optimising the sharing of intelligence and other information between public bodies charged with investigating environmental crime, notably crime involving cross-border movements of waste, wildlife and timber trade or chemicals, including training for enforcement officers, financial investigation units, customs officers, police officers dealing with environmental crime, prosecutors and the judiciary.

For officials and other servants in the GSC, the GSC Security Authority shall forward the completed personnel security questionnaire to the NSA of the Member State of which the individual is a national requesting that a security investigation be undertaken for the level of EUCI to which the individual will require access.

To that end, it shall investigate serious matters relating to the discharge of professional duties constituting a dereliction of the obligations of officials and other servants of the Union liable to result in disciplinary or, as the case may be, criminal proceedings, or an equivalent failure to discharge obligations on the part of members of institutions and bodies, heads of offices and agencies or staff members of institutions, bodies, offices or agencies not subject to the Staff Regulations (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘officials, other servants, members of institutions or bodies, ...[+++]heads of offices or agencies, or staff members’).

However, where a flock of laying hens has been indicated as the source of infection in a food borne outbreak as a result of the epidemiological investigation of food-borne outbreaks in accordance with Directive 2003/99/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 17 November 2003 on the monitoring of zoonoses and zoonotic agents, amending Council Decision 90/424/EEC and repealing Council Directive 92/117/EEC (6), the restrictions on the use of table eggs set out in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 should apply without delay.

When the possibility for Europol officials to participate in joint investigation teams was introduced by the Protocol amending the Europol Convention (5), it was considered that, given the specificities of the participation of Europol officials in joint investigation teams created by Member States in the context of criminal investigations falling under the competence of Europol, Europol officials should not enjoy immunity from legal proceedings in respect of official acts undertaken when participating in those teams.

Member States to consider ways in which information concerning law enforcement officers in Member States who are involved closely in human trafficking work who have specialist language skills (e.g. specialist oriental or African languages) can be disseminated more widely (this would mean that where bi or multi-lateral joint investigation teams are being put together by different Member States they can consider including such officers in teams as appropriate and in sofar as national operational demands on such officers permit).