The new Directive overhauls the EU's existing legal framework on the criminalisation of offences linked to terrorist activities. It implements into EU law international obligations, such as the provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 2178(2014) on Foreign Terrorist Fighters, the recently adopted Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of terrorism and the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations on terrorist financing.
The proposed Directive would criminalise:
• Travelling for terrorist purposes, both within and outside the EU, to counter the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters;
• The funding, organisation and facilitation of such travels, including through logistical and material support, including the provision of firearms and explosives, shelter, means of transportation, services, assets and goods;
• Receiving training for terrorist purposes. Law enforcement will be provided with the possibility to investigate and prosecute training activities having the potential to lead to the committing of terrorist offences;
• Providing funds used to commit terrorist offences and offences related to terrorist groups or terrorist activities;
The proposal is also intended to strengthen provisions criminalising recruitment, training for terrorist purposes and the spread of terrorist propaganda, including on the internet.
The Commission proposal also lays out new rules, complementing the Directive on rights for victims from 2012, to ensure that victims of terrorism receive immediate access to professional support services providing for physical and psycho-social treatments as well as immediate information on their rights, independently of where they live in the European Union.
Works on the proposal will start soon in the competent Council Working Party.
Text can be found here.
