Prepared by law faculty students: Anastasia Gopta, Julia Prygun,

Ksenia Tarasova. Supervisor: Tatiana

Drozdova.

The idea of universal criminal

justice has its roots far back in human

history. But only in the 20th century did such

ideas were made a reality as a legal issues.

The evolution

of international

criminal law is a

result of some of

the darkest

chapters of human

history, like wars

and the genocide

of the people.

Аn idea to consolidate European

countries appeared after World War II.

Foundation of the European Coal and

Steel Community in 1952 became the

first step on the way to European Union.

European Coal and Steel Community was created by 6 countries:

In 1957, these six countries

signed the Treaty of Rome and

created the European Economic

Community (EEC) which was

founded to bring about economic

integration.

The European Union was formally established when the Maastricht Treaty came into force on 1 November 1993.

Nowadays the European Union is composed of 27 member states:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,

Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,

the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and

the United Kingdom.

The EU's work is divided into three areas of responsibility, called pillars.

In 1999 European Council In 1999 European Council at the Treaty of at the Treaty of Tampere Tampere created a special subdivision created a special subdivision

(agency) (agency) EUROJUSTEUROJUST

Eurojust is a

body, which is

dealing with judicial

co-operation in order

to improve the fight

against the most

serious crime.

COMPOSITION OF EUROJUSTCOMPOSITION OF EUROJUST

The first priorities for this co-operation The first priorities for this co-operation could be could be juvenilejuvenile, , urbanurban and and drug-drug-related crime.related crime.

Crimes in IT sphere (information technologies).

Fraud and bribery and other offences directed against economic interests of European Community.

Money laundering.

Ecological offences.

Participations in organized criminal groups on the territory of EC Member.

WORKING METHODS OF THE WORKING METHODS OF THE BODY BODY

The European Council considers that, with regard to national criminal law, efforts to agree on common definitions, incriminations and sanctions should be focused in the first instance on a limited

number of sectors of particular relevance, such as financial crime

(money laundering, corruption, Euro counterfeiting), drugs

trafficking, trafficking in human beings, particularly exploitation of

women, sexual exploitation of children, high tech crime and environmental crime. Serious

economic crime increasingly has tax and duty aspects.

The European Council therefore calls upon Member States to provide full mutual legal

assistance in the investigation and prosecution of serious economic crime.

Money laundering is at the very heart of organized crime. It should be rooted out wherever it occurs. The European Council is determined to ensure that concrete steps are taken to trace, freeze, seize and confiscate the proceeds of crime.

With due regard to data protection, the transparency

of financial transactions and ownership of corporate

entities should be improved and the exchange of

information between the existing financial

intelligence units (FIU) regarding suspicious

transactions expedited.

The European Council underlines that all competences and

instruments at the disposal of the Union, and in

particular, in external relations must be used in an

integrated and consistent way to build the area of freedom, security and

justice. Justice and Home Affairs concerns must be

integrated in the definition and implementation of other Union policies and activities.

Full use must be made of the new possibilities offered by the Treaty of Amsterdam for

external action and in particular of Common Strategies as well as Community agreements

and agreements based on Article 38 TEU.

The European Council is deeply committed to reinforcing the fight

against serious organized and transnational crime.

The high level of safety in the area of freedom, security and justice presupposes an

efficient and comprehensive approach in the fight against all forms of crime.

A balanced development of union wide measures against crime

should be achieved while protecting the freedom and legal rights of individuals and economic

operators.

The exchange of best practices should be developed, the network of competent national authorities for crime prevention and co-operation between national crime prevention

organizations should be strengthened and the possibility of a Community funded program should

be explored for these purposes.

The European Council calls for the establishment of a European Police Chiefs operational Task Force to exchange, in co-operation with Europol , experience, best

practices and information on current trends in cross-border crime and contribute to the

planning of operative actions.

The European Council calls on the Council to provide Europol with the necessary support

and resources. In the near future its role should be strengthened by means of receiving

operational data from Member States and authorizing it to ask Member States to

initiate, conduct or coordinate investigations or to create joint investigative teams in certain areas of crime, while respecting

systems of judicial control in Member States.