Article 14

Where this is necessary for the performance of its tasks, Europol may store, modify, and use data concerning criminal offences in respect of which it is competent, including data on the related criminal offences referred to in Article 4(3), in analysis work files. The analysis work files may contain data on the following categories of persons: persons as referred to in Article 12(1); persons who might be called on to testify in investigations in connection with the offences under consideration or in subsequent criminal proceedings; persons who have been the victims of one of the offences under consideration or with regard to whom certain facts give reason to believe that they could be the victims of such an offence; contacts and associates; and persons who can provide information on the criminal offences under consideration. The processing of personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or trade-union membership and the processing of data concerning health or sex life shall not be permitted unless strictly necessary for the purposes of the file concerned and unless such data supplement other personal data already input in that file. The selection of a particular group of persons solely on the basis of the abovementioned sensitive data, in breach of the aforementioned rules with regard to purpose, shall be prohibited. The Council, acting by qualified majority after consulting the European Parliament, shall adopt implementing rules for analysis work files prepared by the Management Board, which shall previously have obtained the opinion of the Joint Supervisory Body, containing additional details, in particular with regard to the categories of personal data referred to in this Article, to the security of the data concerned and to the internal supervision of their use. Analysis work files shall be opened for the purposes of analysis defined as the assembly, processing or use of data with the aim of assisting criminal investigations. Each analysis project shall entail the establishment of an analysis group closely associating the following participants: analysts and other Europol staff designated by the Director; liaison officers and/or experts from the Member States supplying the information or concerned by the analysis within the meaning of paragraph 4. Only analysts shall be authorised to input data into the file concerned and modify such data. All participants in the analysis group may retrieve data from the file. At the request of Europol or on their own initiative, national units shall, subject to Article 8(5), communicate to Europol all the information which it may require for the purpose of a particular analysis work file. Member States shall communicate such data only where processing thereof for the purposes of preventing, analysing or combating offences is also authorised by their national law. Depending on their degree of urgency, data from designated competent authorities may be routed directly to the analysis work file in accordance with Article 8(2). If an analysis is of a general nature and of a strategic type, all Member States, through liaison officers and/or experts, shall be fully associated in the findings thereof, in particular through the communication of reports drawn up by Europol. If the analysis bears on specific cases not concerning all Member States and has a direct operational aim, representatives of the following Member States shall participate therein: Member States which were the source of the information giving rise to the decision to open the analysis work file, or those which are directly concerned by that information, and Member States subsequently invited by the analysis group to take part in the analysis because they are also becoming concerned; Member States which learn from consulting the index function referred to in Article 15 that they need to be informed and assert that need to know under the conditions laid down in paragraph 5 of this Article. The need to be informed may be claimed by authorised liaison officers. Each Member State shall nominate and authorise a limited number of such liaison officers. A liaison officer shall claim the need to be informed as provided for in point (b) of the second subparagraph of paragraph 4 by means of a written reasoned statement approved by the authority to which he is subordinate in his Member State and forwarded to all the participants in the analysis. He shall then be associated automatically in the analysis in progress. If an objection is raised in the analysis group, automatic association shall be deferred until the completion of a conciliation procedure, which shall comprise three stages as follows: the participants in the analysis shall endeavour to reach agreement with the liaison officer claiming the need to be informed. They shall have no more than eight days for that purpose; if no agreement is reached, the heads of the national units concerned and the Director shall meet within three days and try to reach agreement; if the disagreement persists, the representatives of the parties concerned on the Management Board shall meet within eight days. If the Member State concerned does not waive its need to be informed, association of that Member State shall be decided on by consensus. The Member State communicating an item of data to Europol shall be the sole judge of the degree of its sensitivity and variations thereof and shall be entitled to determine the conditions for the handling of the data. Any dissemination or operational use of data communicated shall be decided on by the Member State that communicated the data to Europol. If it cannot be determined which Member State communicated the data to Europol, the decision on dissemination or operational use of data shall be taken by the participants in the analysis. A Member State or an associated expert joining an analysis in progress may not, in particular, disseminate or use the data without the prior agreement of the Member States initially concerned. By way of derogation from paragraph 6, in cases in which Europol finds, after the time of inclusion of data in an analysis work file, that those data relate to a person or object on which data submitted by another Member State or third party were already input in the file, the Member State or third party concerned shall be informed immediately of the link identified, in accordance with Article 17. Europol may invite experts from the entities referred to in Articles 22(1) or 23(1) to be associated with the activities of an analysis group, where: an agreement or working arrangement such as referred to in Articles 22(2) and 23(2) which contains appropriate provisions on the exchange of information, including the transmission of personal data, and on the confidentiality of exchanged information, is in force between Europol and the entity concerned; the association of the experts from the entity is in the interest of the Member States; the entity is directly concerned by the analysis work; and all participants agree on the association of the experts from the entity with the activities of the analysis group. Under the conditions laid down in points (b), (c) and (d) of the first subparagraph, Europol shall invite experts of the European Anti-Fraud Office to be associated with the activities of the analysis group if the analysis project concerns fraud or any other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the European Communities. The association of experts from an entity with the activities of an analysis group shall be subject to an arrangement between Europol and the entity. The rules governing such arrangements shall be determined by the Management Board. Details of the arrangements between Europol and entities shall be sent to the Joint Supervisory Body, which may address any comments it deems necessary to the Management Board.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-01 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.