EUROJUST: Established in 2002, headquarters in The Hague. An EU judicial cooperation and co-ordination unit composed of national prosecutors, magistrates, or police officers of equivalent competence from 27 MSs, to reinforce the fight against serious organised crime, as stated in the Lisbon Treaty Art 85: ‘to support and strengthen coordination and cooperation between national investigating and prosecuting authorities in relation to serious crime affecting two or more Member States.’ Also Art 86 refers to ‘combat crimes affecting the financial interests of the Union’. Co-operation agreements with Europol, Norway, Iceland, the USA, Croatia, OLAF, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Liaison prosecutors from Norway and the USA are now permanently based at Eurojust. It has established contact points in 23 non-Member States: Albania, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Egypt, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA. It has several memoranda of understanding with bodies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. December 2008 revised Council Decision aimed to strengthen Eurojust’s potential to help fight transnational organised crime, eg by increasing the interchange of information about serious cross-border cases, and making Eurojust available to national authorities on a 24/7 basis.

Eurojust's competence covers the same types of crime and offences for which Europol has competence, inc’ Environmental. Eurojust may assist in investigations and prosecutions at the request of a Member State, and it acts by facilitating the execution of extradition (EAW) requests, and the use of international mutual legal assistance by the authorities of the Member States to make their investigations and prosecutions more effective when dealing with cross-border crime. It cooperates and consults with the European Judicial Network (EJN), and make use of, and contribute to the improvement of, its documentary database. It may assist Europol, particularly with opinions based on analyses carried out by Europol and supply logistical support, e.g. assistance in translation, interpretation and the organisation of coordination meetings.
Also, Eurojust may ask the competent authorities of the Member States concerned to:

• investigate or prosecute specific acts;
• coordinate with one another;
• accept that one country is better placed to prosecute than another;
• set up a Joint Investigation Team; or
• provide Eurojust with information necessary to carry out its tasks.

Eurojust finances the activities of joint investigation teams (JITs) from its regular budget, and with Europol jointly produced a ‘JITs Manual’, which is intended to inform practitioners of the legal basis and requirements for setting up a JIT and to provide advice on when a JIT can be usefully employed.
(Source: Eurojust)