Organised Crime & Crime Prevention - what works? - Scandinavian ...

NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998
Otherwise, the action plan is a mixture of far-reaching program declarations and short-term
recommendations. The main goal of the action plan is to make the fight against organized
crime at the European and international levels more effective and this overall goal is used as
an argument for expanding EU cooperation in the legal area. It is proposed, for example, that
Europol’s authority be extended beyond the present convention (Article 6, Paragraph f) and
the Europol be given operational power (Political Guideline No. 10). It is proposed to relax
the requirements of double criminality in connection with mutual legal assistance and
extradition between EU countries (Political Guideline No. 4) and there are several proposals
concerning how judicial authorities can coordinate their actions to combat organized crime:
establishing a network for legal cooperation at the European level, appointing
interdisciplinary groups, and developing cooperation among judicial authorities and tax
authorities (Political Guidelines Nos. 7, 8, 9, and 12).
The specific instructions for action are divided into a number of general conditions, proposals
for preventing organized crime, recommendations for new legal instruments, ideas for
practical cooperation among police, judicial authorities, and customs authorities for
combatting organized crime, proposals for expanding Europol’s mandate and tasks, and
finally suggested measures to prevent money laundering. With certain exceptions, the action
plan advocates implementing all 30 recommendations by the end of 1998, which indicates,
first of all, the high priority the action plan places on the effort against organized crime and,
secondly, the intensity of the expanded legal cooperation within the EU.
On the basis of this action plan, the Council for Legal and Internal Affairs approved a joint
action on making it a criminal offence to participate in criminal organizations (Joint Action,
1998).3 The joint action sets forth joint definitions for criminal organizations and requires
that all member states criminalize membership in such organizations. The object of this joint
action is to introduce a common strategy regarding participation in the activities of criminal
organizations: more uniformity in legal proceedings against such participation and easier
extradition of persons accused of participation in criminal organizations to member states
demanding such extradition.
A criminal organization is defined as:
“Within the meaning of this Joint Action, a criminal organization shall mean a lasting,
structured association of more than two persons, acting in concert with a view to
committing crimes or other offences which are punishable by deprivation of liberty or a
detention order of a maximum of at least four years or a more serious penalty, whether
such crimes or offences are an end in themselves or a means of obtaining material benefits
and, if necessary, of improperly influencing the operation of public authorities. The crimes
or other offences referred to in the first paragraph include those mentioned in Article 2 of
the Europol Convention and in the Annex thereto and carry a sentence at least equivalent
to that provided for in the first paragraph” (Joint Action, 1998: article 1).
The crimes referred to in Article 2 of the Europol convention include illegal drug trafficking,
illegal trade in nuclear and radioactive materials, organized illegal immigration (smuggling of
3. At the meeting of the Council for Legal and Internal Affairs on 19 March 1998, agreement was reached on the
formulation of this joint action. It will be given final approval at the meeting on 28-29 May 1998.
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