At its meeting on 13/14 June 2024, the Justice and Home Affairs Council approved conclusions on "Fighting drug trafficking in organised crime: Setting up a European judicial organised crime network". The idea of such a network was presented by the Belgian Council Presidency at the informal JHA meeting on 26 January 2024 and subsequently further developed (→ eucrim news of 17 April 2024). The fight against drug trafficking and organised crime has been one of the priorities of the Belgian Council Presidency (→ eucrim 4/2023, 317) and is in line with the Commission's EU Roadmap to fight drug trafficking and organised crime presented in October 2023 (→ eucrim 3/2023, 257).

The Conclusions advocate setting up the network that will bring together mainly prosecutors and, depending on the national context, investigative judges and law enforcement officers who deal with drug trafficking and organised crime. The network is designed to be a hub of specialised national expertise with the aim to facilitate and enhance cooperation between competent authorities. It will operate in a continuous manner and Eurojust is invited to organise the network. The tasks of the network will be as follows:

• Facilitating the exchange of expertise, best practices and other relevant knowledge and experience in the investigation and prosecution of organised crime, including the practical application of current legal frameworks and relevant case law and effective cross-border judicial cooperation;
• Exchanging information about general developments and trends;
• Exchanging non-personal information, which can feed into and be used in the operational activities of Eurojust and national judicial authorities, in particular within Joint Investigation Teams (JITs);
• Fostering dialogue among different actors and stakeholders that have a role in fighting organised crime, such as Europol, Eurojust and the EPPO.

In the first operational phase, the network should focus on hubs for illegal trade in drugs, in particular sea ports and other logistic hubs used by organised crime groups to import illegal drugs and transport them through the Union. Thus the network will complement the European Ports Alliance (→ eucrim news of 15 Feburary 2024).

Member States are requested to designate at least one expert to participate in the network. The experts will meet at least twice a year, with Eurojust hosting the meetings.