Brussels, 29/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - The new Lisbon Treaty is to take effect on 1 January 2009, bringing in its wake the establishment of new rules in the fields of judiciary and police cooperation. The Council will decide by qualified majority - and no longer by unanimity - and the European Parliament will acquire the right of codecision instead of simple consultation procedure. All initiatives and work, however, that have not been the subject of formal adoption and that have not been published in the Official Journal before the new treaty comes into effect will be obsolete, their legal base being de facto no longer valid. In total, 14 dossiers have been adopted under “general approach” but still require the lifting of parliamentary reserve from a number of national parliaments, including that of Sweden, reputed as being somewhat slow (6 months on average) when it comes to initialling legislative acts. Proposals concerned are: - framework decision on the European Evidence Warrant; - framework decision on the organisation and content of the exchange of information extracted from criminal records between member states; - framework decision on the fight against organised crime; - framework decision on taking account of convictions in the member states of the EU in the course of new criminal proceedings; - framework decision on the protection of personal data (third pillar); - framework decision on application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgements in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences; - framework decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia; - integration of parts of the Treaty of Prüm in the EU legal framework; - decision concerning access for consultation of the Visa Information System (VIS); - decision establishing Europol; - decision relating to the improvement of cooperation between special intervention units in crisis situations; - framework decision on the recognition and supervision of suspended sentences, alternative sanctions and conditional sentences; - amended regulation on a single format for residency permits for third country nationals; - and the amended decision on combating terrorism. After the end of year deadline, the European Commission should be under an obligation to present new proposals. Eleven new instruments are still the subject of talks and it is an imperative that these be the subject of a “general approach” before the end of the Slovenian EU Presidency so that the French EU Presidency is able to enact and publish them during its term of office. This, for example, concerns decisions on the recognition of judgements in absentia and to the strengthening of Eurojust (B.C.)