Combating crime: money laundering, confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds. Framework Decision. Initiative France
2000/0814(CNS) - 25/04/2002
This document sets out the Council's recommendations on improving investigation methods in the fight against organised crime linked to organised drug trafficking: simultaneous investigations into drug trafficking by criminal organisations and their finances/assets.
The Council, in particular, recommends Member States:
- to apply, whenever they consider it necessary, the investigations method in the fight against crime, including crime linked to organised drug trafficking, consisting of investigating on all fronts, right from the beginning, any activities connected with illicit drug trafficking and identifying the organisation's finances and assets;
- to encourage the setting up of permanent or temporary groups specialised in asset investigation, in order to promote greater efficiency in the investigation method described;
- to reinforce or facilitate cooperation between the competent law enforcement, court tax authorities and persons responsible for the various public or private registers of ownership holding information on assets of any nature, by speeding up the processing of requests for information made by those authorities. (The persons responsible would be in charge of, for example, public registers, such as the Property Register, or private registers such as those of credit institutions ) in each case observing the applicable national laws;
- to promote the creation of joint venture investigative teams between Member States pursuant to the legal instruments of the European union by applying such methods in cases where the investigation into the criminal organisation involved in drug trafficking affects more than one Member State;
- to invite Europol, in accordance with the Council Recommendation of 30 November 2000 to the Member States in respect of Europol's assistance to joint investigative teams set up by Member States, to support those teams when requested to do so;
- to use the possibilities offered by CEPOL (the European Police College) in devising specific training modules on use of this special investigation technique.