Recommendations intended to support law enforcement authorities in preventing and combating illegal gambling and betting - Hoofdinhoud

A regulated market is not enough by itself to divert the interest of organised crime groups away from gambling. The considerable economic profits at stake mean that such groups continue to

manage the illegal gambling market 1 and infiltrate the legal market through direct and/or indirect 2

management and control of national gaming licenses and authorisations.

The European Council in its conclusions of 26 and 27 June 2014 3 underlined that it is essential to

guarantee a genuine area of security for European citizens through operational police cooperation and by preventing and combating serious and organised crime and to reinforce exchanges of information between the authorities of the Member States.

The Commission in its Recommendation of 14 July 2014 on principles for the protection of consumers and players of online gambling services and for the prevention of minors from gambling online (OJ L 214, 19.7.2014, p. 38) envisaged recommendations for online gambling, including the

identification and publication of information concerning online gambling operators 4 and the strengthening of identification procedures 5 for gambling account holders.

In view of this situation and the danger that criminal organisations may pose if they control even a small part of the tens of billions of euros in this sector, and based on the Member States' feedback to the questionnaire set out in doc. 11468/14, the Presidency believes that it is necessary to agree to certain recommendations intended to support law enforcement authorities in finding appropriate responses to combat and curb the threat posed by illegal gambling and betting, as well as by the related criminal infiltration.

The proposed recommendations are set out in the Annex.

The LEWP is invited to discuss and agree to the proposed recommendations.

1 They are gradually shifting their interests from offline to online gambling (by managing the

numerous unregulated internet sites).

2 Through legal persons (financial and/or multinational companies) under foreign law.

3 EUCO 79/14.

4 The company details or other information ensuring that the operator is identifiable and can be

contacted, including the company name, place of registration and e-mail address. Such information should be displayed clearly on the landing page of the operator's gambling website and be accessible from all pages on the website.

5 By using systems that allow identity to be verified, thus preventing registration with false or

non-existent personal details. Where direct electronic verification is not possible or in place, Member States are encouraged to facilitate access to national registers, databases or other national official documents.

ANNEX

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ANNEX TO ANNEX

The list of international and EU legal instruments and other documents

relevant in the field of combatting illegal gambling and betting

by the law enforcement authorities

The 2000 Palermo Convention

The international common instrument of reference defining the general principles for the fight against this phenomenon is the 2000 Palermo Convention against transnational organised crime (The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000).

The Palermo Convention is an important step forward in the fight against organised crime and shows that the signatory states formally recognise the seriousness of transnational organised crime, as well as the need to promote and strengthen international police cooperation in this field. Thus the states that ratified the Convention committed themselves to undertaking a number of measures against transnational organised crime, including the implementation of provisions on various crimes, such as participation in an organised criminal group, money laundering, corruption, and

obstruction of justice 1 .

1 The Palermo Convention also provides for new measures on extradition, judicial assistance

and cooperation, as well as on training and professional refresher courses in order to improve the skills of the law enforcement authority staff in the various countries.

12926/14 RR/dk 10 It is worth reiterating that the Palermo Convention, which has so far been ratified by 147 countries, binds the contracting parties to:

• ensure that all administrative, regulatory, law enforcement and other authorities dedicated to combating money laundering (including, where appropriate under domestic law, judicial

authorities) have the ability to cooperate and exchange information at the national and international levels within the conditions prescribed by their domestic law (Article 7 – Measures to combat money laundering);

• endeavour to develop and promote global, regional, sub-regional and bilateral cooperation among judicial, law enforcement and financial regulatory authorities in order to combat

money laundering (Article 7 – Measures to combat money laundering);

• adopt measures to enable the identification, tracing, freezing or seizure of any item, such as proceeds of crime, for the purpose of eventual confiscation (Article 12 - Confiscation and

seizure, paragraph 1);

• cooperate closely with one another, consistent with their respective domestic legal and administrative systems, to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement action to combat the offences covered by the Convention (Article 27 - Law enforcement cooperation);

• exchange information and coordinate administrative and other measures taken as appropriate for the purpose of early identification of the offences covered by the Convention (Article 27 - Law enforcement cooperation, point (f) of paragraph 1).

Given its broad practical scope and in order to make its content more effective, the Convention envisages that, failing bilateral/multilateral agreements or understandings on direct cooperation between law enforcement authorities, the States Parties may refer to the Convention as the legal basis for cooperation between law enforcement authorities, thus indicating the relevant basic criteria that they should always guarantee in order to combat transnational organised crime, money laundering and other related serious crimes.

Considering the transnational nature of illegal gambling and betting, the degree of danger is generally linked to two concomitant factors: infiltration of the legal economy (through partnerships with local businessmen) and the capacity to do business by means of the huge capital available.

Other relevant documents

EU legislation related to law enforcement cooperation and effective information exchange:

✓ Council Framework Decision 2001/500/JHA of 26 June 2001 on money laundering, the identification, tracing, freezing, seizing and confiscation of instrumentalities and the proceeds

of crime 1 ;

✓ Council Framework Decision 2003/577/JHA of 22 July 2003 on the execution in the European

Union of orders freezing property or evidence 2 ;

✓ Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA of 22 July 2003 on combating corruption in the

private sector 3 and the Report from the Commission to the Council based on Article 9 of the

above-mentioned Framework Decision (COM(2007) 328 i);

✓ Council Framework Decision 2005/212/JHA of 24 February 2005 on confiscation of crimerelated

proceeds, instrumentalities and property 4 , as well as Council Framework Decision

2006/783/JHA of 6 October 2006 on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to

confiscation orders 5 ;

✓ Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA of 18 December 2006 on simplifying the exchange of information and intelligence between law enforcement authorities of the Member

States of the European Union 6 ;

✓ Council Framework Decision 2007/845 i/JHA of 6 December 2007 concerning cooperation between Asset Recovery Offices of the Member States in the field of tracing and identification

of proceeds from, or other property related to, crime 7 ;

✓ Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA of 24 October 2008 on the fight against organised

crime 8 ;

1 OJ L 182, 5.7.2001.

2 OJ L 196, 2.8.2003.

3 OJ L 190, 18.7.2002.

4 OJ L 68, 15.3.2005.

5 OJ L 328, 24.11.2006.

6 OJ L 386, 29.12.2006.

7 OJ L 332, 18.12.2007.

8 OJ L 300, 11.11.2008.

✓ Directive 2014/24 i/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on

public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC i 1 ;

✓ Directive 2014/42 i/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the

freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union 2 , and the relevant declaration on an analysis to be carried out by the Commission 3 .

Other relevant EU documents related to gambling, organised crime and money laundering:

✓ C(2014) 4630/2 – Commission Recommendation of 14 July 2014 on principles for the protection of consumers and players of online gambling services and for the prevention of

minors from gambling online 4 ;

✓ COM(2014) 154 final i – Communication of March 2014 from the Commission " An open and

secure Europe: making it happen" in which the Commission emphasised the importance of preventing the infiltration of criminal profits into the legal economy;

✓ European Council Conclusion of 26-27 June 2014 (EUCO 79/14), which reiterates the need to fight against serious and organised crime by strengthening operational police cooperation and enhancing prevention, with a reinforced coordination role for Europol and Eurojust, through the improvement of cross-border information exchange, including on criminal records, and the

further development of a comprehensive approach to cyber security and cybercrime;

✓ Note from the Italian delegation aimed at developing a European Union action against the infiltration of organised crime into the legal economy, especially in public procurement of 20 February 2014 (6730/14) containing an analysis of the results of the questionnaire in

document CM 5073/13;

✓ A collection of good practice examples from Member States in the EU Handbook –

Complementary Approaches and Actions to Prevent and Disrupt Organised Crime of 30 May 2011 (10899/11), and its Part II of 12 December 2013 (17600/13);

1 OJ L 94, 28.3.2014.

2 OJ L 127, 29.4.2014, p. 39.

3 16861/13 ADD 1 of 28 November 2013.

4 OJ L 214, 19.7.2014.

✓ European Parliament Resolution of 10 September 2013 (2012/2322(INI) i) on online gambling in the internal market;

✓ Final Report of the European Parliament on organised crime, corruption and money laundering: recommendations on actions and initiatives to be taken of 17 September 2013

(2013/2107(INI));

✓ Council Decision 2013/304 i/EU of 10 June 2013 authorising the European Commission to participate, on behalf of the European Union, in the negotiations for an international convention to combat fraud and the manipulation of sport results;

✓ SOCTA (EU Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment) 2013, in which Europol underlined that, between 2011 and 2013, important investigations into illegal betting and match fixing were conducted in 13 European countries and in many third countries;

✓ COM(2012) 596 final i – Commission Communication of 23 October 2012: "Towards a comprehensive European framework for online gambling";

✓ SEC(2011) 321 final – European Commission Green Paper on online gambling of 24 March

2011;

✓ Council Conclusions of 10 December 2010 on the framework for gambling and betting in the Member States of the European Union (16884/10);

✓ Final report of 14 June 2006 on the Study of Gambling Services in the Internal Market of the

European Union, prepared by the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law for the European

Commission 1 .

1 http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/gambling/docs/study1_en.pdf

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