L 21848 Official Journal of the European Union 13.8.2008 REGULATION (EC) No 766/2008 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 9 July 2008 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agricultural matters THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Articles 135 and 280 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Auditors (1), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (3, Whereas: Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 (%) improved the earlier legal mechanism, in particular by allowing information to be stored in the Community database Customs Information System (CIS). However, experience gained since Regulation (EC) No 515/97 entered into force has shown that the use of the CIS for the sole purposes of sighting and reporting, discreet surveillance or specific checks does not make it possible to achieve fully the system’s objective, which is to assist in preventing, investigating and prosecuting opera- tions that are in breach of customs or agricultural legislation. The changes introduced when the European Union was enlarged to include 27 Member States require a reconsi- deration of Community customs cooperation in a broader framework and with modernised mechanisms. Commission Decision 1999/352/EC, ECSC, Euratom of 28 April 1999 establishing the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (*) and the Convention on the use of information 0] C 101, 4.5.2007, p. 4. Opinion of the European Parliament of 19 February 2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 23 June 2008. OJ L 82, 22.3.1997, p. 1. Regulation amended by Regulation (EC) No 807/2003 (OJ L 122, 16.5.2003, p. 36). OJ L 136, 31.5.1999, p. 20. technology for customs purposes (°), drawn up by Council Act of 26 July 1995 (%), modified the general framework for cooperation between the Member States and the Commis- sion as regards preventing, investigating and prosecuting offences under Community legislation. The results of strategic analysis should help those responsible at the highest level to determine projects, objectives and policies for combating fraud, to plan activities and to deploy the resources needed to achieve the operational objectives laid down. The result of an operational analysis concerning the activities, resources and intentions of certain persons or businesses that do not comply or appear not to comply with customs or agricultural legislation should help the customs authorities and the Commission take the appro- priate measures in specific cases to achieve the objectives laid down as regards the fight against fraud. Under the current mechanism set out in Regulation (EC) No 515/97, personal data entered by a Member State can be copied from CIS into other data-processing systems only with the prior authorisation of the CIS partner which entered them and subject to the conditions imposed by it in accordance with Article 30(1). The amendment of the Regulation is designed to derogate from that principle of prior authorisation only where the data are to be processed by the national authorities and the Commission services responsible for risk management with a view to targeting controls on movements of goods. The current mechanism needs to be supplemented by a legal framework establishing a customs files identification database covering past and current files. The creation of such a database follows up the intergovernmental customs cooperation initiative which led to the adoption of the Council Act of 8 May 2003 drawing up the Protocol amending, as regards the creation of a customs files identification database, the Convention on the use of information technology for customs purposes (7). () 0] C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 34. () 0] C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 33. () 0] C 139, 13.6.2003, p. 1.