Europol Information System

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Europol Information System (EIS) is a database operated by the European Police Authority Europol in The Hague containing information for police work on criminal cases, persons involved or affected, means of transport related to the cases, communication and payments related to the cases, identity papers, Drugs , Firearms , Currencies, and Organizations. Most of the information is recorded automatically through interfaces . Authorized persons have access via the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA) from EUROPOL. In a report by the Council of Europe from January 2015, EIS is named as Europol's core application alongside the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA), the Europol Platform for Experts (EPE) and the Europol Analysis System (EAS).

Content

All EU member states deliver data to the EIS and at least sixteen member states do this through interfaces from their own data processing systems . The data in the EIS concern, according to EUROPOL in January 2016 about 20% of drug-related offenses, 26% of prey , 7% each illegal immigration and other crimes, 6% fraud and money laundering , and about 5% for counterfeiting . Referenceable data such as names , telephone numbers , vehicles or weapons, i.e. data for a data fusion through which information from different sources can be linked with one another, make up a significant part of the input . According to EUROPOL, this was accompanied by an intensification of data work, queries and data comparisons.

Specialists at EUROPOL and employees of the national Europol members have access to the data. In addition, “competent national members” are granted direct access to the data. Other police units can request access to data through the EUROPOL Operational Center. Data in the EIS may be stored for a maximum of three years. They must then be checked and, if confirmed, can remain for another three years.

functionality

With EIS, an authorized user can determine whether information is available on a data object. If so, he can merge this information into an Analysis Work File (AWF). Automatic processes inform him when related data changes or when further data on the data object becomes available. Like the data in the EIS, AWF must be checked after three years at the latest and deleted if they are no longer up-to-date.

Political background

The establishment of the EIS was decided by the Council decision of 6 April 2009 to establish the European Police Office (Europol, 2009/371 / JHA) in Article 11. The intensification of police cooperation was decided during the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (1st half of 2012). In the document produced there, the following decisions were made:

  • all relevant state police authorities have access to the EIS
  • Establishment of technical equipment through which certain data contents are fed, with which automatic searches with up to 400 search criteria are possible.
  • Intensification of EIS in ongoing investigations.

Technical background

The development of EIS was carried out by a department within EUROPOL. The system is also hosted at EUROPOL's headquarters in The Hague . The system enables individual information (telephone numbers, vehicle, etc.) to be linked to cases so that criminal cases are mapped. In the version published in 2013, DNS traces and data on cybercrime can also be recorded.

EUROPOL claims to have a "robust" data security . As an example, EUROPOL cites “handling codes”, through which only appropriately authorized persons are allowed to make queries. The data security level is determined by the user. Only persons with a corresponding data security level can access the respective data records. If a query hits data whose security level is too high, the hit is displayed, but no content. The owner of the data is informed and can contact the inquirer if necessary.

In the EIS Leaflet 2013 it is stated as a future development that it should be possible to query EIS data using the search options of the national systems. The query in the EIS should be carried out automatically if corresponding queries are made in the national system. The use of the Universal Message Format (UMF) was agreed to achieve this goal .

Right to information

Every citizen of Europe has the right to view the data stored about him in the EIS. For this purpose, an application must be made to the local police authority in the home town. The authority forwards the request to Europol. Europol will reply immediately. In addition, confirmation of the stored, collected or processed information can be requested from the Europol Joint Supervisory Body.

history

The first version of EIS was put into operation in 2005. For several years the introduction was hampered and delayed by national self-interests.

After the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, it was agreed to link the data in EIS with the Schengen Information System II (SIS II). For this purpose, the SIS II data should be mirrored directly on the EUROPOL system , which requires an adaptation of the corresponding contracts. A connection with the European Visa Information System (VIS) and the European fingerprint file EURODAC is also planned within this framework. As a future development, stored passenger data are to be networked with EIS.

The Universal Message Format is being further developed under the leadership of the German Federal Criminal Police Office . The project planned until the end of 2017 is to partially automate the queries and convert data records into a uniform format, which is intended to simplify comparisons. In the EUROPOL environment it is referred to as QUEST (Querying Europol Systems). The ability to reference different data systems creates the possibility of data fusion , i.e. H. Profiles contain data from different systems and data sources.

criticism

The monitoring of technical developments and the data content by national parliaments or the EU parliament are very limited. In 2012 the discussion was still in its infancy and a control did not yet exist. Only the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) monitors EUROPOL as a whole. At the same time, the technical development was driven forward and the merger of data from the private sector ( e.g. ADAC members, Facebook , Schufa , etc.) was discussed.

On the other hand, it is discussed that the use of the system by the organizations of the member countries is only inadequate and that this increases the risk of terrorism , for example . According to the Danish press, Denmark carries out the most queries in the EIS with around 20% of all queries.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Memorandum by HM Revenue and Customs ; Report of the Select Committee on European Union Written Evidence of April 28, 2008 on Europol.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Europol Information System (EIS) ; Self-assessment by EUROPOL on its own website; Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  3. ↑ We know you - at least some of you on the website of the Second German Television, accessed on July 14, 2016.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o EIS - Europol Information System; Europol information flyer, EIS Leaflet 2013 ; Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ Europol Work Program 2015. Document 5250/15 of the Council of Europe of 16 January 2015, published on Statewatch . Retrieved March 17, 2018 .
  6. ^ Police College information sheet ; Europol Information System ; Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  7. ↑ Decision of the Council of 6 April 2009 to set up the European Police Office (Europol) on the website of the European Union.
  8. ↑ a b c d Europol Information System ( Memento of the original from March 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of Poliisi - Police of Finland; Retrieved April 26, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.poliisi.fi
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g Matthias Monroy (2016) Linking European "data pots": BKA and Europol are testing technical implementation ; on www.netzpolitik.org from March 29, 2016.
  10. ↑ a b c d Matthias Monroy (2012) The future of Europol: “Real missions, crime scene, raids and confiscations” of May 3, 2012; on the website of the German Bundestag member Andrej Hunko ( Die Linke ).
  11. ↑ Etienne Schneider presented the balance sheet of the Luxembourg Presidency in the area of ​​internal security to the LIBE committee of the European Parliament ; Press release from the Luxembourg government on the conclusion of the Luxembourg presidency.
  12. ↑ Christian W (2015) Denmark tops EU in use of Europol database on cphpost.dk from December 23, 2015.