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The European Police Office, commonly abbreviated Europol, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU) that handles criminal intelligence and combating serious international organised crime by means of cooperation between the relevant authorities of the member states, including those tasked with customs, immigration services, border and financial police etc. Headquartered in The Hague, the agency has 912 staff, of which there are regular police officers and 185 liaison officers 〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Staff Statistics )〕 as well as personnel seconded from national law enforcement organisations. The agency has no executive powers, and its officials are not entitled to conduct investigations in the member states or to arrest suspects. In providing support, Europol with its toolsinformation exchange, intelligence analysis, expertise and trainingcan contribute to the executive measures carried out by the relevant national authorities. ==History== Europol has its origins in TREVI, a forum for internal security cooperation amongst EEC/EC interior and justice ministers created in 1975 and active until the Maastricht Treaty came into effect in 1993. Germany, with its federal organisation of police forces, had long been in favour of a supranational police organisation at EC level. It tabled a surprise proposal to establish a European Police Office to the European Council meeting in Luxembourg in June 1991. By that December, the Intergovernmental Conference was coming to an end and the member states had pledged themselves to establishing Europol through Article K.1(9) of the Maastricht Treaty. Europol was given the modest role of establishing ‘a Union-wide system for exchanging information’ amongst EU police forces. Delays in ratifying the Maastricht Treaty led to TREVI ministers agreeing a "Ministerial Agreement on the Europol Drugs Unit" in June 1993. This intergovernmental agreement, outside of EU law, led to the establishment of a small team headed by Jürgen Storbeck, a senior German police officer who initially operated from some temporary cabins in a Strasbourg suburb (shared with personnel of the Schengen Information System) while more permanent arrangements were made. Once the Maastricht Treaty had come into effect, the slow process of negotiating and ratifying a Europol Convention began. In the meantime, the Europol Drugs Unit (EDU) had its powers extended twice, in March 1995 and again in December 1996 to included a range of trafficking offences in its remit. During this period, information amongst officers could only be exchanged bilaterally, with a central database to be established once the Europol Convention was ratified. The Europol Convention finally came into effect in October 1998 after ratification by all 15 EU national parliaments though some outstanding legal issues (primarily data protection supervision and judicial supervision) ensured it could not formally take up duties until July 1999.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Agreement details )〕 The Europol Convention was superseded by the Council Decision of 6 April 2009 establishing the European Police Office (Europol), converting Europol into a formal EU agency as well as increasing some of its powers. The European Parliament was given more control over Europol by the Council Decision as well. The establishment of Europol was agreed to in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, officially known as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) that came into effect in November 1993. The agency started limited operations on 3 January 1994, as the Europol Drugs Unit (EDU). The Europol Convention was signed on 26 July 1995, and came into force in October 1998 after being ratified by all the member states.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Convention drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of Treaty on European Union, on the establishment of a European Police Office (Europol Convention) )〕 Europol commenced its full activities on 1 July 1999. Europol came under the EU's competence with the Lisbon Treaty,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Europol (European Police Office) )〕 and the Convention was replaced by a Council Decision in 2009. It was reformed as a full EU agency on 1 January 2010. This gave Europol increased powers to collect criminal information and European Parliament more control over Europol activities and budget. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Europol」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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