CEPOL becomes the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training

On 1 July 2016, CEPOL’s new regulation entered into application. CEPOL is now the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training.

What impact will that decision have on CEPOL?

The new legal basis presents several key features:

• The agency becomes the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training, while the acronym remains the same - CEPOL.
• A wider target group of “law enforcement officials” is now identified as the community CEPOL should serve.
• CEPOL is given a coordination and implementation role, and is mandated to address the European dimension of serious and organised crime, terrorism, public order, and CSDP preparedness.
• The CEPOL Secretariat disappears and its staffs become the staff of the agency.
• The current Governing Board becomes a Management Board (with the European Commission as voting member), gaining powers of Appointing Authority and further competences in determining CEPOL’s internal organisation.
• The Director is now Executive Director.
• The role of the Executive Director is reinforced by granting him the responsibility to make proposals to the Management Board, and implement both the budget and the work programme(s).
• The appointment mechanism of the Executive Director is also modified to include the European Commission.
• CEPOL National Contact Points (NCPs) become CEPOL National Units (CNUs).
• An 18-months Chairmanship of the European Council presidency is established.
• CEPOL is a fully fledged EU agency in terms of legal construction, tasked inter alia to bring together a network of law enforcement training institutes.
• A number of new tasks have been attributed to the agency, such as those related to assessing EU initiatives in defined fields, building the capacity of third countries, providing multiannual Strategic Training Needs Assessments, and the promotion of mutual recognition of training among EU Member States.
• The width of CEPOL’s remit in the area of research relevant for training and external relations has been extended.
• CEPOL shall establish a Scientific Committee for Training.
• CEPOL assumes a leading role in the setting up of the Law Enforcement Training Scheme (LETS).

Responsibility-sharing, mutual trust and effective cooperation between all actors involved are the key to the success of the tools the EU has put in place in recent years. CEPOL’s new mandate ensures that the agency supports and enforces the five key principles underpinning the European Agenda on Security: 1) Ensure full compliance with fundamental rights; 2) Increase transparency, accountability and democratic control to give citizens confidence; 3) Ensure better application and implementation of existing EU legal instruments; 4) Foster a more joined-up inter-agency and a cross-sectorial approach; 5) Bring together all internal and external dimension of security.