EUROPEAN JUDICIAL NETWORK (EJN)

AUTOR : SECRETARIADO GERAL DA UNIÃO EUROPÉIA
 
 
 
 

 Judicial cooperation in criminal matters has become, with the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty
 in November 1993, a matter of high priority for all Member States of the European Union and for the
 Council itself. Cooperation between Member States in the field of Justice and Home Affairs is carried
 out in the so-called Third Pillar of the European Union.

 The idea of creating an Area of freedom, security and justice in Europe becomes more and more an
 every day reality in the European Union, and the Council has adopted in recent years a number of
 important legal instruments which are either already implemented in the Member States or where their
 implementation in national legislation is well under way. Many new projects are also under preparation
 in the different working groups of the Council.

 The entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, on 1 May 1999, will strengthen this development
 further.

 The European Council adopted in 1997 an Action Plan to combat organised crime, which was prepared
 by a High Level Group of experts from the Member States. Several of the recommendations of this
 Action Plan aim at improving the standards of co-operation between judicial authorities in criminal
 matters. On the basis of this Action Plan, and amongst other measures, the Council adopted on 29
 June 1998 a Joint Action on the creation of a European Judicial Network. This Network was officially
 inaugurated on 25 September 1998 by the Austrian Minister of Justice as holding the Presidency of the
 Council of the European Union. The Network will meet regularly and be active as intermediaries with
 the task of facilitating judicial cooperation between Member States, and provide legal and practical
 information on mutual legal assistance to practitioners in their own countries and abroad, and,
 generally, improve coordination of judicial cooperation between Member States. Its work will be carried
 out by contact points, identified by each Member State.

 To facilitate the work of the contact points of the European Judicial Network, but also of all
 practitioners involved in mutual legal assistance, the General Secretariat of the Council, which is
 responsible for the administration of the Network, has prepared this first website as a practical tool. It
 contains a number of relevant legal instruments applicable in this field in the European Union. These
 instruments have been adopted by the Council itself but also by other fora such as the United Nations,
 the Council of Europe and the OECD. The information will be regularly updated.

 The General Secretariat of the Council is aware that practitioners working in the field of judicial
 cooperation in criminal matters have more and more diffuculties in keeping an overview of all relevant
 applicable international intruments in a specific case. I therefore sincerely hope that this new tool will
 help them in their every day work, and that it will be one step more towards realising for our citizens
 throughout the Union an Area of freedom, security and justice.
 
 

 For all information or comments concerning this website you can contact :
 
 

 By mail :

 General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union

 DG H - Justice and Home Affairs

 175 rue de la Loi - Wetstraat 175

 1048 Brussels - Belgium

 By e-mail :

 richard.gerding@consilium.eu.int

 Secretariat :

 renata.schiavone@consilium.eu.int

 By fax :

 Mr Richard Gerding : +32.2.285.79.63

 Ms Renata Schiavone : +32.2.285.79.63

 By phone :

 Mr Richard Gerding : +32.2.285.89.03

 Ms Renata Schiavone : +32.2.285.89.14
 
 

FONTE : http://ue.eu.int/ejn/indexfr.htm