General information

The Joint Supervisory Body of Europol (hereinafter referred to as the JSB Europol) is an authority established on the basis of Article 34 of the Convention establishing the European Police Office (Europol) as a body which is competent for the issues of reviewing the activities of Europol in order to ensure that the rights of the individual are not violated by the storage, processing and utilisation of the data held by Europol. Simultaneously, the JSB Europol is the body competent for monitoring the permissibility of the transmission of data originating from Europol.

The JSB Europol is composed of not more than two members or representatives (where appropriate assisted by alternates) of each of the national supervisory bodies guaranteed to be independent and having the necessary abilities, and appointed for five years by each Member State. Each delegation has one voice. In the performance of their duties, the members of the JSB Europol are independent. The JSB Europol appoints a chairman from among its members.

The responsibilities of the JSB Europol comprise:

• examination of questions regarding provisions implementation and interpretation arising in connection with Europol's activities as regards the processing and use of personal data;
• examination of questions relating to checks carried out independently by the national supervisory bodies of the Member States or relating to the exercise of the right of access to data;
• drawing up harmonized proposals for common solutions to existing problems.

If the JSB Europol identifies any violations of the provisions of the Decision establishing the European Police Office in the storage, processing or use of personal data, it shall make any complaints it deems necessary to the Director and shall request him to reply within a specified time limit. The Director shall keep the Management Board informed of the entire procedure. If it is not satisfied with the response given by the Director to its request, the Joint Supervisory Body shall refer the matter to the Management Board.

For the fulfilment of its tasks and to contribute to the improvement of consistency in the application of the rules and procedures for data processing, the JSB Europol shall cooperate as necessary with other supervisory authorities.

The Joint Supervisory Body shall draw up activity reports at regular intervals. Such reports shall be forwarded to the European Parliament and to the Council. The Management Board shall have the opportunity to make comments, which shall be attached to the reports.

More information pertaining to the JSB Europol can be found at its website (http://europoljsb.consilium.europa.eu).

All queries regarding the work of the JSB Europol and rights granted by the Europol Convention may be forwarded to the Secretariat of the JSB:

Secretariat of the Europol Joint Supervisory Body
Rue de la Loi 175
B-1048 BRUSSELS
BELGIUM
http://europoljsb.consilium.europa.eu