Functions of contact points

Contact Points

The contact points shall be active intermediaries with the task of facilitating judicial cooperation between Member States, particularly in actions to combat forms of serious crime. They shall be available to enable local judicial authorities and other competent authorities in their own Member State, contact points in the other Member States and local judicial and other competent authorities in the other Member States to establish the most appropriate direct contacts.

They may if necessary travel to meet other Member States contact points, on the basis of an agreement between the administrations concerned.

The contact points shall provide the local judicial authorities in their own Member State, the contact points in the other Member States and the local judicial authorities in the other Member States with the legal and practical information necessary to enable them to prepare an effective request for judicial cooperation or to improve judicial cooperation in general.

At their respective level the contact points shall be involved in and promote the organisation of training sessions on judicial cooperation for the benefit of the competent authorities of their Member State, where appropriate in cooperation with the European Judicial Training Network.

National Correspondent

The national correspondent, in addition to his tasks as a contact point referred to in above paragraphs under "Contact Points", shall in particular:

1. be responsible, in his Member State, for issues related to the internal functioning of the Network, including the coordination of requests for information and replies issued by the competent national authorities;
2. be the main person responsible for the contacts with the Secretariat of the European Judicial Network including the participation in the meetings referred to in Article 6;
3. where requested, give an opinion concerning the appointment of new contact points.

Tools Correspondent

The European Judicial Network tool correspondent, who may also be a contact point with tasks as referred to under "Contact Points", shall ensure that the information related to his Member State (Contact Points details, Fiches Belges, Atlas, Information on National System) and is provided and updated.