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Brussels, 14.4.2021

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the EU Strategy to tackle Organised Crime 2021-2025

Introduction Hidden from public view due to the opaque nature of its activities, organised crime is a significant threat to European citizens, business, and state institutions, as well as to the economy as a whole. As highlighted in the latest European Union Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (2021 EU SOCTA)1 , organised crime groups are present across all Member States. The organised crime landscape is characterised by a networked environment where cooperation between criminals is fluid, systematic and driven by a profitoriented focus. Organised crime groups use their large illegal profits to infiltrate the licit economy and public institutions, including via corruption, eroding the rule of law and fundamental rights and undermining people’s right to safety as well as their trust in public authorities. Criminal revenues in the nine main criminal markets in the European Union amounted to €139 billion in 20192 , corresponding to 1% of the Union’s Gross Domestic Product. As underlined in the Security Union Strategy 3 , action taken at EU level to support Member States in the fight against organised crime must be continued and enhanced. The complexity of the business model of organised crime groups was, in particular, exposed in 2020 in the joint investigation, led by French and Dutch authorities with the support of Europol and Eurojust, to dismantle EncroChat, an encrypted phone network widely used by criminal networks. The EncroChat case has so far led to more than 1,800 arrests and more than 1,500 new investigations. In addition, it displayed the extent to which organised crime groups operate transnationally and online across all criminal markets in a networked environment, using increasingly sophisticated modi operandi and new technologies. In March 2021, another joint operation following the cracking of Sky ECC, an encrypted network to which many former EncroChat users had migrated, led to the prevention of more than 70 violent incidents, the seizure of more than 28 tons of drug substances and the arrest of more than 80 suspects involved in organised crime and drugs trafficking in Belgium and the Netherlands. More than 400 new investigations against high risk organised crime groups have been initiated. The use of violence by criminals involved in organised crime is on the rise in the EU, as is the threat from violent incidents due to the frequent use of firearms or explosives in public spaces4 . The agility of organised crime groups to adapt to and capitalise on the changes in the environment where they operate was confirmed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Criminal 1 Europol, 2021 European Union Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (EU SOCTA), 12 April 2021, https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/european-union-serious-and-organised-crimethreat-assessment.The EU SOCTA is a comprehensive organised crime threat analysis identifying high priority crime areas produced every four years by Europol, on the basis of Member States’ contributions. 2 Illicit drugs, trafficking in human beings, smuggling of migrants, fraud (MTIC fraud, IPR infringements, food fraud), environmental crime (illicit waste and illicit wildlife), illicit firearms, illicit tobacco, cybercrime activities, organised property crime – Study on Mapping the risk of serious and organised crime infiltration in legitimate businesses, March 2021, DR0221244ENN, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2837/64101. 3 Commission Communication on the EU Security Union Strategy, COM(2020) 605 final, 24.7.2020. 4 Europol, 2021 EU Serious and Organised Threat Assessment Report (EU SOCTA), 12 April 2021, https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/european-union-serious-and-organised-crimethreat-assessment.2 groups have exploited the pandemic to expand online crime activities5 and to engage in fraud including in counterfeit medical products. The sustained high demand for Covid-19 vaccines makes for an attractive pursuit for criminals seeking to engage in the production and supply of counterfeit vaccines or in fraud schemes targeting individuals or public authorities. EU governments have so far detected attempts of scams and fake offers by fraudsters trying to sell over 1.1 billion vaccine doses for a total price of over €15.4 billion6 . The economic crisis resulting from the pandemic increases the risks of organised crime activities and that these further infiltrate society and the economy. The transnational threats and evolving modi operandi of organised crime groups operating offline and online call for a coordinated, more targeted and adapted response. While national authorities operating on the ground are on the frontline in the fight against organised crime, action at Union level and global partnerships are paramount to ensure effective cooperation as well as information and knowledge exchange among national authorities, supported by a common criminal law framework and effective financial means. Furthermore, organised crime is emblematic of the link between internal and external security. International engagement on countering organised crime, including further steps to develop partnerships and cooperation with countries in the immediate neighbourhood and beyond, is needed to address this transnational challenge. Both the European Parliament7 and the Council8 have stressed that organised crime causes enormous damage and highlighted the importance of strong EU action to counter all forms of organised criminal activity. This Strategy builds on past achievements, identifies priority work strands to better protect citizens and the economy from organised crime groups and puts forward concrete medium and long-term actions, which will be developed in full respect of fundamental rights. It constitutes the first dedicated Strategy on organised crime since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty9 . 5 In an international operation supported by Europol and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) between March and December 2020, law enforcement authorities of 19 Member States and eight third countries seized almost 33 million fake medical devices, including face masks, tests and diagnosis kits, 8 tonnes of raw materials and 70 000 litres of hygiene sanitizers. 6 Information reported by governmental authorities to OLAF. Law enforcement authorities together with Europol and OLAF are cooperating to thwart these attempted frauds. 7 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0378_EN.pdf. In October 2016, the European Parliament, adopted also a report specifically focussing on the fight against corruption, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2016-0284_EN.pdf. 8 Council Conclusions on Internal Security and European Police Partnership, 13083/1/20 REV 1, 24 November 2020. 9 Organised Crime has been a priority of the EU since the middle of the 1990s, as shown in the Tampere Programme (that launched the first multi-annual strategic objectives of the EU in the field of Justice and Home Affairs and the subsequent multi-annual programmes on Justice and Home Affairs, such as the 2004 Hague Programme, the 2009 Stockholm Programme, the 2015 EU Agenda on Security, and the recently adopted 2020 EU Security Union Strategy. The last dedicated strategy on organised crime dates from 2005, https://eurlex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52005DC0232