Decision on the Permanent Chambers 2021/C 59/07

This Decision implements Article 15 of the Internal Rules of Procedure. It establishes the Permanent Chambers of the EPPO, defines their number, and sets rules on the division of competences among them and the allocation of cases.

1 Fifteen Permanent Chambers shall be established. They shall be designated by consecutive numbers from one to fifteen.

2 In application of Article 16(3) IRP, each European Prosecutor shall be assigned as a permanent member of one, two or three Permanent Chambers. The assignment to one or more Permanent Chambers shall take into consideration the estimated workload of the respective European Prosecutor and shall be determined on the basis of: a) the number of cases under his/her supervision and related tasks as foreseen in Article 12(1) of the EPPO Regulation. For the initial assignment, reference will be made to the estimated caseload for the first year of operation of the EPPO; b) the number of European Delegated Prosecutors under his/her coordination, pursuant to Article 34 IRP; c) other specific tasks under his/her responsibility and assigned to him/her in accordance to the EPPO Regulation or the IRP.

3 In addition, the assignment of the Deputy European Chief Prosecutors to more than one Permanent Chamber shall further take into account the workload deriving from their duties under Article 11 (2) and (3) EPPO Regulation.

4 The European Chief Prosecutor and each Deputy European Chief Prosecutor shall Chair the Permanent Chambers of which they are permanent members.

1 Each Permanent Chamber shall, in principle, hold at least 2 meetings per calendar month. The Chair of the Permanent Chamber shall set the dates of these meetings at least 15 days in advance.

2 The Chair of the Permanent Chamber may call additional meetings whenever necessary. Additional meetings shall be convened at least five working days in advance. In case of urgency, meetings may be convened as soon as the permanent members and relevant supervising European Prosecutor are available and no later than three days.

3 Except in case of urgency and after consultation of the European Chief Prosecutor, meetings of the Permanent Chambers shall not take place at the same time as meetings of the College. The Chair of the Permanent Chamber shall reschedule any meeting convened in conflict with a meeting of the College.

4 When setting the dates for the meetings of the Permanent Chamber, the Chair shall ensure coordination with the permanent members of that Chamber, the relevant supervising European Prosecutors and the staff of the Central Office referred to in Article 7.

The allocation of cases to the Permanent Chambers in the cases set out by Articles 32(5), 41(3), 42(1), 47(2), 50(2) second subparagraph, 51(3) and 59(4) IRP shall comply with the following rules: a) The Case Management System of the EPPO shall, upon opening of a case, randomly allocate it to a Permanent Chamber. b) In order to allow the European Chief Prosecutor to consider taking measures according to Article 19(3) IRP, he/she shall be notified when the number of cases allocated to a Permanent Chamber is higher by 10 % than the average number of cases allocated to each Permanent Chamber.

For the purpose of ensuring the efficient functioning of the EPPO and an equal distribution of workload between the Permanent Chambers, in accordance with Article 19(3) IRP, the European Chief Prosecutor may suspend the allocation of new cases to one or several Permanent Chambers for a specified period of time.

For the purpose of Article 32(5) IRP, when the European Chief Prosecutor decides to assign the supervision of a case to a European Prosecutor from a Member State other than the one where the European Delegated Prosecutor is based, and this European Prosecutor is a permanent member of the monitoring Permanent Chamber, the case shall be immediately assigned to a different Permanent Chamber.

1 Adequate resources from the staff of the EPPO shall be assigned to support the work of the Permanent Chambers under the EPPO Regulation.

2 The assigned staff shall assist the Chair of the Permanent Chamber, inter alia, in organising the agenda, in preparing the minutes of the meetings, in drafting documents in view of the meetings and in recording decisions adopted by the Permanent Chamber in the Case Management System.

3 Subject to the availability of resources, the assignment shall ensure the stability and continuity of the support provided by staff members to the designated Permanent Chamber.

1 In addition to the persons indicated in Article 10(9) EPPO Regulation, the Chair of the Permanent Chamber, after having consulted the permanent members and the relevant supervising European Prosecutor, may invite any member of the Central Office, European Delegated Prosecutor or staff of the EPPO to attend the meeting of the Permanent Chamber in relation to specific points in the agenda, when this is necessary for the purpose of allowing the Permanent Chamber to take decisions.

2 For the same purpose, in exceptional situations, when this is not contrary to applicable provisions of Union or national law, the Chair of the Permanent Chamber, after having consulted the permanent members, the relevant supervising European Prosecutor and, if necessary, the handling European Delegated Prosecutor, may invite any other person to attend the meeting of the Permanent Chamber.

3 Persons invited in accordance with paragraphs (1) and (2) may under no circumstance be present at the moment of the deliberation of a decision of the Permanent Chamber.

4 Administrative costs related to the invitations under this Article shall be covered by the budget of EPPO. In case the invitation entails costs, the Administrative Director shall be notified of invitations under this Article.

The College shall assess the impact of this Decision on the efficiency of the work of the EPPO six months after the date established in accordance with Article 120(2) EPPO Regulation.

This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption by the College.