On 9 December 2020, along with its counter-terrorism agenda, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation to reinforce the mandate of Europol, the EU law enforcement cooperation agency.
The proposed regulation principally aims at rendering Europol’s cooperation with private parties more effective; at responding to the agency’s ‘big data challenge’, by providing a legal basis for processing large and complex datasets, including personal data of data subjects not related to a crime; and at providing a reinforced role for Europol in relation to research and innovation for law enforcement.
The legislative proposal, which would amend the existing Europol Regulation (EU) 2016/794, is also linked to another legislative proposal to modify Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 on the Schengen Information System (SIS), to allow Europol to issue alerts in SIS under a new category.
Discussions in the Council started in January 2021. In the European Parliament, a draft report was discussed in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs at the end of May 2021. First edition. The ‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefings are updated at key stages throughout the legislative procedure.
Source : © European Union, 2021 – EP
Source: Briefing – Strengthening Europol’s mandate – 03-06-2021