THE NATIONAL STRATEGY
ON COMBATING ORGANIZED CRIME
2004 – 2007
CHAPTER I
FOREWARD
PURPOSE
At the beginning of this millennium, the international community is confronted with
severe threats to the world security and order, with new forms of criminality, especially
organized form. EU member and candidate states, representing the main vectors of the fight
against criminality, are involved on logistic, operational and financial level in combating this
scourge.
Romania, as any other country that confronts with the diversity of organized crime like
trafficking in human beings, drug trafficking, illegal migration, forgery of currency, cyber
criminality, international trafficking in stolen cars or strategic materials, international terrorism
and laundering of crime proceeds.
In the period of transition passed by Romania from December 1989, the national and
international organized crime developed its activity, criminal groups acting in different areas of
the economic and social life. Part of the Romanian citizens, using the right to free circulation
committed criminal acts outside Romania, and afterwards based on the experience accumulated
initiated on the Romanian territory organized criminal groups, already existing in other
countries. In this context, we arrived to a specialization of the criminal groups in areas where the
profit is maximum, bringing prejudices to the economic system through embezzlement of public
funds and turning them into the profit of several groups of interests and affecting the nation’s
health and future, by organizing networks of drugs traffickers and making the youngsters
consumers, by trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation, trafficking in persons with
disabilities for begging as well as setting up real networks for recruitment in Romania and illegal
transfer over the state border of this kind of migrants.
The organized crime’s dimensions make it a risk to Romania’s national security by
affecting most of the economic and social areas, and impose to be set up adequate strategies,
based on the analysis of the organized crime and the tendencies of this phenomenon.
The strategy shows risk factors to the security climate, the principles that are on the base
of the organized criminality phenomenon set out the general and specific objectives, as well as
the means for enforcing it, as well as each institution’s responsibilities in combating the
phenomenon, reported to the priorities and resources granted to this phenomenon.
Within the process of legislative harmonization, was adopted the Law no. 39/2003 on
the prevention and combating organized crime, being set out the main judicial framework for
an unitary approach of the connected phenomena and of the crimes committed by organized
networks by different institutions and structures with duties in preventing and combating this
phenomenon.
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CHAPTER II.
GUIDELINES. RISK FACTORS. OBJECTIVES.
Section I
GUIDELINES
1. The priority principle – combating organized crime is a priority of the Romanian
Government.
2. The unitary and global vision principle – combating organized crime is based on
the unitary and global vision of the problem.
3. The principle of professionalism in all areas of activity – combating organized
crime means a good professional training of the specialists, as well as
disseminating the experience, good practices and new work instruments in the
area.
4. The continuity principle – the activities carried out in combating this
phenomenon have a permanent character.
5. The legality principle – observing the Constitution and the domestic legislation in
this area, as well as the specific provision of the international treaties Romania is
part of.
6. The confidentiality principle – the personal data resulted from specific activities
will not be made public unless in the cases and under the conditions provided by
the law.
7. The non-discriminatory principle – all the specific combating activities are
addressed to all the citizens involved in illicit activities, no matter the sex,
ethnical and religious affiliation.
8. The coordination and unitary cooperation among all the involved agencies
principle – the practices and procedures in combating organized crime will be
based on a unitary national concept.
9. The international active cooperation principle – the active cooperation in the
negotiations for acceding EU and ensuring an active role for Romania at the
international level.
Section II
RISK FACTORS AND DOMESTIC VULNERABILITIES
Achieving objectives, general and specific, means the possible intervention of several
risk factors and domestic vulnerabilities that must be identified, evaluated and taken into
consideration in setting up the action and implementation plan of the strategy.
The main risk factors domestic vulnerabilities are:
a) Risk factors:
- Romania’s geographical position, the Romanian territory being crossed by several
international trafficking routes;
- The social, political and economic instability of several areas neighboring Romania;
- The expansion of the trans-border organized criminal groups, of the illegal trafficking
in human beings, drugs, guns and ammunition, sensitive technologies, radioactive and
strategic materials;
- Proliferation of the mass destruction weapons, nuclear technologies and materials,
ammunition and unconventional lethal means;
- The growing number of illegal migrants;
- Individual or collective actions to illegal accession and use of the cyber or
communication systems.
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b) Domestic vulnerabilities:
- amplification of the corruption phenomenon’ deeds;
- amplification of the economic financial criminality;
- smuggling, clandestine immigration and trafficking in human beings;
- trafficking in weapons, ammunition, explosives, toxic and radioactive
substances;
- increase of the illegal trafficking and consume of drugs and psychotropic
substances;
- smuggling in products, technologies and services that are under international
embargo;
- the illegal penetration or destruction of communication networks;
- several deficiencies of the legislative framework useful in carrying out criminal
activities;
- insufficient human resources, material or financial resources;
- lack of or defective judicial framework for international cooperation with
certain countries.
Section III
OBJECTIVES
In formulating the objectives from the National Strategy of Combating Organized Crime,
were taken into consideration the provisions of the laws through which Romania ratified the UN
Convention on organized trans-national criminality, adopted in New York on 15th of November
2000, the Protocol on the prevention, repression and punishment of the trafficking in persons,
especially women and children, the Protocol on the illegal trafficking in migrants air, sea or
earth, as well as the Protocol on the illegal manufacture and trafficking of fire arms, pieces or
components, as well as ammunition, additional to the UN Convention.
Also, basis of this strategy were the programmatic documents on Romania’s accession to
EU, as well as the observations, recommendations and conclusions resulted after analyzing the
actual stage of this process.
III. 1. General objectives
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The institutional and operational development for the harmonization with the
European structures, according to the international conventions, agreements
and recommendations and the domestic legislation as well;
Developing and modernize both managerial capacity and staff training;
Harmonizing the legislation in the field with the communitary acquis;
Combating organized crime offences;
Developing the inter-institutional cooperation;
Developing the international cooperation in the fight against organized crime.
III.2. Specific objectives
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Making the institutional and functional fields compatible with the European
structures;
Improving the legislation in this field;
Optimizing the activities of the structures involved in combating organized
crime;
Increasing the efficiency of the operative activities through the use of
information and communication technology;
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Improving the inter-institutional co-operation in order to achieve a more
efficient fight against organized crime;
Optimizing the activity of combating illegal drugs trafficking and consume,
which is meant to increase the seizures of high risk drugs and to reduce the
drugs’ demand;
Suppressing the embezzlement of precursors from the legal circuit;
Confiscating the property and values used in committing crimes or obtained
from crimes related to organized crime;
Reducing the illegal trafficking in human beings;
Maintaining the descending trend of the crimes committed with high violence;
Decreasing the number of cars stolen from the E.U., which were made
indigenous or transited through Romania;
Developing the activities of preventing illicit trafficking in strategic materials;
Reducing both the volume of forged currency in the economic and financial
circuit and the frauds with forged payment instruments;
Combating the money laundering committed by the national and international
networks of criminals.
Diminishing the phenomenon of corruption
Computerizing the data bases and interconnecting the specialized structures at
the national level.
CHAPTER III
Measures to fulfill the objectives
Establishing, developing and making operational the “National Strategy for Combating
Organized Crime, in the period 2004 – 2007” involves the Romanian Government’s
responsibility in providing the financial tools that are meant to guarantee the maintenance of the
ongoing and fulfilling objectives.
The institutions involved in implementing this Strategy will secure (each of them for its
own activities), the necessary financial support.
Objective 1: Institutional and operational development with the view to making it
compatible with the European structures in accordance with the international conventions,
agreements and recommendations, as well as national legislation.
1.1. Establishing the National Coordination Centre of the Activities for Countering
Organized Crime, hereinafter referred to as the National Coordination Centre, national interinstitutional structure with the following duties:
a) Collecting, centralizing and analyzing the data concerning the phenomenon of
organized crime at the national level;
b) Coordinating the co-operation activities of the specialized structures within the
framework of the public authorities and institutions having competence in the field;
c) Exchange of data and information with similar structures of the European countries;
d) Coordinating the joint investigations with the judiciary and police authorities of the
European states on the basis of bilateral and multilateral agreements.
1.2. The data and information requested from European structures similar to the National
Focal Point shall be also put to the disposal of the National Coordination Centre.
1.3. Functional correlation, at the central and territorial level, of the structures of
combating organized crime and anti-drug within the public authorities and institutions competent
in the field with the corresponding structures of the Public Ministry;
1.4. Reorganization of several specialized structures within those institutions involved in
combating organized crime;
1.5. IT development of the institutions involved in combating organized crime.
1.6. Enhancing the … of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and
Terrorism.
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Objective 2: Development and modernization of managerial capacity, as well as staff’s
professional training
2.1. Optimizing the strategy of selecting, appointing and promoting the staff of the
structures specialized in combating organized crime and providing professional specialization
and continuous training for the staff of the institutions qualified in the field.
2.2. Making the managerial act efficient through increasing the co-ordination capacity of
the joint operative teams.
Objective 3: Harmonizing the domestic legislation with the communitary acquis.
3.1. Initiating legislative proposals on: development of the legal framework for
preventing and combating various forms of organized crime; Euro-compliance of the legislation
on weapons, explosives and toxic substances.
Objective 4: Combating organized crime offences
4.1. Improving the activities of combating illegal drugs trafficking and consume;
4.2. Combating trafficking in human beings;
4.3. Improving and enhancing the role of the Inter-ministerial Working Group for
coordination and assessment of the activities for the prevention and fight against trafficking in
human beings;
4.4. Combating the forgery and counterfeiting of currency, credit cards and other
payment instruments;
4.5. Preventing and combating trafficking in strategic materials;
4.6. Combating cyber crime;
4.7. Combating international trafficking in stolen cars;
4.8. Combating money laundering
4.10. Making efficient the activities for combating corruption, crimes related to unfair
competition, counterfeiting of products and values and crimes related to environmental
protection.
Objective 5: Developing inter-institutional cooperation.
5.1. Optimizing the cooperation with the Internet Supplier’s Association
5.2. Improving the cooperation between the public authorities and institutions competent
in the field;
5.3. Creating the portal to lodge the information on-line on the line of cyber crime.
Objective 6: Developing international cooperation in countering organized crime
6.1. Enhancing the co-operation with the foreign liaison officers accredited for Romania;
6.2. Improving the cooperation with the foreign liaison officers in Romania and with the
Romanian liaison officers on duty abroad.
6.3. Consolidating the co-operation with international agencies in the field: the Regional
Centre of the South-Eastern Europe Co-operation Initiative for combating cross-border
criminality (SECI), the Central European Initiative (ICE), Interpol, Europol (through the
National Unit), Eurojust, Secret-Service, D.E.A. and FBI of the USA;
6.4. Concluding cooperation protocols with similar structures of the neighboring
countries: Moldavia, Bulgaria, Serbia- Montenegro, Hungary and the Ukraine;
6.5. Developing the operative cooperation in the field of information exchange and
analysis with the 11 states signatory of the UNODC Program – Strengthening the Capacity of
Collecting and Analysis of Information in the South-East Europe.
6.6. Active participation within task-forces and initiatives of the regional, European and
international structures.
6.7. Developing the cooperation in the framework of punctual programs with similar
structures of EU member states, United States of America, neighboring countries and
international bodies;
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6.8. Unfolding the Phare Program 2004 on the establishment of the Resources Centre on
Trafficking in Human Beings;
6.9. Implementing the recommendations of the European Union Schengen Catalogue vol.
4 on “Police co-operation, recommendations and best practices regarding cross-border cooperation”.
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