Extension of the timeframe for the establishment of the Eurojust case management system

PURPOSE: to amend the Eurojust Regulation to ensure that the use of Eurojust's 'old' Case Management System (CMS) remains lawful until the 'new' CMS is fully operational and the relevant data has been transferred to it.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: The European Parliament acts in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) and sets out its tasks, competence and functions.

To store all operational personal data securely, Eurojust established a case management system composed of temporary work files and an index. Through the case management system, national members of Eurojust exchange all case related information securely and in full compliance with the data protection rules.

On the basis of amending Regulation (EU) 2023/2131, Eurojust is working on the implementation of a new Case Management System (CMS). The deadline for setting up the new case management system is 1 December 2025.

Due to delays in the development by the external contractor and the long period the migration of data will require, Eurojust will not be able to set-up the ‘new’ CMS and to migrate all operational data from the ‘old’ to the ‘new’ CMS within the legal deadline. The overall objective is to ensure the continued legality of data processing at Eurojust by extending the legal deadline for the set-up of the ‘new’ CMS.

CONTENT: the proposed amendment extends the statutory deadline set out in Article 80(9) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 for maintaining the ‘old’ CMS and the establishment of the ‘new’ CMS from 1 December 2025 to 1 December 2027. This change will give Eurojust two additional years to ensure a successful transition to the ‘new’ case management system.

In concrete terms, Eurojust may continue to use the case management system composed of temporary work files and an index until 1 December 2027, unless the new case management system is already in place, and the migration of the data from the case management system composed of temporary work files and an index, and verification of their accuracy have been completed before.