Peer review of EU countries’ measures to combat organised crime

A European Union joint action introduces a mechanism allowing the performance of peer evaluations of EU countries’ legal systems in relation to various measures combating organised crime.

ACT

Joint Action 97/827/JHA of 5 December 1997 adopted by the Council on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, establishing a mechanism for evaluating the application and implementation at national level of international undertakings in the fight against organised crime

SUMMARY

KEY POINTS

The evaluation is prepared by the presidency of the Council, working alongside the Council’s General Secretariat and the European Commission.

Each EU country must identify one to three experts with experience in the subjects to be evaluated (i.e. police, customs, judicial) and submit their names to the presidency of the Council. The presidency of the Council then chooses three experts from the pool of names to conduct an evaluation of an EU country, while ensuring that the three experts in question are not nationals of the EU country under evaluation.

Each round of evaluations focuses on a specific topic agreed by the EU countries. They also agree on the order of visits and on the questionnaire on the basis of which the evaluation team is to carry out its visit to each EU country. The aim is to gather all the information useful for conducting the evaluation. Following the completion of the questionnaire, the evaluation team visits the EU country in question meeting with relevant parties (e.g. political, administrative, police, customs and judicial authorities). Each EU country must ensure that its authorities cooperate fully with the evaluation teams set up under this joint action.

The draft report is submitted to the visited EU country for its opinion no later than 1 month after the visit. Once any changes are accepted and made, the presidency of the Council then forwards the draft report to members of the relevant Council working group for further consideration and adoption.

RELATED ACTS

Council Decision 2002/996/JHA of 28 November 2002 establishing a mechanism for evaluating the legal systems and their implementation at national level in the fight against terrorism (Official Journal L 349, 24.12.2002, pp 1-3).

last update 02.07.2015