§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for (i) the Convention of the European Police Office (Europol Convention), European Communities No. 12 (1995) CM 3050 and (ii) the Protocol to that Convention concerning Privileges and Immunities of its Organs and Staff, European Communities No. 12 (1997) CM 3767(a) which members of the European Union have ratified it and (b) when it came into force, and in respect of (ii) for what reasons privileges and immunities apply to its staff, members of its Management Board and Financial Committee, and its Financial Controller, when they have ceased serving in those capacities. [41233]
§ Mr. MichaelThe Europol Convention has been ratified in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It will enter into force on the first day of the month following the expiry of a three-month period after ratification by the final member state.
55WThe Protocol on Privileges and Immunities has been ratified in Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It will enter into force on the first day of the second month following ratification by the final member state.
Article 8 of the Protocol deals with the immunities which will apply to Europol staff and members of its organs
in respect of words spoken or written, and acts performed by them, in the exercise of their official functions".There may well be situations in which individuals would be obliged to fulfil such official functions (such as the giving of evidence in judicial proceedings) after they had ceased to serve in those capacities, and therefore the same Article goes on to provide that in those circumstances the immunities would still apply.