§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations are referred to as representatives of other Treaty bodies under Article 1.12 of 12442/01, Council doc COPEN 56. 9 October 2001, Belgian Initiative on Joint Investigation Teams; and what(a) privileges and (b) immunities will be granted to these organisations. [22889]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthCouncil document 12442/01 COPEN 56, now document 14242/01 COPEN 71 (Council Framework Decision on joint investigation teams) of 28 November 2001, is a joint initiative of Belgium, France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Paragraph 12 of Article 1 of the Framework Decision provides that the two or more member states setting up a joint investigation team may enter into arrangements for persons other than the representatives of the competent authorities of these member states to take part in the activities of the team. These other persons may include, but are not limited to, officials of bodies set up pursuant to the Treaty on the European Union. Such bodies include Europol, OLAF which is the European Community's anti-fraud office and, when the relevant Council Decision comes into effect, Eurojust. The Government are still considering what privileges and immunities, if any, should be granted to persons who are not representatives of United Kingdom competent authorities.