Frontex

Frontex logo

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, commonly referred to as as Frontex, helps EU countries and Schengen-associated countries to manage their external borders and to align their border control processes. Eurojust has cooperated with Frontex since the Agency’s establishment in 2005 to encourage and promote inter-agency collaboration and to support the fight against cross-border crime, including migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings.

To consolidate their cooperation, in December 2013 Eurojust and Frontex signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), through which the agencies agreed to:

  • establish a Contact Point tasked with coordinating the cooperation between the two parties;

  • consult with each other on issues of common interest, including providing information about developments in fields and projects of mutual interest;

  • coordinate, where appropriate, their cooperation activities in multilateral fora such as the Heads of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Agencies network and the Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security (COSI);

  • exchange relevant strategic and technical information and analysis related to serious cross-border crime, including general findings resulting from Eurojust's activities (but not to exchange operational information, including data relating to an identified or identifiable person);

  • prepare and implement joint training activities, to encourage and improve cooperation in the fight against serious cross-border crime, particularly organised crime, smuggling and trafficking in human beings; and

  • exchange expertise and best practices in areas of common interest.

The entry into force of the new Frontex Regulation and the entry into application of the new Eurojust Regulation represented a significant change in the two agencies’ mandate and relations.