Transnational organised crime (TOC) is a major threat to global security, and can
cause significant social and economic damage. Prevention efforts need to be
increased in order to contain this phenomenon. TOC benefits from certain legal
loopholes and law enforcement agencies have difficulty in reacting quickly to criminal
businesses which use very sophisticated methods to conceal their activities and the
proceeds of their crimes, and take advantage of globalisation and the use of
information and communication technologies (ICTs).
The threat of TOC is an increasingly important issue in many Council of Europe
member states, and thus for the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC).1
The setting up of an Ad hoc Drafting Group on Transnational Organised Crime (PCGR-COT)
was approved in 2012 and the terms of reference of the Group included
the drafting of a White Paper on TOC covering possible actions to be undertaken by
the Organisation in this field.
In this White Paper, special attention has been given to identifying areas in which the
Council of Europe could contribute to fighting TOC, actions it could carry out better or
more efficiently, and problems which have not been addressed specifically by other
international or supranational organisations or which should be co-ordinated with
actions of the Council of Europe. Simply stating that the Organisation should
undertake initiatives in the field of preventing and combating TOC will neither help to
address the problem nor find the needed synergies.
To this end, rather than discussing conceptual issues that are well known with regard
to organised crime and its transnational implications, the Ad hoc Drafting Group
focused on priorities with regard to efficiency in combating TOC through a criminal
response. The White Paper does not aim to set out priorities from an operational
point of view or to undertake a threat or risk assessment of TOC; it aims to identify
specific areas where action should be taken to improve the criminal response to
TOC. In defining these possible areas of action, reports prepared by the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
2
the European Police Office
(Europol)3
and the European Parliament of September 20134
as well as national
expertise were considered. The main outcomes are