S.L. 164.6 Art. 2Interpretation. 3  S.L. 586.08.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

"competent law enforcement authority" means any police or customs officer within the Malta Tax and Customs Administration or other authority competent under national law to exercise authority and to take coercive measures for the purpose of preventing, detecting or investigating criminal offences or any authority that takes part in joint entities set up between two (2) or more Member States for the purpose of preventing, detecting or investigating criminal offences, but excludes agencies or units dealing especially with national security issues and liaison officers seconded in accordance with Article 47 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders;

"designated law enforcement authority" means a competent law enforcement authority that is authorised to submit requests for information to the Single Points of Contact of other Member States in accordance with regulation 7;

"directly accessible information" means information held in a database that can be directly accessed by the International Relations Unit, or the Single Point of Contact of another Member State or by a competent law enforcement authority of the Member State from whom information is requested;

"Europol Regulation" means Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA;

"indirectly accessible information" means information that the International Relations Unit, or a Single Point of AUTHORITIES AND OTHER AUTHORITIES OF THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION HAVING

SIMILAR POWERS

Contact of another Member State or a competent law enforcement authority of the Member State from whom information is requested may obtain from other public authorities or from private parties established in such Member State, where permitted by and in accordance with national law, without coercive measures;

"information" means any content concerning one (1) or more natural or legal persons, facts or circumstances relevant to competent law enforcement authorities for the purpose of carrying out their tasks under national law of preventing, detecting or investigating criminal offences, including criminal intelligence;

"information available" means directly accessible information and indirectly accessible information;

"International Relations Unit" means the International Relations Unit within the Malta Police Force and which shall be the Single Point of Contact as established in regulation 4;"

"personal data" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in regulation 2 of Data Protection (Processing of Personal Data by Competent Authorities for the Purposes of the Prevention, Investigation, Detection or Prosecution of Criminal Offences or the execution of Criminal Penalties) Regulations;

"serious criminal offence" means any of the following:

(a) an offence as referred to in Article 2(2) of the EU Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States 2002/584/JHA;

(b) an offence as referred to in Article 3(1) or

(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/ 935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA;

"Single Point of Contact of another Member State" means the central entity having law enforcement powers established by another Member State with the scope of exchanging information under these regulations.