Article 38  |  Registration of information

– as amended by College Decision 026/2022 effective 30 August 2022

1. All information received by the EPPO in accordance with Article 24 of the Regulation, as well as acquired by the EPPO ex officio which refers to any criminal conduct in respect of which the EPPO may exercise its competence shall be registered in the register kept in accordance with Article 44(4)(a) of the Regulation (hereinafter the Register).

2. The registration shall include the date, time and place of receipt of the information, and the person opening the registration file. It shall further include the following details:

a) the source of the information, including the identity and contact details of the organisation or person who has provided it, unless applicable rules regarding the protection of informers and whistle-blowers are applicable and provide otherwise;

b) the format of the information, including reference to any document or other item, which cannot be stored in original in the Case Management System;

c) whether the file is opened with a view to initiating or evoking an investigation;

3. The registration should also contain, to the extent available:

a) the possible legal qualification of the reported criminal conduct, including if it was committed by an organised group;

b) a short description of the reported criminal conduct, including the date when it was committed;

c) the amount and nature of the estimated damage;

d) the Member State(s) where the focus of the criminal activity is, respectively where the bulk of the offenses, if several, was committed;

e) other Member States that may be involved;

f) the names of the potential suspects and any other involved persons in line with Article 24(4) of the Regulation, their date and place of birth, identification numbers, habitual residence and / or nationality, their occupation, suspected membership of a criminal organisation;

g) whether privileges or immunities may apply;

h) the potential victims (other than the European Union); 

i) the place where the main financial damage has occurred; 

j) inextricably linked offences; 

k) any other additional information, if deemed appropriate by the inserter.

4. To the extent possible, the document containing the information and all the items attached to it shall be converted in an electronically storable format within the Case Management System.

5. Based on the content of paragraph 3(d) above, the Case Management System shall notify the appropriate European Prosecutor(s). Additionally, where the assessment of paragraph 3(g) is positive, the Case Management System shall notify the European Chief Prosecutor.

6. Where the information contains special categories of personal data as defined in Article 55 of the Regulation, these may be only processed if the requirements set out in Article 55 of the Regulation are met. The special categories of personal data shall be marked as such in the Case Management System, and the grounds for their storage noted. The Case Management System shall notify the Data Protection Officer of any such registration.

7. In deviation from paragraph 1, information reported by private parties that manifestly does not refer to a criminal conduct in respect of which the EPPO may exercise its competence shall be referred by a European Delegated Prosecutor or a European Prosecutor to the competent national authorities without undue delay, in line with Article 24(8) of the Regulation or returned to the reporting party and / or deleted. An appropriate log shall be kept. In case of referral, the private parties shall be informed thereof by a European Delegated Prosecutor or a European Prosecutor, in accordance with applicable national law.

Article 39  |  Assignment for verification 

– as amended by College Decision 085/2021 and by College Decision 026/2022 effective 30 August 2022

1. All information registered according to Article 38(1) of these rules shall be subject to verification by a European Delegated Prosecutor or by the European Prosecutor concerned for the purpose of assessing whether there are grounds to exercise the competence of the EPPO.

2. Following the notification from the Case Management System in accordance with Article 38(5), the European Prosecutor shall assign the verification to a European Delegated Prosecutor. The European Prosecutor may undertake the verification personally in the situations referred to in Article 28(4) of the Regulation. The process for assigning the verification shall be determined by the European Prosecutor, which may include a rule based allocation, including for cases where the information was obtained ex officio by a European Delegated Prosecutor.

3. Where multiple European Prosecutors have been notified, or the notified European Prosecutor considers that another European Prosecutor is better placed to make the assignment, they shall consult and decide together. In case no agreement is reached, the European Chief Prosecutor shall make a decision.

4. If the information has been received by the EPPO in accordance with Article 24(2) of the Regulation, it shall be assigned for verification within 24 hours of registration. All other information shall be assigned for verification within 3 days of registration.

5. If the European Prosecutor does not assign the case in the prescribed time limit, or he/she informs his/her inability to do so within the foreseen time limit, the assignment shall be done by the European Chief Prosecutor or by a Deputy European Chief Prosecutor.

Article 40  |  Verification of information 

– as amended by College Decision 085/2021 and by College Decision 026/2022 effective 30 August 2022

1. The verification for the purpose of initiating an investigation shall assess whether:

a) the reported conduct constitutes a criminal offence falling under the material, territorial, personal and temporal competence of the EPPO;

b) there are reasonable grounds under the applicable national law to believe that an offence is being or has been committed;

c) there are obvious legal grounds that bar prosecution;

d) where applicable, the conditions prescribed by Article 25(2), (3) and (4) of the Regulation are met.

2. The verification for the purpose of evocation shall additionally assess:

a) the maturity of the investigation;

b) the relevance of the investigation with regard to ensuring the coherence of the EPPO’s investigation and prosecution policy;

c) the cross-border aspects of the investigation;

d) the existence of any other specific reason, which suggests that the EPPO is better placed to continue the investigation.

3. The verification shall be carried out using all sources of information available to the EPPO as well as any sources available to the European Prosecutor or to the European Delegated Prosecutor concerned, in accordance with applicable national law, including those otherwise available to him/her if acting in a national capacity. The European Prosecutor or the European Delegated Prosecutor respectively may make use of the staff of the EPPO for the purpose of the verification. Where appropriate, the EPPO may consult and exchange information with Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, as well as national authorities, subject to the protection of the integrity of a possible future criminal investigation.

Where appropriate and before being finalised, verifications may be merged following the procedure foreseen by Article 51 and 51bis.

4. The European Delegated Prosecutor or, as the case may be, the European Prosecutor, shall finalise the verification related to the evocation of an investigation at least 2 days before the expiration of the deadline prescribed by Article 27(1) of the Regulation. The verification related to initiating an investigation shall be finalised no later than 60 days following the assignment.

5. In cases where the task of verification is assigned to an European Delegated Prosecutor, if the European Delegated Prosecutor does not finalise the verification on whether or not to initiate an investigation within the prescribed time limit, or he/she informs their inability to do so within the foreseen time limit, the European Prosecutor shall be informed and where deemed appropriate extend the time available or issue an appropriate instruction to the European Delegated Prosecutor.

6. Where it concerns a decision on evocation, the European Delegated Prosecutor or, as the case may be, the Chair of the Permanent Chamber or the European Prosecutor, may ask the European Chief Prosecutor to extend the time limit needed to adopt a decision on evocation by up to 5 days. Where the European Prosecutor or the European Delegated Prosecutor concerned does not issue a decision within the time limit, it shall be treated as a consideration not to evoke a case, and Article 42 shall be applied accordingly.

7. When the verification is carried out by a European Prosecutor, upon a preliminary assessment of the information for the purpose of Articles 26, 27 and 28(4) of the Regulation, the European Prosecutor shall, as a rule, assign the case within 24 hours to a European Delegated Prosecutor to proceed in accordance with Articles 41 or 42 of these rules.

In the situations where the European Prosecutor believes that the conditions provided for in Article 28(4) of the Regulation are met, he/she shall proceed without undue delay pursuant to Article 52 paragraphs (1) and (2) of these rules. In such situations, if the European Prosecutor obtained the approval of the competent Permanent Chamber to conduct himself/herself the investigation, he/she shall take a reasoned decision to initiate the investigation or evoke the case personally and open a case file pursuant to Article 41(1) of these rules. If the approval is not granted, the supervising European Prosecutor shall assign without undue delay the case to a European Delegated Prosecutor.