JOINT INVESTIGATION TEAMS (EU MEMBER STATES) REGULATIONS

JOINT INVESTIGAT IO N TEAMS (EU ME MBER STATES)

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 9.18

JOINT INVESTIGATION TEAMS

(EU MEMBER STATES) REGULATIONS

29th May, 2012

LEGAL NOTICE 187 of 2012, as amended by Legal Notice 258 of 2023.

The title of these regulations is the Joint Investigation

Teams (EU Member States) Regulations.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires

"the Convention" means the Convention established by the

Council in accordance with Article 34 of the Treaty on European

Union, on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the

Member States of the European Union;

"member" shall include prosecutors and law enforcement

officials;

"seconded member" means a member of the joint investigation

team from Member States other than the Member State in which the

team operate;

"the European Union" means the European Union as referred to

in the Treaty;

"the Treaty" shall have the same meaning assigned to it by article

2 of the European Union Act.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, it

shall be lawful for the Attorney General to authorise the setting up

of a joint investigation team to carry out investigations into

criminal offences in one or more of the Member States setting up

the team in terms of the Convention.

(2) The joint investigation team, the composition of which

shall be set out in the agreement setting it up, shall be set up for a

specific purpose and a limited period, which may be extended by

mutual consent, to carry out criminal investigations in one or more

of the Member States setting up the team.

(3) Seconded members of the joint investigation team shall be

entitled to be present when investigative measures are taken in the

Member State of operation.

(4) Seconded members of the joint investigation team may, in

accordance with the law of the Member State where the team

operates, be entrusted by the leader of the team with the task of

taking certain investigative measures where this has been approved

by the competent authorities of the Member State of operation and

the seconding Member State.

(5) Where the joint investigation team needs investigative

measures to be taken in a Member State setting up the team,

members seconded to the team by that Member State may request

their own competent authorities to take those measures and those

JOINT INVESTIGATION TEAMS (E U MEMB ER STAT ES)

measures shall be considered, in that Member State, under the

conditions which would apply if they were requested in a national

investigation.

(6) Where the joint investigation team needs assistance from a

Member State other than those which have set up the team, or from

a third State, the request for assistance may be made by the

competent authorities of the State of operations to the competent

authorities of the other State concerned in accordance with the

relevant instruments or arrangements.

(7) A member of the joint investigation team may, in

accordance with his national law and within the limits of his

competence, provide the team with information available in the

Member State which has seconded him for the purpose of the

criminal investigations conducted by the team.

(8) Information lawfully obtained by a member or seconded

member while part of a joint investigation team which is not

otherwise available to the competent authorities of the Member

States concerned may be used for the following purposes

(a) for the purposes for which the team has been set up;

(b) subject to the prior consent of the Member State where

the information became available, for detecting,

investigating and prosecuting other criminal offences;

(c) for preventing an immediate and serious threat to

public security and, without prejudice to the

provisions of paragraph (b), if subsequently a criminal

investigation is opened;

(d) for other purposes to the extent that this is agreed

between Member States setting up the team

Provided that the processing of any personal data for the

purposes referred to in paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) shall be carried

out in accordance with the Data Protection (Processing of Personal

Data by Competent Authorities for the Purposes of the Prevention,

Investigation, Detection or Prosecution of Criminal Offences or the

Execution of Criminal Penalties) Regulations.