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Countries covered by the project

Police and Judicial Cooperation against Organised Crime in the SEE Countries: Legislation and Practices Federica Curtol federica.curtol@transcrime.unitn.it http://www.transcrime.unitn.it

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Countries covered by the project

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  1. Police and Judicial Cooperation against Organised Crime in the SEE Countries: Legislation and Practices Federica Curtol federica.curtol@transcrime.unitn.it http://www.transcrime.unitn.it Seminar for the presentation of the Second Interim Report of the research project: ‘The Contribution of Data Exchange Systems to the Fight against Organised Crime in the SEE Countries: an Assessment’, Braşov (Romania), 27 February 2004

  2. Countries covered by the project Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, The Czech Republic, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYRoM), Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, The Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Turkey. The research project

  3. Questions for the research • How do exchange of information and cooperation systems in the fight against organised crime function in the region? • Is there any legal or practical obstacle to exchange of information/cooperation between SEE countries? • How can these systems be improved? The research project

  4. Steps of the research 1) Analyse the present organised crime situation in the SEE countries and the illicit activities perpetrated by organised crime groups 2) Analyse the substantive and procedural legislation of the countries considered by the project, as well as law enforcement and judiciary practices in the fight against organised crime 3) Elaborate suggestions to strengthen police and judicial co - operation in cross border investigations involving the SEE countries The research project

  5. Methods and sources PRIMARY SOURCES = the answers to questionnaires sent to a network of: • police officers/experts of the police, and • prosecutors/judicial experts of the Region. SECONDARY SOURCES = reports, other analyses compiled by international organisations and Stability Pact partners, and published/unpublished literature on the situation of organised crime in the countries of the Region The research project

  6. CRIMINAL GROUPS: structure Criminal groups and activities Frequency (n° of countries in which the type of the structure is present) Types of structure HIER=Hierarchical, HOR=Horizontal, PR=On a Project Basis

  7. CRIMINAL GROUPS: nationality Criminal groups and activities Frequency (n° of countries in which the type of OC group is present) Nationality NAT=Nationals, NON NAT=Non Nationals, COOP=cooperation

  8. ACTIVITIES: trafficking of human beings Criminal groups and activities

  9. Which areas of police and judicial cooperation have been analysed? • Criminal law • Criminal procedure • Data protection rules • Multilateral and bilateral agreements • Central authorities managing requests for international cooperation • Direct channels of police and judicial cooperation • International and regional organisations Legislation and practices of police and judicial cooperation

  10. 1) Criminal law Main findings: • The process of ratification of the international and European instruments against TOC is growing in all SEE countries • There is a lack of harmonisation with the international and European standards of the national criminal law definitions against TOC • An example: the problem of liability of legal persons Legislation and practices of police and judicial cooperation

  11. 2) Criminal procedure Main findings: • The process of ratification of the international and European instruments against TOC is growing in all SEE countries • There is a lack of harmonisation with the international and European standards of the national criminal procedure instruments against TOC • Some examples: witness protection and confiscation systems Legislation and practices of police and judicial cooperation

  12. 3) Data protection rules Main findings: • There is a lack of ratification instruments for the COE convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data • Not all the SEE countries have agreements with Europol for the reciprocal transmission of data Legislation and practices of police and judicial cooperation

  13. 4) Multilateral and bilateral agreements Main finding: • The preference accorded to the multilateral approach in the legislation and in the practices 5) Central authorities Main findings: • Central authorities with specialised units are present in all the countries • The ready availability of translators • The lengthiness of the procedures Legislation and practices of police and judicial cooperation

  14. 6) Direct channels of police and judicial cooperation Main findings: • Many legal possibilities for direct judicial cooperation • Fewer legal possibilities for traditional direct police cooperation • The expansion of innovative channels of direct police cooperation (liaison officers, joint investigative teams and international joint customs surveillance operations) and their practical relevance • The practical problems (technology, training and language) Legislation and practices of police and judicial cooperation

  15. 7) International and regional organisations Main findings: • Interpol is the only organisation for police cooperation present in all the countries • There is a lack of cooperation agreements with Europol, EJN and Eurojust • Experts evaluated the level of cooperation with Interpol as ‘medium’ on average, but, where present, also the other organisations received high scores as to their usefulness in different areas of cooperation Legislation and practices of police and judicial cooperation

  16. Bottlenecks in international cooperation (1) Number of experts who consider the problem as a significant obstacle to judicial/police cooperation Bottlenecks

  17. Bottlenecks in police cooperation Bottlenecks in international cooperation (2) Number of experts who consider the problem as a significant obstacle to judicial/police cooperation Bottlenecks in international cooperation (2) Bottlenecks

  18. Bottlenecks in police cooperation Bottlenecks in international cooperation (3) Number of experts who consider the problem as a significant obstacle to judicial/police cooperation Bottlenecks in international cooperation (3) Bottlenecks

  19. Final steps of the research The final step of the research will lead to the development of proposals for suggestions to strengthen police and judicial cooperation in cross-border criminal investigations involving SEE countries. These suggestions will be developed on the basis of the results of Activity 1 (organised crime situation in the SEE countries) and of Activity 2 (legislation and practices in judicial and police cooperation). Furthermore, these suggestions will be elaborated on the basis of good practices of cooperation present in the countries of the region and in other EU and non EU countries. The final report will be delivered in May 2004.

  20. Police and Judicial Cooperation against Organised Crime in the SEE Countries: Legislation and Practices Federica Curtol federica.curtol@transcrime.unitn.it http://www.transcrime.unitn.it Seminar for the presentation of the Second Interim Report of the research project: ‘The Contribution of Data Exchange Systems to the Fight against Organised Crime in the SEE Countries: an Assessment’, Braşov (Romania), 27 February 2004

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