EU: JHA Council12 March 1999
01 March 1999
Little was decided at the first Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) under the German Presidency. Europol's operational start was being delayed, discussions over the Eurodac Convention's Protocol were agreed then "frozen" and agreement on the draft Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in criminal matters held up (see feature).
Europol
The Europol Convention entered into force on 1 October 1998 but Europol cannot actually take up its activities until a number of other measures are in place. At the time of this meeting France and Italy still had to complete ratification of the "Protocol on the privileges and immunities of Europol officials". Also outstanding, by half the EU member states, was ratification of the bilateral Protocol on the privileges and immunities of national Liaison Officers and their families with the Netherlands (which hosts the Europol HQ in the Hague). The substantial outstanding issue were the draft Rules of procedure for the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) centring around a dispute between Germany and France over its legal form. Agreement was reached by the Body would be sui generis, neither a court nor a purely administrative body.
EURODAC
The draft Eurodac Convention and its Protocol have been "frozen" until the Commission puts forward a new legal instrument under the Amsterdam Treaty provisions. Under the draft Convention the fingerprints of all asylum seekers, over the age of 14 years old, will be taken and sent to the Central Unit to be set up within the Commission, to check whether they have previously applied for asylum and been rejected or removed from the EU.
The Protocol extends fingerprinting to "certain other aliens", namely "illegal immigrants", in two situations. First, those apprehended in an "irregular" border crossing and detained. These are to be sent to the Eurodac Central Unit and held for up to 2 years. Second, those found to be "illegally present" in member states will have their fingerprints sent to the Central Unit for checking but the data will not be stored.
Amsterdam
Apart from the Schengen acquis (see feature above) the main issues for the Council were two Conventions - the 1998 Convention on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgements in matrimonial matters ("Brussels II") and the 1997 Convention on the service of judicial and extra-judicial documents in civil or commercial matters - which have not yet been ratified by national parliaments in the member states. Under the Amsterdam Treaty "civil cooperation" moves from the "third pillar" to the "first pillar", from the Treaty on European Union (TEU) to the Treaty establishing the European Communities (TEC). The Commission now has put forward proposals on these two areas. However, one problem is that the Conventions were agreed by 15 EU member states but under the Amsterdam Treaty Denmark, Ireland and UK would not be legally bound unless they chose to be so. The decision was to proceed with the ratification process.
Visa Regulation
The meeting adopted a "Council Resolution determining the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders of the Member States". This replaces visa Regulation no 2317/95 which was rescinded by the Court of Justice. The list covers 77 states plus Taiwan and is the same as the 1995 one (except for geographical renaming eg: Hong Kong becoming part of China). The agreed text did not take on board the amendments proposed by the European Parliament in its opinion of 10 February 1999.