The European Judicial Network (EJN)

^{The European Judicial Network (EJN) is a Winner of the 2016/2017 Global Sustainable Development Award and Accredited as a Global 500 Sustainable Development Agencies of the year 2016 in appreciation of its contribution towards social-economic development of the world and its contribution towards attainment of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Recognised for promotion of Justice,Law and Order in Europe. Awarded and Accredited by Public Opinions International (Uganda-East Africa) AND Organisation for International Friends of Africa (OIFA).}  

^{_{Public Opinions International is a Partner and Member of International Organisation for Educational Development (IOED)andInternational Police Commission which is is duly registered as an international Non-Profit, Non-Secretarial, Peacekeeping and Social Development Paramilitary Organization based in the State of California, United States of America with extension commands in member nations of the U.N.The International Police Commission has also been given the Consultative Status from the UN ECOSOC and it is also a Member of the United Nations Office of the Drugs and Crimes “UNODC}}

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^{The European Judicial Network (EJN) is a network of national contact points for the facilitation of judicial cooperation in criminal matters. It has been in operation within the European Union since September 1998. This made it the first practical structured mechanism of judicial cooperation in the EU to become truly operational.}

^{The purpose of the EJN is to improve judicial cooperation between the Member States of the European Union, particularly in combating forms of serious crime through facilitating and speeding up judicial cooperation, providing legal and practical information to competent local authorities and providing support with requests for assistance.}

^{Each country has appointed several contact points to the EJN from the central authorities responsible for international judicial cooperation, as well as the judicial and prosecuting authorities working in this field. These contact points are active intermediaries in the chain of judicial cooperation, but are not an additional layer of bureaucracy.  The contact points meet three times a year to gather knowledge on the various legal systems of the EU Member States, to discuss difficulties in the provision of judicial assistance, and to make proposals for the resolution of conflicts.}

^DETAILS

^{The European Judicial Network in criminal matters (EJN) is a network of national contact points for the facilitation of judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The EJN was created by Joint Action 98/428 JHA of 29 June 1998 to fulfil recommendation n°21 of the Action Plan to Combat Organised Crime adopted by the Council on 28 April 1997.}

^{In December 2008, a new legal basis entered into force, Council Decision 2008/976/JHA of 16 December 2008 on the European Judicial Network (hereinafter the “EJN Decision”), which reinforced the legal status of the EJN, while maintaining the spirit of 1998.}

^{The EJN is composed of Contact Points in the Member States designated by each Member State among central authorities in charge of international judicial cooperation and the judicial authorities or other competent authorities with specific responsibilities in the field of international judicial cooperation.}

^{The main role of the EJN Contact Points, defined by the EJN Decision as “active intermediaries”, is to facilitate judicial cooperation in criminal matters between the EU Member States, particularly in actions to combat forms of serious crime. To this end, they assist with establishing direct contacts between competent authorities and by providing legal and practical information necessary to prepare an effective request for judicial cooperation or to improve judicial cooperation in general.}

^{Moreover, the EJN Contact Points are involved in and promote the organisation of training sessions on judicial cooperation.}

^{Among the EJN Contact Points, each Member State has designated a National Correspondent, who has a coordinating role. In each Member State there is also a Tool Correspondent who ensures that the information on the EJN website is provided and updated, including the electronic tools of the EJN.}

^{The EJN has a Secretariat located at Eurojust in The Hague, responsible for the administration of the EJN. The EJN Secretariat ensures the functioning and continuity of the network.}

^{EJN and Eurojust – Joint Paper}

^{In the paper Assistance in International Cooperation in Criminal Matters for Practitioners (Joint Paper), the role of the EJN and Eurojust is described. The aim of the Joint Paper is to facilitate for judicial practitioners in deciding whether they should contact the EJN or Eurojust for assistance in international cooperation in criminal matters.}

^{The Joint Paper is available in the European Union’s 24 official languages.}

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^{The joint paper has been translated from the original English version. In the event of any discrepancies, please consult the original English version.}

^{The EJN Brochure – EU languages}

^{Brochure – Bulgarian}

^{Brochure – Croatian
Brochure – Czech
Brochure – Danish
Brochure – German
Brochure – Greek
Brochure – English
Brochure – Spanish
Brochure – Estonian
Brochure – Finnish
Brochure – French
Brochure – Gaelic
Brochure – Hungarian
Brochure – Italian
Brochure – Latvian
Brochure – Lithaunian
Brochure – Maltese
Brochure – Dutch
Brochure -Polish
Brochure – Portuguese
Brochure – Romanian
Brochure – Slovak
Brochure – Slovenian
Brochure – Swedish}

^{The EJN Brochure – Other languages}

^{Brochure – Albanian
Brochure – Arabic
Brochure – Bosnian
Brochure – Icelandic
Brochure – Macedonian (FYROM)
Brochure – Montenegrin
Brochure – Norwegian
Brochure – Russian
Brochure – Serbian}

^{MAJOR PROJECTS}

^{Projects carried out in 2016 and planned for 2017}

^{Website development}

^{In 2016, two were the major projects related to further development of the website: the new Compendium and the revision of the Fiches belges.}

^{The development of the Compendium started in February 2016 and by mid-July the tool was online. The new Compendium facilitates the drafting of all types of request of/decisions on judicial cooperation in criminal matters, comparing the previous versions which enabled only the drafting of an MLA request and of an EAW. Thus, since July 2016, in addition to mutual legal assistance and European arrest warrant, the Compendium is available also for the certificates/orders provided for in the framework decisions on mutual recognition of financial penalties, freezing orders, confiscation orders, custodial sentences, probation decisions, supervisions measures, as well as in the directive on the European Protection Order. The new Compendium is also “EIO ready”. The form of the European Investigation Order is already in the back-office and it will be enabled once the directive 2014/41/EU is transposed in the Member States’ legislations.} 

^{The new Compendium is much more user-friendly than the previous versions, and contains several features, such as the translation of the static parts of the forms, the possibility to import from the Judicial Atlas the details of the executing authorities, the option to upload the logo and stamp of the requesting/issuing authorities.}

^{An in-depth revision of the Fiches belges was needed in order to adapt this tool to the latest legislative developments at EU and national level in the area of judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Thus, a revised set of questions was approved by the Tool Correspondents on the basis of a proposal from the EJN Secretariat and the Tool Correspondents/National Correspondents from the Member States provided updated information for all measures, including those related to mutual  recognition legal instruments. As of mid-July 2016, the revised Fiches belges are online for 24 of the 28 Member States. The EJN Secretariat is working closely with the remaining 4 Member States and with Norway for the update of the information concerning these countries.}

^{Apart from the Compendium and the Fiches belges, in 2016 the EJN Secretariat developed a section of the website dedicated to the Cooperation with third countries and judicial networks and updated and restructured the Info about national systems section of the website. Moreover, a proposal for restructuring the Judicial Library, to be implemented in 2017, has been submitted to the contractor.}

^{IPA 2014 Project “International Cooperation in Criminal Justice: the Prosecutor’s Network of the Western Balkans”}

^{The European Judicial Network (EJN) has continued to participate as an associated partner in the IPA 2014 Project “International Cooperation in Criminal Justice: the Prosecutor’s Network of the Western Balkans (WBPN). The beneficiary countries for the project are: Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Montenegro and Serbia.}

 ^{The overall objective of the project is to prevent and combat serious and cross-border organised crime and linked corruption cases with cross-border implications, as well as to dismantle criminal organisations involved in illicit trafficking destined to the EU, in particular trafficking in firearms, drugs and human beings.}

^{The specific objectives are:}

1. ^{to strengthen the operational capacity and capabilities of the Prosecutors’ Offices in the beneficiary countries to prosecute and investigate serious and cross-border organised crime;}

2. ^{to prepare the beneficiary countries for gradually applying the main provisions of the European Arrest Warrant.}

 ^{The activities of the project are divided in three components:}

1. ^{Supporting investigations and prosecutions in serious and cross-border organised crimes}

2. ^{Strengthening of the institutional capacities, as well as coordination and cooperation mechanisms among the beneficiary countries to effectively prosecute and investigate serious and cross-border organised crimes, linked cases of illicit trafficking destined to the EU;}

3. ^{Increasing judicial cooperation between the WBPN and the relevant European bodies and structures like Eurojust, the EJN and Europol.}

^{As an associated partner, the EJN Secretariat is part of the steering committee of the project and provides input based on the experience of the European Judicial Network in networking in the fight against serious crimes.}

^{Contact points of the WBPN have attended the 46th plenary meeting of the EJN, under the Netherlands Presidency, on 8-9 June 2016, and a joint workshop has been organised. The EJN supported the IPA 2014 Project with advice on the further developments related to the setting up of the WBPN and its website. Thus, a meeting with the tool correspondents of the WBPN has been hosted by the EJN Secretariat, in The Hague, on 27 September 2016.}

^{Projects in cooperation with the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN)}

^{On the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding between the EJN and EJTN signed in June 2014 and following the meetings between the secretariats of EJN and EJTN,  the two networks have continued their close cooperation in 2016.}

^{Thus, EJN Contact points from the host Member States have delivered presentation on the role of the EJN in fostering the judicial cooperation in criminal matters in 4 seminars “MLA and EAW simulations” organised by the EJTN in 2016 in Thessaloniki, Madrid, Riga and Lublin. The activity will continue in the same manner in 2017, for other 4 seminars to be organised as follows:}

• ^{CR/2017/01 Cybercrime and International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters: EAW and MLA Simulations, 22-24 February 2017, Paris (FR): Contribution from an EJN contact-point in France;}
• ^{CR/2017/03 Migrant Smuggling and International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters: EAW and MLA Simulations, 26-28 April 2017, Thessaloniki (GR): Contribution from an EJN contact-point in Greece;}
• ^{CR/2017/06 Migrant Smuggling and International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters: EAW and MLA Simulations, 13-15 September 2017, Scandicci (IT): Contribution from an EJN contact-point in Italy;}
• ^{CR/2017/08 Counter-terrorism and International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters: EAW and MLA Simulations, 14-16 November 2017, Madrid (ES): Contribution from an EJN
  contact-point in Spain.}

^{In 2016, the EJN has also cooperated with the EJTN for the language training provided to the EJN Contact Points. Thus, 11 EJN Contact Pints have participated in the EJTN’s language training session organised in Luxembourg on 4-8 July 2016.}

^{The EJN Secretariat contributed to the development of the EJTN’s curricula, within the EJTN’s Contact points meeting held in Brussels on 30 March 2016.}

^{_{Public Opinions International}}

^{_{Organisation for International Friends of Africa (OIFA)}}

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