More than five years have passed since the Treaty on European Union came into force and the activities in the field of Justice and Home Affairs were started. During five years, many documents have been adopted and various activities have been carried out in this field, although there have been positive and negative evaluations there of.
This article endeavours to make a brief introduction of the activities in the field of EU Justice and Home Affairs with special emphasis on the combat against organized crime, which has also been dealt with in other international fora such as in the United Nations and G8 summit meetings.
In examining the EU activities in this field, the following two documents are indispensable: “Council resolution laying down the priorities for cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs for the period from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1998”; and “Action Plan to combat organized crime”. Conventions, joint actions and joint positions to combat organized crime that have been elaborated or are presently being elaborated could be fully understood if one examines these two fundamental documents.
15 political guidelines and 30 recommendations contained in the Action Plan, as well as priorities laid down by the Council resolution, could roughly be summarized as seeking five basic objectives: (1) obligation to criminalize certain kinds of conduct; (2) controlling the proceeds of crime; (3) enhancement of international cooperation; (4) EU level action, such as strengthening Europol; and (5) promotion of administrative measures.
One should also take into account the changes made to the EU and EC mechanisms by the Treaty of Amsterdam, which, when coming into force some time in 1999, will revise considerable provisions in the EU and EC treaties.
Bearing the above factors in mind, the activities in the field of EU Justice and Home Affairs with particular emphasis on the combat against organized crime will be discussed in this article.
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