EU agencies as well as third countries.
Responding to the gap identified on the insufficient information sharing on migrant smuggling
between the MS and Europol, the aim is to reinforce Europol as the EU criminal information
hub on migrant smuggling. In that way and in line with Directive (EU) 2023/977 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 on the exchange of information
between the law enforcement authorities of Member States and repealing Council Framework
Decision 2006/960/JHA, Europol will provide effective technical support to Member
States to use SIENA as the default channel of communication. Within its mandate and in
accordance with the existing safeguards as well as in the context of the EU interoperability
framework, Europol will more consistently and exhaustively consult information both
held internally or held in external databases, such as large scale IT systems from the JHA
domain. Europol coordination and contribution to Member States’ operation will be made
more efficient and targeted by making use of the biometric information.
To support this objective, Europol would need to:
Regarding SIENA,
support the implementation of SIENA Web Services in the Member States and other relevant
operational third party cooperation partners; ensure high availability (99.9%) of SIENA
services;
support the intake and impact on upstream services (e.g. translation, entity extraction,
Universal Messaging Format (UMF) services) and downstream services (e.g. Data Analysis
Platform, Joint Operational Analysis Concept);
further exploit SIENA reach out by integration in a holistic information architecture
(e.g. leverage SIENA data into EIS (Europol Information System) and the supporting
biometric tooling) and create a dedicated support for the needs of the expanded user
31
- Currently, less than 2% of the proceeds of crime is confiscated in the EU and migrant smuggling is
becoming one of the most lucrative illegal activities for organised crime groups. Parallel financial investigations
should be made the rule instead of an exception in the investigation of organised crime. Therefore, Europol should
have capabilities to support Member States' authorities with asset tracing and financial investigation services
during the implementation of investigative measures.
EN 7 EN
community (national units in charge of migrant smuggling) and offer proper support to MS
and relevant operational third parties.
For these purposes, additional staff (incl. a limited number of contractors) would be needed, in
particular to work on requirements, architecture, security, data protection, development,
project management and maintenance of the new capabilities.
Regarding Biometrics,
Significant upgrade/procuring new Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS)
(performance, functionalities, scalability) in support of migrant smuggling and THB initiative
(in addition to EU Interoperability);
performance and functionality improvements in new face recognition solution (FACE), full
integration of AFIS and new FACE in Europol data management workflows;
improve existing biometric workflows to make the full use of the biometric data and
reduce manual work;
develop the capability to process DNA profiles;
revise EIS, SIENA and data intake functionalities on biometric data;
develop the functionalities to search biometric data in EIS and via Querying Europol’s
systems (QUEST);
update Data Analysis Portal (DAP) for biometric data; revise/include data review and
retention requirements on biometrics data across solutions.
For these purposes,
additional staff are necessary, in particular to work on requirements, architecture, security,
data protection, development, project management and maintenance (both functional and
infrastructure) of the new capabilities.
Funding (budget appropriations) are necessary to fund the procurement of hardware and
software and the hiring of limited number of contractors as relates to the upgrade SIENA and
the development of biometrics capabilities; after development a maintenance budget is needed
for maintaining infrastructure and software (e.g. licences) and supporting expert contractors
especially in the field of biometric performance that shall be maintained over time.
Funding (budget appropriations) to provide financial support to MS for connection/integration
of SIENA web-services.
Specific objective n°4: providing Member States with the necessary tools to prevent and
combat migrant smuggling and THB as well as other crimes falling within the scope of
Europol’s objectives.
The aim is to strengthen Europol’s capacity to provide immediate and operational,
including technical, support to the Member States to combat migrant smuggling and THB.
In that way, the Member States will make full use of the newly established concepts of
Operational Task Forces, Europol deployment for operational support as well as
technical, forensic and financial support provided by Europol.
To support this objective, additional resouces are required to
EN 8 EN
allow for the recruitment of short-term Seconded National Experts32
to support Member
States’ investigations within the framework of the OTFs concerning organised migrant
smuggling, and related crimes from Europol HQ and in countries of origin, transit and
destination, including both Member States and Third Countries.
Increase the deployment budget to allow the deployment of Europol staff and Guest
Officers for operational support.
Increase the OTF Grant budget33
.
Increase the EMPACT budget, within Europol’s budget, to allow for reinforced support
made available through High Value Grants (HVG), Low Value Grants (LVG)34
and the
funding of strategic and operational meetings related to activities carried out under the
EMPACT Operational Action Plans (OAPs) adopted by the Council to fight and disrupt (high-
risk) criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling and in the trafficking in human beings,
and other relevant crime areas and enabling crimes.
32
The tasks of the national experts depend on the operational needs and they are defined in the Operational Plans.
However, they may include expertise in relevant languages, strategic and operational analysis, OSINT monitoring, asset
tracing/financial investigations, cybercrimes, IT forensics, surveillance and undercover operations, document frauds and in
other specified areas which are considered relevant for the national investigative teams and to support Member States'
authorities during the implementation of investigative measures on the spot or at Europol HQ.
33
With specialised anti-migrant smuggling units in each MS and direct connections to SIENA, it is expected that the
volume of contributions could more than double as well as the number of operations and OTFs.
34
To enhance the flexibility of assistance to Member States within EMPACT, Europol introduced a funding scheme
based on two types of grants. (I) High-value grants (HVGs) are awarded following a traditional call for proposals with a
fixed deadline for submission of applications to finance targeted activities as laid down in the Operational Action Plans
(OAPs) and (II) low-value grants (LVGs) with an open-ended procedure to provide shorter-term financing for the OAPs
activities that are of distinctly operational nature. Over the past years, EMPACT grants became extremely popular, and
Member States increasingly resorted to them, praising their usefulness to support the fight against organised crime and to
obtain results. Last year, the LVG envelope was exhausted in November 2022 and this year, it was exhausted already in
September 2023, creating in both cases a void and harming the capacity of Europol to support Member States and of the
latter to perform their investigations.
EN 9 EN
1.4.3. Expected result(s) and impact
Specify the effects which the proposal/initiative should have on the beneficiaries/groups targeted.
By contributing to the disruption of criminal businesses and organised crime structures, this
proposal will prevent loss of life of migrants, reduce unsafe and irregular migration and will
facilitate the the establishment of a sustainable EU migration policy, as well as preventing the
explotation of people.
The proposal will also benefit individuals and society at large by improving Europol’s ability
to support Member States in countering crime and protecting EU citizens.
The proposal will create economies of scale for administrations as it will shift the resource
implications of the targeted activities from the national level to the EU level. Public authorities
in Member States will directly benefit from the proposal thanks to economies of scale leading
to savings in administrative costs.
1.4.4. Indicators of performance
Specify the indicators for monitoring progress and achievements.
Specific objective n°1: strengthening Europol and its European Centre Against Migrant
Smuggling as the Centre of gravity for EU-level investigative and operational action as
well as strategic analysis:
Number/Proportion of joint strategical reports on migrant smuggling with other EU agencies
[target 90%]
Number/Proportion of joint operational reports on migrant smuggling, with other EU agencies
[target 70%]
Number of Operational Reports delivered by EMSC
Number of operations supported by EMSC
Specific objective n°2: enhancing cooperation and coordination between the Member
States, Europol and other Union agencies
Number of investigations into migrant smuggling for which a parallel financial investigation
was supported by Europol
Number of Early warning notifications in relation to migrant smuggling
Number of investigations on migrant smuggling coordinated by Eurojust where searches have
been conducted by Eurojust into Europol information when legally possible [baseline 0, target
100%]
Proportion of investigations on migrant smuggling coordinated by Europol where searches
have been conducted by Europol into information provided to Eurojust, when legally possible
[baseline 0, target 100%]
Number of SIENA messages exchanged between Europol and Frontex related to migrant
smuggling
Number of SIENA messages exchanged between Europol and Eurojust related to migrant
smuggling
EN 10 EN
Number of new JITs on migrant smuggling supported by Europol
Specific objective n°3 : reinforcing Europol as the EU criminal information hub on
migrnat smuggling and fully developing the exchange of information between the
Member States, Europo, other EU agencies as well as third countries
Number of national specialized services connected to SIENA [target 27]
Proportion of immigration liaison officers in third countries connected to SIENA [ target
100%]
Proportion of SIENA messages received from immigration liaison officers in third countries c
[ target 100%]
Proportion of SIENA messages related to migrant smuggling and to personal entities for
which biometric data is linked [no target ]
Proportion of SIENA messages between Member States related to migrant smuggling where
Europol was provided with a copy of [baseline 2019 : 48%, target : 90%]
Proportion of SIENA messages between Member States received by Europol related to
migrant smuggling that have been cross-checked by Europol [target 100%]
Proportion of SIENA messages between Member States received by Europol related to
migrant smuggling that have been cross-checked by Europol and that led to establish a link.
[no target]
Proportion of SIENA messages between Member States received by Europol related to
migrant smuggling containing biometric information that was used by Europol for cross-
checks [target 100%]
Proportion of SIENA messages between Member States received by Europol related to
migrant smuggling containing biometric information that was used by Europol for cross-
checks and that led to establish a link [no target]
Number of new personal entities related to migrant smuggling loaded by Member States
within the Europol information system. Share of those personal entities loaded with biometric
information.
Number of new cases of migrant smuggling [baseline 2022 : 4889 ; no target]
Number of new suspects of migrant smuggling [baseline 2019 : 10989 ; no target]
Number of requests by Europol to initiate an investigation on migrant smuggling [no target]
Specific objective n°4: Provide Member States with the necessary tools to prevent and
combat migrant smuggling and other crimes falling within the scope of Europol’s
objectives
Number of (Joint) Action Days coordinated/supported by EMSC
Number of operational task forces set up related to migrant smuggling
Number of operational task forces set up related to THB
Number of active HVT identified [baseline 2022 : 24; no target]/ Number of HVT arrested or
disrupted, for migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings
EN 11 EN
Number of Member States taking part of a task force dedicated to migrant smuggling or THB
Number of deployments of Guest Officers (Number of deployment months)
Number of short-term SNEs selected
Number of requests and number of deployments of operational support related to migrant
smuggling and THB
Volume of content assessed by EU IRU related to migrant smuggling, THB and other related
crimes
Number of OTF grant applications received for migrant smuggling and trafficking in human
beings
Number of operational actions (OAs) developed and supported in the framework of the
relevant operational action plans (OAPs) of EMPACT
Number of EMPACT grants’ applications (HVG and LVG) submitted, processed and
awarded, with detail of the amount committed in the area of migrant smuggling and trafficking
in human beings
In line with Article 28 of the FFR and to ensure sound financial management, Europol already
monitors progress in the achievement of its objectives with performance indicators. The
agency currently has 18 Key Performance Indicators, further complemented by 56 Corporate
Performance Indicators. These indicators are reported in Europol’s Consolidated Annual
Activity Report, which include a clear monitoring of the target by end of year as well as
comparison with the previous year. These indicators will be adapted as needed following
adoption of the proposal.
1.5. Grounds for the proposal/initiative
1.5.1. Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term including a detailed timeline for roll-out of
the implementation of the initiative
The roll-out of the implementation of the legislative initiative, notably on the specific
objecitve n°3, requires technical and procedural measures at EU and national level, which
should start when the revised legislation enters into force :
(i) Member States shall by 12 December 2024 have met obligations set under the Directive on
information exchange on the full interoperability of their criminal information exchange
platforms revolving around their national Single Point of Contact (SPOCs) and the smooth
operation of their Case management systems (CMS)
(ii)During the 2025-2027 period, Member States will progressively update their internal
operational processes, and accordingly deploy communication means (SIENA connections)
and tools (data loaders and QUEST tool) both at the central level (SPOC, specialized national
units) and on the field (immigration officers in third countries) so as to improve the efficiency
of information exchange on migrant smuggling, and the ability to provide information both in
bulk and on along ongoing investigation to Europol, and to consult Europol information in that
matter. Such updates and upgrades would more specifically focus on biometric data.
EN 12 EN
Europol shall upgrade its technical capabilities in both domains of biometrics and information
exchange (see specific actions under SO n°3 )
(iii) by 2026 : upgrade AFIS and FACE and DNA capabilities
(iv) by 2027 : automate biometric workflows, biometric data intake including through SIENA,
DAP and QUEST
The relevant resources – in particular human resources - should be scaled up over time in line
with the increase in demand for Europol’s services.
Following entry into application, the implementation of the activities will be rolled-out in a
gradual timeline, to follow the expected gradual increase of demands on Europol’s services
and activities, as well as necessary time for absorption of new resources.
1.5.2. Added value of Union involvement (it may result from different factors, e.g. coordination
gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For the purposes of this
point 'added value of Union involvement' is the value resulting from Union intervention which
is additional to the value that would have been otherwise created by Member States alone.
Organised crime structures capable of carrying out sophisticated operations that cover the full
range of migrant smuggling and THB services constitute a high risk to Europe’s security.
According to the EU Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (EU SOCTA),
approximately 50% of the networks involved in migrant smuggling are polycriminal,
involved also in trafficking in human beings, drug trafficking, excise fraud, firearms
trafficking and money laundering. And these criminal activities are of a transnational nature.
Therefore, action at national level alone cannot counter them effectively. This is why Member
States choose to work together within the framework of the EU, notably through the European
Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT)35
, to tackle the threats posed
by these forms of serious crime.
Moreover, evolving security threats, driven by the way these criminals exploit the advantages
that the digital transformation, globalisation and mobility bring about, also call for effective
EU level support to the work of national law enforcement authorities. EU action provides
for an effective and efficient way to step up the support to Member States in fighting migrant
smuggling which remains a serious challenge that needs to be continuously, concertedly and
collectively tackled further.
The proposal will create significant economies of scale at an EU level, as it will shift tasks and
services, which can be performed more efficiently at an EU level, from the national level to
Europol. The proposal therefore provides for efficient solutions to challenges to challenges
which cannot be addressed at the national level at all in view of their transnational nature.
1.5.3. Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past
The proposal builds on the need to address Migrant smuggling as a dynamic, agile and
increasingly complex criminal activity that affects the EU’s internal security.
The market for migrant smuggling services to and within the EU is reaching new heights,
fuelled by emerging and deepening crises, most notably economic recessions, environmental
35
https://www.europol.europa.eu/crime-areas-and-statistics/empact
EN 13 EN
emergencies caused by climate change, as well as conflicts and demographic pressure in many
origin countries.
Migrant smuggling is a worldwide crime that puts at risk the lives of migrants and
challenges the integrity of international borders. This is a profitable type of criminal activity
for organised criminal groups and has posed a major humanitarian and security challenge for
the EU in recent years.
These evolving security threats call for effective EU level support to the work of national law
enforcement authorities.
This proposal also builds on the lessons learned and progress achieved since the renewed EU
action plan against migrant smuggling (2021-2025) which strengthens further operational
cooperation and information exchange among EU Member States and EU law enforcement
agencies to investigate, and prosecute migrant smuggling networks.
Moreover, the proposal takes into account the recommendations provided by the European
Court of Auditors in its 2021 special report on “Europol support to fight migrant smuggling”.
Previous reviews of Europol’s mandate and the growing demand for services by Member
States as well as the pivotal role played by Europol in the EU’s internal security architecture
has also clearly shown that Europol’s tasks need to be backed by adequate financial and
human resources.
1.5.4. Compatibility with the Multiannual Financial Framework and possible synergies with other
appropriate instruments
The proposal responds to the fast changing security landscape as it will equip Europol with the
necessary capabilities and tools to support Member States effectively in countering migrant
smuggling, Trafficking in Human beings as well as other forms of serious crime. The proposal
is fully in line with what was announced by President von der Leyen in her 2023 State of the
Union address “new legislation and a new governance structure” to fight against migrant
smugglers. It is also fully in line with Commission Work Programme for 2024 which
announced a legislative initiative by the end of 2023 “to modernise the legal framework to
fight the smuggling of migrants, to ensure that we have the necessary legal and operational
tools to respond to the new modus operandi of smugglers”. It is finally fully in line with the
letter sent to all Heads of State or Government ahead of the European Council (26-27
October) where President von der Leyen announced that “the Commission will be making
proposals at the end of next month [November] to update our legislative framework to
strengthen our collective action on smuggling of migrants, with a strong focus on maximising
the impact of Europol”.
This proposal is also fully in line with the MFF as it supports some anti-smuggling activities
planned in the Work Programme of the Thematic Facily under the Internal Security Fund for
2023, 2024 and 2025. In 2025 a call aiming at enhancing prevention and fight against migrant
smuggling by establishing Common Operational Partnerships will be launched by the
Commission. This activity will reinforce structured cooperation between law enforcement,
judicial authorities and other releveant services of the participating Member States and third
countries.
By contributing to the disruption of criminal businesses, this proposal also supports the
objectives of the EU Security Union Strategy, as well as the EU Strategies to tackle Organised
EN 14 EN
Crime 2021-2025 and on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings 2021-2025 that will be
implemented in full synergy.
Providing a strong European response to migrant smuggling inside and outside the EU is also
an essential part of the comprehensive approach to migration, set out in the New Pact on
Migration and Asylum.
The proposal will also create synergies with the activities of Union agencies, notably with
the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Eurojust and, where appropriate, other
relevant Union bodies or agencies, strenghtening overall cooperation with Europol, in line
with their respective mandates and competences.
1.5.5. Assessment of the different available financing options, including scope for redeployment
Since 2022 and the last revision of Europol’s mandate, the trend has been towards an
exponential growth of the agency’s data flows and of the demand on its services notably on
migrant smuggling, leading to yearly budget and staff reinforcements above the levels initially
programmed. Since the proposal will introduce important new tasks in Europol Regulation and
will also clarify, codify and detail other tasks and tools, hereby extending Europol’s
capabilities within the context of the treaties, it therefore cannot be covered by a stable level of
resources. The proposal needs to be backed by financial and human reinforcements.
The budgetary impact of the additional financial resources will be made available partially
through the margin and via budgetary offsetting against BMVI and ISF programmes.
EN 15 EN
1.6. Duration and financial impact of the proposal/initiative
 limited duration
–  Proposal/initiative in effect from [DD/MM]YYYY to [DD/MM]YYYY
–  Financial impact from YYYY to YYYY
 unlimited duration
– Implementation with a start-up period from 2025 to 2027,
– followed by full-scale operation.
1.7. Method(s) of budget implementation planned36
 Direct management by the Commission through
–  executive agencies
 Shared management with the Member States
 Indirect management by entrusting budget implementation tasks to:
 international organisations and their agencies (to be specified);
the EIB and the European Investment Fund;
 bodies referred to in Articles 70 and 71;
 public law bodies;
 bodies governed by private law with a public service mission to the extent that they are
provided with adequate financial guarantees;
 bodies governed by the private law of a Member State that are entrusted with the
implementation of a public-private partnership and that are provided with adequate financial
guarantees;
 bodies or persons entrusted with the implementation of specific actions in the CFSP
pursuant to Title V of the TEU, and identified in the relevant basic act.
Comments
36
Details of budget implementation methods and references to the Financial Regulation may be found on the
BUDGpedia site: https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/corp/budget/financial-rules/budget-
implementation/Pages/implementation-methods.aspx
EN 16 EN
2. MANAGEMENT MEASURES
2.1. Monitoring and reporting rules
Specify frequency and conditions.
The monitoring and reporting of the proposal will follow the principles outlined in Europol’s
Regulation37
, Financial Regulation38
and in line with the Common Approach on decentralised
agencies39
.
Europol must notably send each year to the Commission, the European Parliament and the
Council a Single Programming Document containing multi-annual and annual work
programmes and resources programming. The Document sets out the objectives, expected
results and performance indicators to monitor the achievement of the objectives and the
results. Europol must also submit a Consolidated Annual Activity Report to the management
board. This report notably includes information on the achievement of the objectives and
results set out in the Single Programming Document. The report must also be sent to the
Commission, the European Parliament and the Council.
Moreover, as outlined in Article 68 of Europol’s Regulation, the Commission must
commission an evaluation of Europol by 29 June 2027 and every five years after that. This
evaluation will assess, in particular, the impact, effectiveness and efficiency of Europol and of
its working practices. The evaluation reports must be submitted to the specialised Joint
Parliamentary Scrutiny Group, which politically monitors Europol’s activities in fulfilling its
mission, including as regards the impact of those activities on the fundamental rights and
freedoms of natural persons. The reports are also submitted to the Council, the national
parliaments and Europol’s Management Board. Where appropriate, the main findings of the
evaluation reports are made public.
To regularly monitor the provision of information by the Member States, Europol will also
report annually to the Commission, European Parliament, the Council and national
parliaments on the information provided by each Member State as concerns the information
Europol needs to fulfil its objectives, including information relating to forms of crime the
prevention or combating of which is considered a priority by the Union. The reports are drawn
up on the basis of the quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria defined by Europol’s
Management Board.
2.2. Management and control system(s)
2.2.1. Justification of the management mode(s), the funding implementation mechanism(s), the
payment modalities and the control strategy proposed
Considering that the proposal impacts the annual EU contribution to Europol, the EU budget
will be implemented via indirect management.
37
Regulation (EU) 2016/794
38
https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/decision_of_the_europol_management_board_on_the
_adoption_of_the_financial_regulation_applicable_to_europol_.pdf
39
https://europa.eu/european-
union/sites/europaeu/files/docs/body/joint_statement_and_common_approach_2012_en.pdf
EN 17 EN
Pursuant to the principle of sound financial management, the budget of Europol shall be
implemented in compliance with effective and efficient internal control80. Europol is
therefore bound to implement an appropriate control strategy coordinated among appropriate
actors involved in the control chain.
Regarding ex-post controls, Europol, as a decentralised agency, is notably subject to :
- internal audit by the Internal Audit Service of the Commission
- annual reports by the European Court of Auditors, giving a statement of assurance as to the
reliability of the annual accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions
- annual discharge granted by the European Parliament
- possible investigations conducted by OLAF to ensure, in particular, that the resources
allocated to agencies are put to proper use.
As partner DG to Europol, DG HOME will implement its Control Strategy on decentralised
agencies to ensure reliable reporting in the framework of its Annual Activity Report (AAR).
While decentralised agencies have full responsibility for the implementation of their budget,
DG HOME is responsible for regular payment of annual contributions established by the
Budgetary Authority.
Finally, the European Ombudsman provides a further layer of control and accountability at
Europol.
2.2.2. Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up to
mitigate them
The following risks are identified:
- strained operational resources due to increasing operational needs from Member States and
constantly evolving criminal activities in the area of migrant smuggling and trafficking in
human beings
- fragmentation of Europol’s core business due to multiplication of tasks and requests
- lack of adequate levels of financial and human resources to match operational needs
- lack of ICT resources, resulting in delays in necessary core system developments and
updates
2.2.3. Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio of "control costs ÷
value of the related funds managed"), and assessment of the expected levels of risk of error (at
payment & at closure)
The ratio of “control costs/payment made in relation to Indirect Management Entrusted Entities and
Decentralised Agencies, including Europol” is reported on by the Commission and is 0.12% for 2022.
The European Court of Auditors confirmed the legality and regularity of Europol’s annual accounts for
2022, which implies an error rate below 2%. There are no indications that the error rate will worsen in
the coming years.
EN 18 EN
Moreover, article 80 of Europol’s Financial Regulation provides for the possibility for the agency to
share an internal audit capability with other Union bodies functioning in the same policy area if the
internal audit capability of a single Union body is not cost-effective.
EN 19 EN
2.3. Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities
Specify existing or envisaged prevention and protection measures, e.g. from the Anti-Fraud Strategy.
The measures related to combating fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities are
outlined, inter alia, in article 66 of Europol’s Regulation and under Title X of Europol’s
Financial Regulation.
Europol shall notably participate in fraud prevention activities of the European Anti-fraud
Office and inform the Commission without delay on cases of presumed fraud and other
financial irregularities – in line with its internal anti-fraud strategy.
The MB approved the revised Europol Anti-Fraud Strategyfor the period 2022-2024, at its
meeting in March 2022.
Moreover, as partner DG, DG HOME has developed and implemented its own anti-fraud
strategy on the basis of the methodology provided by OLAF. Decentralised agencies,
including Europol, fall within the scope of the strategy.
DG HOME has developed and implemented its own anti-fraud strategy since 2013, based on
the methodology provided by OLAF.
Based on the available information, DG HOME 2022 AAR concluted that the anti-fraud
measures in place are effective overall.
3. ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE
3.1. Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s)
affected
• Existing budget lines
In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines.
Heading of
multiannual
financial
framework
Budget line
Type of
expenditure
Contribution
Number Diff./Non-
diff.40
from
EFTA
countries
41
from
candidate
countries
and
potential
candidates
42
From
other
third
countries
other assigned
revenue
5 12 10 01 Diff. YES/NO YES/NO YES/NO YES/NO
40
Diff. = Differentiated appropriations / Non-diff. = Non-differentiated appropriations.
41
EFTA: European Free Trade Association.
42
Candidate countries and, where applicable, potential candidates from the Western Balkans.
EN 20 E
3.2. Estimated impact on expenditure
3.2.1. Summary of estimated impact on expenditure
EUR million (to three decimal places)
Heading of multiannual financial
framework
5 Security and Defence
Europol 2024 2025 2026 2027 TOTAL
TOTAL appropriations for Europol Commitments - 15,758 19,678 13,457 48,892
Payments - 15,758 19,678 13,457 48,892
Heading of multiannual financial
framework
7 Administrative expenditure
DG HOME 2024 2025 2026 2027 TOTAL
 Human Resources - 0,132 0,435 0,606 1,173
 Other administrative expenditure 0,002 0,002 0,002 0,002 0,008
TOTAL DG HOME Appropriations 0,002 0,134 0,437 0,608 1,181
TOTAL appropriations under
HEADING 7 of the multiannual
financial framework
(Total commitments = Total payments) 0,002 0,134 0,437 0,608 1,181
2024 2025 2026 2027 TOTAL
TOTAL appropriations under
HEADINGS 1 to 7 of the multiannual
financial framework
Commitments 0,002 15,892 20,115 14,065 50,073
Payments 0,002 15,892 20,115 14,065 50,073
The appropriations required for human resources and other expenditure of an administrative nature will be met by appropriations from the DG that are already assigned to
management of the action and/or have been redeployed within the DG, together if necessary with any additional allocation which may be granted to the managing DG under the annual
allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints.
EN 21 EN
3.2.2. Estimated impact on Europol’s appropriations
–  The proposal/initiative does not require the use of operational appropriations
–  The proposal/initiative requires the use of operational appropriations, as explained below:
Amounts in EUR million (to three decimal places)
Indicate objectives and outputs 2024 2025 2026 2027 TOTAL
 Type Cost Cost Cost Cost Cost
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE NO 1: strengthening Europol and its European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling as the Centre of
gravity for EU-level investigative and operational action as well as strategic analysis
Output
Reinforce the ESMC and the other migrant-smuggling
related entities
- 1,186 2,628 2,673 6,487
Subtotal for specific objective N°1 - 1,186 2,628 2,673 6,487
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE NO 2: enhancing cooperation and coordination between the Member States, Europol and other Union
agencies
Output
Establish a governance structure for effective inter-
agency cooperation, steer and coordination
- 0,075 0,242 0,410 0,727
Subtotal for specific objective N°2 - 0,075 0,242 0,410 0,727
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE NO 3: reinforcing Europol as the EU criminal information hub on migrant smuggling and THB and fully
developing the exchange of information between the Member States, Europol, other EU agencies as well as third countries
-
Output
Biometrics - development of systems & upgrade of
SIENA (hardware, software, consultancy)
- 8,765 9,526 3,372 21,662
-
Output
SIENA integrations (Secure Information Exchange
Network Application)
- 1,137 1,345 0,876 3,358
Subtotal for specific objective N°3 - 9,902 10,871 4,248 25,021
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE NO 4: providing Europol with the necessary tools to prevent and combat migrant smuggling and other
crimes falling within the scope of Europol’s objectives
-
Output
EMPACT grant - migrant smuggling and related crimes - 2,000 2,000 2,000 6,000
-
Output
OTF Grant - 2,000 3,000 3,000 8,000
-
Output
to support OTFs on migrant smuggling - 0,595 0,938 1,125 2,658
Subtotal for specific objective N°4 - 4,595 5,938 6,125 16,658
TOTAL for objectives 1 to 4 - 15,758 19,678 13,457 48,892
EN 22 EN
Where applicable, amounts reflect the sum of the Union contribution to the agency and other revenue of the agency (fees and charges).
EN 23 EN
3.2.3. Estimated impact on Europol’s human resources
3.2.3.1. Summary
–  The proposal/initiative does not require the use of appropriations of an
administrative nature
–  The proposal/initiative requires the use of appropriations of an administrative
nature, as explained below:
EUR million (to three decimal places) Where applicable, amounts reflect the sum of the Union contribution to
the agency and other revenue of the agency (fees and charges).
2025 2026 2027 TOTAL
Temporary agents (AD Grades) 0,298 1,014 1,759 3,072
Temporary agents (AST grades) 0 0 0 0
Contract staff 0,265 1,026 1,872 3,162
Seconded National Experts 0,595 0,938 1,125 2,658
TOTAL43
1,158 2,978 4,757 8,892
Staff requirements (FTE):44
2025 2026 2027 TOTAL
Temporary agents (AD Grades) 3 7 10 10
Temporary agents (AST grades) 0 0 0 0
Contract staff 5 14 20 20
Seconded National Experts 11 17 20 20
TOTAL 19 38 50 50
Details of the staff increase:
Specific objective Additional staff Allocation in Europol
Specific objective n°1 Additional staff needed to support
European Smuggling Centre and to
increase the number of Europol-supported
Operational Task Forces (OTFs) and other
investigations on organised migrant
smuggling and related crimes, to cover the
online dimension on investigations and to
be able to provide technical and forensic
support via ensuring extraction and
Operations Directorate
43
Staff levels calculated on the basis of the average staff unit costs to be used for LFS, indexed to the correction
coefficient for the Netherlands (111,8%).
44
The Europol staff increase mentioned in the proposal will be offset with a reduction of the future reinforcement
in FRONTEX staff. The two agencies will agree the concrete modalities for the transfer, within the respect of
the criteria and timeline set by the co-legislators..
EN 24 EN
processing large and complex data sets
collected from member States and Third
Countries.
Estimated FTEs needed – additional FTE
to be hired per year (not-cumulative):
Investigative specialists and data analysts:
2025: +3; 2026: +4; 2027: +4
OSINT/media monitoring specialists:
2025: +1; 2026: +2; 2027: +2
Forensic, decryption and data specialists:
2025: +1; 2026: +2; 2027: +1
Specific objective n°2 Additional staff to provide asset–tracing,
financial expertise and related analysis
services to support Member States’
investigations concerning organised
migrant smuggling, human trafficking and
related crimes. As well as to to support
Member States’ investigations, strategic
and operational prioritisation, crime
prevention and crime trend monitoring
concerning organised migrant smuggling
and related crimes by providing strategic
analysis services
Estimated FTEs needed – additional FTE
to be hired per year (not-cumulative):
Asset tracing and Financial Investigation
specialists and analysts:
2025: +1; 2026: +1; 2027: +1
Strategic analysis and data specialists:
2025: +1; 2026: +2; 2027: +1
Operations Directorate
Specific objective n°3 Additional staff to provide effective
technical to Member States to use SIENA
as the default channel of communication
Estimated FTEs needed – additional FTE
to be hired per year (not-cumulative):
2025: 0; 2026: +1; 2027: 0
additional staff to work on requirements,
architecture, security, data protection,
development, project management and
maintenance (both functional and
infrastructure) of the new biometric
capabilities.
Capabilities Directorate
EN 25 EN
Estimated FTEs needed – additional FTE
to be hired per year (not-cumulative):
2025: +1; 2026: +1; 2027: 0
Specific objective n°4 Additional staff (short term costed SNEs)
to support Member States’ investigations
within the framework of the OTFs
concerning notably organised migrant
smuggling , and related crimes from
Europol HQ and in countries of origin,
transit and destination, including both
Member States and Third Countries.
Estimated FTEs needed – additional FTE
to be hired per year (not-cumulative):
2025: +11; 2026: +6; 2027: +3
Operations Directorate
EN 26 EN
3.2.3.2. Estimated requirements of human resources for the parent DG
–  The proposal/initiative does not require the use of human resources.
–  The proposal/initiative requires the use of human resources, as explained
below:
Estimate to be expressed in full amounts (or at most to one decimal place)
2024 2025 2026 2027
Establishment plan posts (officials and temporary staff)
20 01 02 01 and 20 01 02 02
(Headquarters and Commission’s
Representation Offices)
1 3 3
20 01 02 03 (Delegations)
External staff (in Full Time Equivalent unit: FTE) 45
20 02 01 (AC, END, INT from the
‘global envelope’)
1 1 1
20 02 03 (AC, AL, END, INT and JPD
in the delegations)
TOTAL 2 4 4
The human resources required will be met by staff from the DG who are already assigned to
management of the action and/or have been redeployed within the DG, together if necessary
with any additional allocation which may be granted to the managing DG under the annual
allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints.
Description of tasks to be carried out:
Officials and
temporary staff
- To implement the new measures aimed at preventing migrant smuggling, including the
enhanced dialogue with legal entities suspected to be used for the smuggling of migrants,
as provided for by the proposal for a Directive on preventing and countering the
facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay in the Union.
- To ensure the service of the new governance framework established in the European
Centre Against Migrant Smuggling, as provided for by the proposal for a Regulation on
combating migrant smuggling.
- to enhance the monitoring, collecting, analysing and sharing of information and data on
the prevention, judicial and law enforcement response on migrant smuggling, to provide
input for evidence-based policy making, as provided for by the proposal for a Directive
on preventing and countering the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay in the
Union and the Regulation on combating migrant smuggling.
External staff To support the enhanced operational framework of Europol supporting Member States on
migrant smuggling, the organisation and running of relevant Operational Task Forces,
Europol deployments for operational support, activities under the EMPACT, as provided for
by the proposal for a Regulation on combating migrant smuggling.
45
AC = Contract Staff; AL = Local Staff; END = Seconded National Expert; INT = agency staff; JPD =
Junior Professionals in Delegations.
EN 27 EN
3.2.4. Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework
–  The proposal/initiative is compatible the current multiannual financial framework.
–  The proposal/initiative will entail reprogramming of the relevant heading in the
multiannual financial framework.
The budgetary impact of the additional financial resources will be made available partially through the margin
(EUR 20 million) and via budgetary offsetting against BMVI and ISF programmes.
–  The proposal/initiative requires application of the flexibility instrument or revision of
the multiannual financial framework46
.
3.2.5. Third-party contributions
– The proposal/initiative does not provide for co-financing by third parties.
– The proposal/initiative provides for the co-financing estimated below:
46
See Articles 12 and 13 of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2093/2020 of 17 December 2020 laying down the
multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027.
EN 28 EN
3.3. Estimated impact on revenue
–  The proposal/initiative has no financial impact on revenue.
–  The proposal/initiative has the following financial impact:
–  on own resources
–  on other revenue
– please indicate, if the revenue is assigned to expenditure lines 