UK-EU Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters Under Part Three of the TCA: The Impact on Scotland

This report, commissioned by the Criminal Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament, assesses the impact of Brexit on Scotland's criminal justice system, focusing on the implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). 1 It explores how Scotland has adapted to the new post-Brexit landscape, highlighting both achievements and challenges.The TCA has preserved essential cooperation, allowing continued exchanges of criminal records, DNA, and air passenger data.However, the UK's exit from the EU has resulted in the loss of access to several EU mechanisms, such as the Schengen Information System II and the Europol Information System, complicating data management and cross-border investigations.Scotland's proactive preparation included enhancing resources and participating in the establishment of the UK wide International Crime Coordination Centre (ICCC), which helped mitigate some disruptions.Despite these efforts, challenges remain, such as slower request processing, inability to extradite from some EU states and diminished access to EU funding and training.The report also notes that while Scotland has effectively engaged with EU partners and maintained high trust levels, issues such as intra-UK coordination and limited representation in international forums continue to pose difficulties.Overall, Scotland's criminal justice system has shown resilience, but ongoing improvements in cooperation and representation are needed.The report provides targeted policy recommendations regarding these improvements, in view of the upcoming 2026 Trade and Cooperation Agreement Review.The data for this report was compiled through an academic literature review, a roundtable with representatives of the Scottish Criminal Justice System, and semi-structured interviews with members of Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government, and EU-based police and judicial cooperation practitioners. 3-Summary of the Challenges and Policy RecommendationsThis section of the report offers an itemised summary of the challenges described at length in the remainder of the text, as well as the list of policy recommendations that follow from these challenges and which the authors hope will assist in mitigating the impact of the implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) on law enforcement and judicial cooperation.Policy recommendations regarding the upcoming 2026 TCA review have also been included in this section.3.1-Challenges emerging from the implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement for the field of Police and Judicial Cooperation