The Europol National Unit (International Operations Section), which is an integral part of the International Police Cooperation Division in the Criminal Police Directorate, is the national liaison point between Europol and the competent state authorities in Slovenia: internal police organizational units, the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia and the Office for Money Laundering Prevention

Europol National Unit basic tasks are to:

• provide Europol with the information it needs to meet its objectives, including information on the forms of crime which the Union considers a priority to prevent or combat,
• ensure effective communication and cooperation of all competent authorities with Europol,
• raises awareness of Europol's activities,
• ensure compliance with national law when providing information to Europol.

Slovenian Liaison Office at Europol Headquarters

Part of the Europol National Unit is also the Slovenian Liaison Office at Europol's headquarters, where liaison officers who are members of the Slovenian police perform their duties. The liaison offices at Europol's headquarters present a part of a single platform bringing together representatives of the security authorities of the countries participating in Europol and providing the rapid and operational exchange of information.

Europol's Legal Framework

Europol (European Union Agency for Cooperation in the Prevention, Detection and Investigation of Crime) was given a new legal framework on 11 May 2016, the Europol Regulation (2016/794), which applies from 1 May 2017.

Most of the provisions of the new Europol Regulation, including the provisions on information processing, came into force on 1 May 2017. The regulation introduces several changes to the structure of the organization and the way it operates, but the essence of Europol's existence remains unchanged: supporting Member States' activities in the fight against and prevention of serious forms of organized crime, cybercrime and terrorism.

An important change introduced by the new legal framework is integrated data management, which refers to the possibility of using the information received and collected by Europol for various processing purposes.

Another important change introduced by the new legal framework is the emphasis on the purposes of Europol's information processing. This approach replaces the current data protection framework based on processing systems such as the Europol Information System (EIS) and analytical work files.

This allows for greater flexibility, and capacity planning for innovative information management is less dependent on the characteristics of individual systems. Most importantly, it allows the information to be used for different purposes, as specified by the owner of the information, in a single comprehensive processing environment. Therefore, the general term concept of integrated information management is used for it.

Information is processed at Europol under the new legislation for the purpose of cross-checking, strategic or thematic analysis, operational analysis, facilitating the exchange of information.

Histrory

The European Police Office (Europol) was established on 7 February 1992 with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty of the European Union. Europol commenced limited operations on 3 January 1994 as the Europol Drugs Unit (EDU). Initially, activities were focused on the fight against illicit drugs with Europol's competences progressively expanding to include other important areas of crime.

Europol commenced its full activities on 1 July 1999, after the Europol Convention was ratified by all EU Member States in 1998. On 1 January 2010, the legal basis of Europol changed and the Europol Convention was replaced by the Council Decision establishing Europol, on the basis of which Europol became an agency of the European Union and operated until 1 May 2017, when the new legal basis for Europol, the Europol Regulation (2016/794) entered into force.

Europol is based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Objectives and tasks of Europol

Europol support and strengthen the activities of the competent authorities of the Member States and their cooperation in preventing and combating serious crime affecting two or more Member States, terrorism and forms of crime affecting the common interest of Union policy. Europol:

• collects, stores, processes, analyzes and exchanges information, including criminal intelligence on criminal offenses,
• inform the Member States without delay of all information and links between the offenses concerning them, through the national units,
• coordinates, organizes and implements investigative and operational measures in order to support and strengthen the actions of the competent authorities of the Member States,
• participates in joint investigation teams and proposes their establishment,
• provides information and analytical support to Member States in relation to major international events,
• prepares threat assessments, strategic and operational analyzes and general status reports,
• develop, exchange and promote expertise on crime prevention methods, investigation procedures and technical and forensic methods, and advise Member States,
• supports the Member States in the cross-border exchange of information and in cross-border operations and investigations and in joint investigation teams, inter alia by providing operational, technical and financial support,
• provides specialized training and assists Member States in organizing training for members of their competent authorities,
• cooperate with the Union authorities and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), in particular by exchanging information and providing analytical support in the areas of their competence,
• provides information and support to EU crisis management structures and missions,
•  develop the Union's centers of expertise to combat certain forms of crime which fall within Europol's objectives, in particular the European Cybercrime Center; supports Member States' measures to prevent and combat forms of crime facilitated by the use of the Internet or to be promoted or committed through the use of the Internet, which includes, in cooperation with the Member States, the reporting of content on the Internet which enables or encourages such forms of crime or is committed on the basis of such content to the relevant online service providers, who voluntarily check that the reporting complies with their conditions.

Europol's Mandate

The following preconditions must be met in order to involve Europol in the investigation of a case: the area of crime, the scope of the tasks for which Europol has been mandated, the involvement of organized criminal groups and criminal activity affects or involves at least two or more Member States.

Serious forms of crime falling within the competence of Europol

They are listed in the Annex to the Europol Regulation (2016/794)(2016/794):

•  drug trafficking,
• terrorism,
• organised crime,
• money-laundering activities,
• crime connected with nuclear and radioactive substances,
• immigrant smuggling,
• human trafficking,
• motor vehicle crime,
• murder and grievous bodily injury,
• illicit trade in human organs and tissue,
• kidnapping, illegal restraint and hostage-taking,
• racism and xenophobia,
• robbery and aggravated theft,
• illicit trafficking in cultural goods, including antiquities and works of art,
• swindling and fraud,
• crime against the financial interests of the Union,
• insider dealing and financial market manipulation,
• blackmailing and usury,
• counterfeiting and product piracy,
• forgery and trafficking of official documents,

• forgery of money and means of payment,
• computer crime,
• corruption,
• illicit trafficking in arms, ammunition and explosives,
• illicit trafficking in endangered animal species,
• illicit trafficking in endangered plant species and varieties,
• environmental crime, including ship-source pollution,
• illicit trafficking in hormonal substances and other growth promoters,
• sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, including child abuse material and solicitation of children for sexual purposes,
• genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Contact

Publications

EUROPOL - Making Europe Safer   (Photo book about Europol - the authors of the photographs are also Slovenian police officers)

Europol presentation brochure 

Related content

Criminal Police Directorate

Crime detection and investigation

Europol