Chairman's Conclusions of the Regional Conference on Stolen Vehicles

The Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe (SP), together with the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, organized from 18 to 19 November 2003 a Regional Conference on Stolen Vehicles in Bled, Slovenia. Macedonia was represented by its Deputy Minister of Interior. Other participants were high level representatives from SEE countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Serbia-Montenegro), SP-National Coordinators and senior experts from supporting countries and organisations, senior representatives from the registration agencies and car alarm manufacturers.

Amb. Janez Premoze, Co-Chair of SP-Working Table on Security and Defence issues, opened the session, where he emphasised that also as a future member of EU and NATO, Slovenia will continue to actively support the SEE countries in their integration into Euro-atlantic structures, in the same manner as it will provide its support to the active follow-up of the regional conference on stolen vehicles.

Introductory remarks were offered by Dr. Rado Bohinc, Minister of Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact, Mr. Gianni Baldi, Ministry of Interior, Public Security Department, Central Criminal Police Directorate, Italy and H.E. Amb. Erwan Fouéré, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in the Republic of Slovenia.

In their official remarks, high level representatives from SEE countries expressed their general support for the draft action plan elaborated by the SP-Secretariat. They also informed about the national challenges encountered and named the specific needs vis-à-vis the phenomenon of the theft and trade in stolen vehicles, which were, amongst others:

• acquisition of equipment and software for the on-the-spot identification of stolen vehicles;
• need for harmonized databases at the national level, incl. the establishment of quick access to all law enforcement agencies and registration structures;
• quick inputs into databases;
• improvement of border controls;
• establishment of specific legislation, particularly in the area of recovery;
• enhanced inter-agency cooperation at national level;
• training of all related structures at all levels;
• cooperation with all international key partners;
• raising public awareness about the phenomenon of stolen vehicles.

Moldova expressed its readiness to host the training module to be implemented in early 2004 by the AEPC. In the framework of the presentation of the draft Action Program by Mr. Pieter Verbeek, Director of the SP-Working Table III, participants provided specific proposals on the Action Program that would find expression in its final version.

There was a general agreement that one area where common action is necessary in order to reach the common aim of peace, political and economic stability in the SEE region is the fight against organized crime. In this framework, the theft of cars and trade in stolen vehicles is increasingly becoming a problem throughout Europe and is by now the second most profitable sector after drugs for the organized crime networks.

There was consensus that in view of the increasing professionalisation and internationalisation of illegal car traffickers, a concerted answer on the international level has become necessary: In a coherent approach, cooperation between the EU and the SEE countries, between the private and public sector, between actors on national, regional and international level is a conditio sine qua non in order to efficiently tackle this challenge. Participants agreed that the draft Action Plan represents a valuable basis for future regional and international cooperation to efficiently tackle the challenge of theft and trade in stolen vehicles.

They also agreed that the Action Plan will make an essential contribution to the JHA EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Meeting on the follow-up of the London Statement on Defeating Organized Crime in SEE, scheduled for the 28 November 2003 in Brussels. By the same token, a common strategy to counteract the theft of cars and trade in stolen vehicles would be a concretization of the Declaration from the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki from 21 June 2003, where the commitment by the countries in the SEE region to fight organized crime was reiterated.

Representatives of the SEE region committed themselves to develop national action plans, covering training, identification of equipment needs and legislation. Policy must be reformed, relevant legislation developed and effective procedures, standards and management of the process of recovering stolen vehicles must be established and harmonised. In this context, traning and capacity-building, exchange of information, strengthening border control, the identification of equipment needs, the reform of the registration and recovery system as well as the establishment of relevant legislation were identified as the essential elements in the framework of this strategy. Mechanisms should be established for the rapid identification of misappropriated vehicles already at state borders. The national action plans should aim to meet international and European standards. The high-level representatives from the SEE region expressed their willingness to formulate National Action Plans prior to the Stability Pact Regional Table meeting in June 2004. It was agreed that the SCSP Secretariat would assist in identifying donor countries and organisations for the implementation of the Action Plan, i.a. via twinning arrangements.

Mr Johann Fallenegger, 1rst officer team leader on crimes against property, from the Serious Crime Department at Europol, informed about Europol's activities and programmes to fight the organised theft of vehicles. SEE countries are encouraged to gather Europol's CD that can be obtained directly from its headquarters in The Hague by the EU and candidate countries and through the German Federal Criminal Agency / Bundeskriminalamt in Wiesbaden by the others.

General Ferenc Banfi, Deputy Director of the SECI Regional Centre for Combating Transborder Crime, provided an overview on the recent situation as regards the stolen car phenomenon and the regional countermeasures developed by the SECI Center. Andreas Haugen, Commissioner of Police, Norwegian National Police Directorate, made a presentation on the strategy developed by the Baltic Sea Task Force and the latters' cooperation with Europol and Interpol. There was general agreement that the experiences gained in the framework of the BSTF can serve as a valuable example for any future cooperation in the SEE context.

Mr Peter Huijsmans, EUPM Coordinator on Major and Organised Crime, informed about EUPM's experience as regards the theft and trade in stolen vehicles in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr Dejan Gerbajs, Senior Crime Inspector of the Property Crime Division from the General Police Directorate of the Republic of Slovenia, elaborated on the Slovenian strategy against the theft of stolen vehicles and the respective national system of vehicles registration. He also made an on-the-spot presentation on the most current methods of vehicles theft (Audi, VW, Skoda, Seat).

Mr Hans van der Bruggen, Deputy Director of the Dutch Registration Agency, explained the key role the registration agencies can have in the fight against vehicle criminality, followed by a presentation by Mr Diego M. Tebaldi, Regional Manager for Europe Middle East & Africa - LoJack International, who elaborated on the role of the antitheft equipments in downsizing the number of stolen cars.

Representatives from SP donor countries demonstrated how their respective countries - Italy, Finland and Spain - are affected by the stolen cars networks. Together with other participants, they ensured their continued support to the implementation of the common action in this thematic field.

Participants agreed that in order to efficiently tackle the challenge of theft and trade in stolen vehicles, regional cooperation is essential to achieve results. In this context, the active cooperation with Interpol and Europol was underlined, together with the necessity to establish links to the Bucharest-based SECI Regional Centre for Combating Transborder Crime.
Participants called on the Stability Pact, through the Police Forum Working Group, to monitor the development and actions taken in the field of stolen vehicles where all the relevant parties would be actively involved. The Chairman of the meeting took it upon himself to inform the colleagues in Albania, Bulgaria and Kosovo / UNMIK about the results of the meeting and to seek their full cooperation for the implementation of the Program of Action.

In line with the concept of regional ownership, one of the underlying principles of all activities in the Stability Pact framework, participants supported the approach to build on already existing structures and cooperation, while fully involving the countries from the SEE region. Duplication of work should be avoided in the same manner as the efficient use of resources should be encouraged. The participants emphasised the need to establish cooperation with other relevant regional initiatives active in this thematic area, taking into account efforts done in this respect by other initiatives like the Adriatic Ionian Initiative and the Central European Initiative.

Participants thanked the organisers for the efficient preparation of the event and agreed to meet in early Spring 2004, prior to the SP-Regional Table in June 2004 in order to review progress.