Influence of International
Organisations on the European Union:
The EU as an autonomous order?
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
Dietrich Neumann, Head of Legal Affairs,
Europol
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• How is Europol affected by norms, rules
and practices of other international
organisations?
– Legal dimension
– Practical dimension
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Legal dimension
– Europol has a comprehensive legal framework,
regulating, i.a., Europol’s possibility to cooperate with
International Organisations
• Int’l Organisations: not EU institutions, bodies and agencies
• Possibility to cooperate with Int’l Organisations and to
exchange personal data, provided that there is an adequate
data protection standard
• Int’l Organisations: Interpol, UNODC (United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime), WCO (World Customs Organisation)
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Legal dimension
– Adequate data protection standard
• Benchmark: Europol’s data protection standard (Art.27
Europol Decision)
– Principles of the Council of Europe Convention for the
Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of
Personal Data of 1981 ( (108 Convention)
– Recommendation No R (87) 15 of the Committee of Ministers
of the Council of Europe of 1987
– Implementing provisions of Europol Decision and Implementing
Acts (e.g. on Analysis Work Files)
• Required from Int’l Cooperation Partner
– Regulatory framework and administrative practice indicate a
level of data protection that is comparable with principles of
data protection as applied by Europol (at present: only Interpol)
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Legal dimension
– Adequate data protection standard
• Conclusion: while on one hand Europol applies
principles which have been determined by an Int’l
Organisation, it requires Int’l Organisations to
comply with these principles
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Legal dimension
– Human Rights
• Europol, being an EU body, is bound by TEU,
notably by
– Art.2 TEU, “respect of Human Rights”
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Legal dimension
– Human Rights
• Art.6(3) TEU, “Fundamental rights, as guaranteed by the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms and as they result from the
constitutional traditions common to the Member States, shall
constitute general principles of the Union’s law.”
– Art. 8 HRC, Right to respect for private and family life
– Art. 8(2) HRC: “No restrictions shall be placed on the exercise
of these rights other than such as are prescribed by law and
are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of
national security or public safety, […]. This article shall not
prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on the exercise of
these rights by members of the armed forces, of the police or of
the administration of the State.”
» Europol’s data protection framework
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Legal dimension
– Human Rights
• Art. 20(4) of Council Decision 2009/934/JHA: “[…]
information which has clearly been obtained by a
third State in obvious violation of human rights
shall not be processed.”
• Agreement clause which obliges cooperation
partners to comply with their obligations under
international law, especially human rights law.
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Legal dimension
– Human Rights
• Conclusion: direct influence of and reference to
law developed by Int’l Organisations, in this case
Council of Europe
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Legal dimension
– Vienna Convention
• Art. XII (2) of HQ agreement with Kingdom of the
Netherlands: “[…] the Director and the members of
the family[…] shall enjoy […] the privileges […]
granted in accordance with the Vienna Convention
on Diplomatic Relations [...].”
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Practical dimension
– Relationship between Europol and Interpol
• Interpol is no law-making organisation
• Interpol facilitates the cooperation between its members (188
member countries) and hosts data systems used to store
personal and non-personal data and makes it accessible to
members
• Europol has similar tasks, but
– Is service provider mainly to EU MS
– Hosts data systems with highly sensitive law enforcement data
that require comprehensive protection (data protection and data
security measures) according to recognised EU standards
– Comprehensively analyses the data with aim of direct
operational support
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Practical dimension
– Relationship between Europol and Interpol
• Influence of Interpol on Europol
– Complementarity instead of duplication
– Sharing of information according to joint (Europol’s)
standards – we cannot go beyond our legal framework
– operational cooperation in certain crime areas
Views from the inside: How the EU perceives the
Influence of (other) International Organizations
• Final conclusions:
– EU agencies implement operational aspects of EU policies (also
Europol)
– Their legal framework is based on EU Treaty and body of implementing
legislation
• Where the EU Treaty or implementing legislation has been influenced by
norms, rules and practices of Int’l Organisations, specifically CoE and UN,
this will be (directly and indirectly) reflected in the body of law which governs
the activities of the respective agency (Europol)
– Only few examples of direct application of norms and rules created by
Int’l Organisations in Europol’s work
– In its relations with Int’l Organisations Europol would determine these
norms and rules as common denominator for cooperation
– This reflects the general picture: EU as a whole may be changed by
norms and rules created by Int’l Organisations. These will be
incorporated in the EU body of law or reflected in the jurisprudence of
the ECJ and be applied by the “executive”agencies
– Rarely direct influence, but indirectly affected and changed.