Press Release: Commission sharpens fight against cross-border crime in the EU

The European Commission on 27 January 2005 presented a proposal to severely punish members of organised crime groups wherever they operate in the EU, and a strategy to ensure exchange of criminal records between Member States and mutual recognition of criminal convictions within the territory of the EU. A proposal for a Council Framework Decision aimed at harmonizing the definition of what constitutes a criminal organisation. The second part of the Commission's package in the fight against crime consisted of a White Paper on exchanges of information on convictions and the effect of such convictions in the European Union. This Paper outlined the legal and policy strategy to be best followed ensuring that criminal records were exchanged between the competent authorities of the 25 Member States, and that convictions pronounced in other Member States were recognized.