The paper follows up on discussions held within the Council earlier in 2011. It says, the proposed new directive will ‘apply to almost all investigative matters.’ Under current laws, police who want to investigate a suspect living in another EU country have to ask their counterparts for help through special agreements called Mutual Legal Assistance.

‘The European Investigation Order seeks to address these problems by simplifying the system with a standardised request form and providing formal deadlines for the recognition and execution of requests,’ British Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC.

The document can be downloaded here.