Contents:
1. Report from Statewatch on Europol
2. Pro-Eurojust order Amsterdam police raid
3. Access to documents: EU arms export code finally released
4. UK telephone-tapping figures 1937-2000
5. Call for balanced response to terrorism
6. Italy: Moroccan G8 protestor expelled
7. News in brief


New report from Statewatch: “THE ACTIVITIES AND DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPOL - TOWARDS AN UNACCOUNTABLE "FBI" IN EUROPE”


EU governments signed the Europol Convention in July 1995. Four months later, Statewatch published the first publicly available draft of the text together with a detailed analysis to encourage open debate on the issues it raised. Six years later, this Convention is being rewritten to give Europol operational powers and a much wider remit and open debate needs as much encouragement as ever. A new report from Statewatch examines the key developments and critical issues.
Ben Hayes of Statewatch comments: “The vast extension of Europol’s mandate, the framework for joint investigation teams and the EU Convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters provides a logical and practical basis for the development of an informal and unaccountable “EU-FBI”. Few people should need reminding that all law enforcement agencies, even those in their infancy, must be democratically controlled and fully accountable to the courts”.
For contents and summary of key issues, and to obtain a copy,
see  http://www.statewatch.org/news/2002/feb/01eufbi.htm


PRO-EUROJUST ORGANISE AMSTERDAM POLICE RAID


On 17 January 2001, police in Amsterdam raided a legalised squat and arrested Juan Ramón Rodrìguez Fernández, wanted by the Spanish police in connection with the separatist Basque group ETA. Up to 200 Special criminal investigators and riot police entered the residential area at 3.30 a.m., searching all 14 appartments, and allegedly leaving a woman needing stitches after she was struck by a police baton. Several Spanish books, two mobile phones and a toy gun collection were confiscated by the police. Fernández was visiting Amsterdam on holiday.
The raid was organised by the provisional "Eurojust" EU prosecutions unit. "Pro-Eurojust" was created in December 2000 and will be located in the Hague when a Council Decision is rubber-stamped by ministers. Currently comprised of a prosecutor from each member state, the unit handled 170 cases within its first year. It is technically an EU Council working party with a mandate to facilitate cross-border investigations and prosecutions.
Activists in Holland suspect the raid was carried out in order to harass and discredit the squatters, whose premises had been referred to as a 'no-go area' for the police. Under the recently agreed European Arrest Warrant, which will enter force in 2004, the Dutch police would have been obliged to pick-up and hand over Juan.
Includes feature article from Statewatch bulletin on the background to Eurojust. See
 http://www.statewatch.org/news/2002/feb/02eurojust.htm


"COMMON CRITERIA TO BE APPLIED TO ARMS EXPORTS":
DOCUMENT FINALLY RELEASED TO HEIDI HAUTALA MEP AFTER
FIVE YEAR COURT BATTLE


In 1996 Heidi Hautala MEP (Green/EFA group) put a question to the Council of the European Union asking about the criteria on arms exports. In its answer, the Council referred to a report concerning the implementation of these criteria and Ms Hautala asked to see this report. The Council denied access, even after a formal application, compelling Heidi Hautala to take the matter to the Court of First Instance. This ruled in favour of Ms Hautala saying that the Council should at least have considered partial access. However, despite the Court ruling, a majority in the Council agreed that it should appeal against the decision.
On 6 December 2001 the Court of Justice rejected the Council's appeal and on 21 December the Council finally - five years after the initial request - released the document to Heidi Hautala.
The document is a report from the EU's Working Group on Conventional Arms Exports: "Common criteria to be applied to arms exports" (31.10.96): Full-text included, see
 http://www.statewatch.org/news/2002/jan/11hh.htm


TELEPHONE TAPPING AND MAIL-OPENING FIGURES 1937-2000


The total figure for warrants issued for telephone tapping and mail-opening in the year 2000 for England and Wales was 1,608. This represents a slight drop on the previous year (1,734) but the 2000 figures are the third highest total in peacetime. In Scotland the total figure was 292 warrants, the highest ever.
This Statewatch report includes a compilation of the figures for the number of warrants issued for telephone tapping and mail-opening issued by the Home Secretary for the period 1937-2000 in England and Wales; the warrants issued by the Secretary of State for Scotland between 1967-2000; and the number issued by the Foreign Secretary between 1980-1984. See
 http://www.statewatch.org/news/DOCS/Teltap1.htm


EU DATA PROTECTION WORKING PARTY CALLS FOR A
BALANCED RESPONSE TO TERRORISM


The EU's Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has issued a strongly worded report on data retention and the gathering of information on individuals, it says: "Measures against terrorism should not and need not reduce standards of protection of fundamental rights which characterise democratic societies"
The Opinion of the EU Working Party, adopted on 14 December, suggests that post 11 September measures being considered at the EU level and member-state level "cover more areas than just the fight against terrorism": "existing procedural measures legitimising the intrusion by public authorities into individuals' privacy are reinforced and new questionable measures are discussed or yet adopted. This concerns not only telephone tapping, but also other measures as the prior and generalised retention of telecommunication data by electronic communications services providers and operators, the adoption of measures enabling "real time" surveillance of citizens, the surrender of the dual criminality principle as a condition for the exchange of certain personal data concerning criminals, the sharing of personal data for different purposes as the fight against crime, immigration and Foreign Counterintelligence and the premature transfer of personal data to third countries. In particular such transfers can be especially dangerous if the recipient States do not offer sufficient data protection standards".
Includes full-text of report (pdf): Opinion on the need for a balanced approach in the fight against terrorism, see
 http://www.statewatch.org/news/2002/jan/10wp29.htm


ITALY: MOROCCAN G8 PROTESTOR EXPELLED


Reggane Bouchaib, a 31-year-old Moroccan legally resident in Italy since 1996, was expelled from the country on 9 January because of his arrest on 21 July in Genoa during the G8 summit for "resisting a public official" -he was released three days later and went about his normal life. He secured a work contract for an indefinite period with a firm in Brescia in 1999. What he did not know was that the Genoa police chief had issued an expulsion order against him, but Bouchaib was not informed of this fact and thus could not appeal against it.
Feature article including Bouchaib’s forthcoming appeal to the decision, analysis of the grounds for expulsion in Italian law, and the proposed Bossi-Fini amendment of the Italian immigration law. See
 http://www.statewatch.org/news/2002/jan/g8expulsion.html


NEWS IN BRIEF
 http://www.statewatch.org/news/Newsinbrief.htm


* Police and human rights training manual produced by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva - provides interesting yardsticks for police forces and their deployment outside the EU


* European Commission Consultation Paper: "Procedural safeguards for suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings


* New chair for European Parliament's Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights