EPOC: Empowering Judicial Cooperation

through Eurojust

Matthias Ruckdäschel, ICT Project Officer, Eurojust

(ICT4Justice, Thessaloniki, 24 October 2008)

This Presentation

• Aim:– To explain how the EPOC software empowers international

judicial cooperation against serious crimes

• Structure:– Judicial cooperation and Eurojust– ICT tool: EPOC, the Case Management System used at Eurojust– EPOC IV: the way forward

Eurojust

• What is Eurojust?– Council Decision 2002/187/JHA, setting up Eurojust with a view to

reinforcing the fight against serious crime, modified by Decision 2003/659/JHA – a EU body

• Who is Eurojust?– Composition: 27 National Members (prosecutors/judges, one nominated

by each Member State), Deputies/Assistants and Administration staff supporting casework (e.g. analysts)

• Objectives:– Stimulate and improve the co-ordination of cross-border investigations

and prosecutions– Improve co-operation between the competent authorities in Member

States– Support otherwise the competent authorities of the Member States to

render their investigations and prosecutions more effective

The CMS

• Why a Case Management System (CMS)?– A legal requirement: Eurojust Decision and data protection rules– A need: ICT tool for the operational work– Not only to register cases, but also to work effectively– EPOC software used as CMS

• EPOC has been developed since 2002 through three projects co-funded by the European Commission

• EPOC partners today:Bulgaria (EPOC IV), France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Eurojust and CM Sistemi SpA (Rome)

• EPOC design based on Eurojust Decision

CMS Functionality

• Support to management and coordination of investigations and prosecutions which Eurojust is assisting

• Data Management:– Facilitation of access to information / interaction between NMs

(Temporary Work Files and Index)– Enable cross-references between entities (persons, places, etc)

and automatic detection of potential links between cases

• Enforcement of Eurojust Data Protection Rules

• Exchange of information (structured data) between Eurojust and National Authorities (prototype in testing)

The Structure of a TWF

• Every TWF holds some general information(statistical purposes)

• A TWF contains a number of “Documents”: – Files (i.e. the electronic versions of a real paper document, e.g.

rogatory letters) may be attached to a document– Structured data and links: operational entities (e.g. persons,

places,etc.) and relationships between them

• Each TWF has private and shared sections:– Private section: Only the owner delegation can access the data– Shared section: The owner of the data and involved parties can

access the data– Index of data: Procedural information accessible by every user

Example of a Document

From: Prosecutor in Lyon

To: National Member for France, Eurojust

Subject: Information on Slovenian suspect requested

Attachments:

File 1:MLA Request

File 2:Additionalinformation

Structured Data:

Name: Mr. X

DOB: 01.02.74Person 1

Street: Bake Str.

Place: Ljubljana

Country: SI

Place 1

Document: Specific Request

Case

related

Crime type

type

related

Legal Person

connected

Financialinstitution

Bankaccount

Criminalorganization

membership

Place

related

relatedrelatedstructure

related

Identificationdocument

Id. document type

type

has

State

in

Internationalextension

issued

nationalityPenal

proceeding

progress

Crime

Person

Entities of Interest (Excerpt)

Example of two interconnected Offices

General Prosecution office

Department for Org. Crime & Terrorism

Anti-corruption Department

ComputerNetworkE-POC E-POC

.

.

....

Romanian Desk

Slovenian Desk

Polish Desk

Security Aspects

• Functional security– Login/password mechanism– Users have user profiles, to identify available functions– Encrypted channel between users and application

• Data security– Each information has a data owner (working group)– Data visibility is related to the delegation each user belongs to– Security classification– Personal data time limits– Log of all the data access

The Future

• Technical evolution (software currently based on technology from 2002/2003) ongoing

• Limited access to EPOC from networks with a lower security level

• Extension of the EPOC usage: EPOC IV

• Revised Eurojust Decision

Objectives of EPOC IV

• Drafting of a (general) data format to exchange data related to criminal cases between judicial authorities in the EU

• Implementation of that data format in EPOC and in national case management systems to facilitate interoperability

• Connection of three national systems with each other and Eurojust through EPOC

• Identify and address needs for future coordination; ensure consistent future development and usage

• Analyse the connection between organised crime and corruption based on the exchange of statistics between the Italian Desk and the IT High Commissioner against Corruption

EPOC IV – State of Play

• Grant awarded (Criminal Justice Programme 2008), agreement to be signed

• Project could start in December 2008

• Project is ambitious but the deliverables are expected to have a high impact on the efficiency of judicial cooperation in the EU

• Some space (travel costs) foreseen for further partners and experts in data exchange in the judicial domain

To sum up

• EPOC software is based on consistent and robust legal framework on security and data protection

• Eurojust CMS: system developed at European level to deal with data on criminal investigations and prosecutions (judicial cooperation)

• Ground for further developments in Europe (EPOC IV,e-Justice umbrella)

• Further partners to EPOC IV are welcome to join

Questions?