Stability Pact: WT3 Organised Crime Task Force Document

Organised Crime

SPOC 1st Board Meeting Minutes

The meeting was chaired by the Special Coordinator for the Stabilitypact for South Eastern Europe. The agenda was accepted. The chair underlined in his opening remarks the importance of the fight against organized crime and the London follow-up process. He reported on the opening of the SPOC Secretariat that is led by Ms. Gabriela Konevska. The chair introduced Dr. von Münchow as Mr. Bernd Hemingway’s successor in Working Table III.
Dr. Sebastian von Münchow suggested merging the Regional Steering Group and the Contact & Advisory Group into one SPOC Board in order to save travel costs and to concentrate on more implementation rather than debates. The Board members are envisaged to form small and flexible working groups along selected legal or technical issues related to combating organized crime.
Ms. Gabriela Konevska stressed the priority of the SPOC Secretariat would be: legislative harmonization (inter alia data protection and witness protection), operative questions and cooperation with the SECI Center in Bucharest. The latter was subject to intensive discussion on the question of future Europol-SECI Center modalities for cooperation.
The representative of the Research Centre on Transnational Crime – University of Trento, Federica Curtol, gave a presentation on the Interim Report “The Contribution of Data Exchange Systems to the Fight against Organized Crime in the SEE Countries: an Assessment” and its envisaged follow-up research activities.
The Task Force leader on Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) gave a presentation on THB working structures and substantive achievements.
The representative of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) – currently chaired by BiH – offered to host in Sarajevo on June 18th a ministerial meeting on legal harmonization of data protection.
Austria proposed Mr. Christian Jechoutek for the chairmanship of the SPOC Board, which was accepted. In his new capacity as SPOC Board Chairperson, he introduced his strategic approach.
A matrix containing questions related to the mandate, capacities, planed policies and needs of SPOC Board members was distributed. It shall serve to create a gap analysis on coordinated activities to fight organized crime in a regional context. The chair asked that all return their completed matrix to him and to the Secretariat by May 30th, 2003.

The SPOC Board will meet again on June 27th in Bucharest. Based upon the findings of the gap analysis, the meeting shall initiate the formation of the above-mentioned working groups on selected issues.