On 23 December 2020, Eurojust and Europol signed a contribution agreement to expand their cooperation under the SIRIUS project. The SIRIUS project, which Europol launched in 2017, aims to support Internet-based investigations by co-developing tools and solutions for EU law enforcement and judicial authorities (→ eucrim 3/2020, 194-195). Under the new contribution agreement, Eurojust becomes a full partner of the project.

The new agreement also paves the way for the second phase of the SIRIUS project, which focuses on cross-border access to electronic evidence. To achieve this aim, the agreement foresees various practical measures, e.g.:

• Strengthening and speeding up direct cooperation between law enforcement authorities and online service providers in order to improve access to e-evidence by exchanging experiences;
• Exchanging best practices and providing training for EU practitioners on applicable rules in the US related to the mutual legal assistance procedure;

Expanding the geographical focus of SIRIUS to develop collaboration on existing initiatives and projects with selected non-EU countries, based on the interest of EU Member States.