European Parliament Special committee on organised crime, corruption and money laundering Second session on organised crime: Fields of activity and instruments - prevention, investigation and repression Panel on Trafficking and Counterfeiting Brussels 11 July 2012
DG TAXUD Council R.1383/2003 of 22/7/2003 concerning customs actions against goods suspected of infringing certain IPR (Art. 22) DG OLAF COUNCIL R 515/97 SPONTANEOUS ASSISTANCE ASSISTANCE ON REQUEST JOINT CUSTOMS OPERATION (SPECIAL SURVEILLANCE OF GOODS / INDIVIDUALS /COMPANIES/MEANS OF TRANSPORT) ADMINISTRATIVE INVESTIGATION RELATIONS WITH THIRD COUNTRIES CUSTOMS INFORMATION SYSTEM / CIS CMA AGREEMENT EU - THIRD COUNTRIES SPONTANEOUS ASSISTANCE ASSISTANCE ON REQUEST JOINT CUSTOMS OPERATION (SPECIAL SURVEILLANCE OF GOODS / INDIVIDUALS /COMPANIES/MEANS OF TRANSPORT) ADMINISTRATIVE INVESTIGATION EXPERTS AND WITNESSES CUSTOMS INVESTIGATION FILES /FIDE 2
Joint Customs Operation «Sirocco 2010» Action co-ordinated by OLAF with the support of EUROPOL 3
Joint Customs Operations co-ordinated and/or supported by OLAF are based on the IT application Virtual Operational Coordination Unit. It can be combined with the Permanent Operational Coordination Unit (POCU). Key players in JCOs: Coordinator, National contact points (NCPs), and Liaison officers (LOs) 4
National Contact Point (NCP) & other partners Union for the Mediterranean (11 Non-EU Countries + 27 EU MS) Albania Croatia Egypt Jordan Lebanon Palestinian Authority Montenegro Morocco Syria Tunisia Turkey 27 EU MS International and Regional Organizations/agencies European Commission WCO EUROPOL DG TAXUD INTERPOL 5
Liaison Officers COUNTRY REPRESENTING COUNTRIES COUNTRY REPRESENTING COUNTRIES BELGIUM DENMARK EGYPT GERMANY BELGIUM LATVIA LITHUANIA LUXEMBURG DENMARK ESTONIA FINLAND SWEDEN EGYPT JORDAN LEBANON GERM ANY AUSTRIA HUNGARY ITALIA MOROCCO THE NEDERLANDS POLAND PORTUGAL SPAIN ROMANIA TURKEY EUROPOL ITALY CROACIA MALTA MONTENEGRO MOROCCO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY NETHERLANDS IRELAND UNITED KINGDOM POLAND CZECH REPUBLIC SLOVAKIA SLOVENIA SPAIN PORTUGAL CYPRUS FRANCE ROMANIA BULAGARIA GREECE TURKEY ALBANIA SYRIA See remarks in point 12.4 of the EUROPOL Final Report 6
JCO SIROCCO: V-OCU Overview 38 UFM NCPs OLAF Co-ordinator V-OCU application 11 Liaison Officers (incl.1 Europol LO) 7
SCOPE Deep sea containers loaded in the selected ports of China and the United Arab Emirates: directly discharged in a port of a member of the Union For the Mediterranean (UFM), or in transshipment with declared destination to a Union For the Mediterranean (UFM) port, Counterfeit cigarettes Smuggled genuine cigarettes Counterfeit or sensitive goods 8
TARGETED MOVEMENTS PORTS OF LOADING * CHINA Chiwan Sekhou Shangai Shenzen PORT OF LOADING UAE Jebel Ali PORTS OF UNLOADING UFM (in the Mediterranean Area) PORTS OF LOADING * CHINA Chiwan Sekhou Shangai Shenzen PORT OF TRANSHIPMENT UAE Jebel Ali PORTS OF UNLOADING UFM (in the Mediterranean area) 9
Duration and Phases Pre Operational Phase 8 days, from 07/06/2010 to 14/06/2010 Operational Phase 11 days, from 15/06/2010 to 25/06/2010 Post Operational Phase 14 days, from 26/06/2010 to 09/07/2010 10
EUROPOL and INTERPOL EUROPOL NCP (The Hague) POCU 411 MR 77 hits AWF Inconclusive INTERPOL NCP (Lyon) ZKA 1004 checks No relevant hits 11
Results 40 Seizures of tobacco products, alcoholic beverages and counterfeit goods: 5 containers of counterfeit cigarettes in a total amount of 37 408 200 pieces; 2 containers of hand rolling tobacco in a total of 1 071 kilos; 32 consignments of counterfeit goods of diverse nature, namely clothing articles, shoes, bags, toys and electronic equipment; 1 container with 7 038 Litres of non declared alcoholic beverages; 3 individuals arrested. 12
Results 5 CONTAINERS OF COUNTERFEIT CIGARETTES ( 37 408 200 pieces): 8 million 13 3 Individuals arrested
14 Investigation on counterfeited medicine (in marge of the JCO Sirocco)
Routing : Jebel Ali (UAE) Malta (EU) - Al Khoms (LYBIA) Goods declared in transit as body care items, refrigerator, house appliances/toasters 15
TRAMADOL HYDROCHLORID DECLARED AS REFRIGERATOR 16
TRAMADOL 200 DECLARED AS HOUSE APPLIANCES (empty plastic picnic coolers) 17
TRAMADOL DECLARED AS TOASTERS 18
Results Of the 118 million tablets/capsules seized in 8 containers: 98 million were Tramadol (No IPR infringement because the patent has been liberalized, but infringement for illicit traffic of drugs) 20 million tablets were Vega Blue (sildefanil) (IPR infringement) It must also be noted that: No literature leaflets have been found in any of the cartons/boxes Another concern is the quantities involved as the supply may be deemed not commensurate with the demand in Libya. Could this medicine be re-routed? Egypt 19
Possible development With a view to increase the efficiency of JCO, further reflection shall take place in order to develop in OLAF premises a more permanent structure for Joint Customs Operations in close relation with Member States and all bodies concerned. Such permanent structure should be staffed with OLAF officials and Liaison Officers from the EU MS. Due to the transversal responsibilities of this permanent structure, we should explore the possibility for EUROPOL to also proceed with the appointment of an Liaison Officer in this permanent structure. With a view to better co-operate and to enhance the efficiency, it is also suggested to explore: on the one hand, the possibilities for Europol to also access customs cases related to the area of commercial fraud and other EU measures of restrictions and prohibitions (e.g contreband of cigarettes, counterfeit goods, embargo for IRAN, dual use goods, cash entering or leaving the EU, etc) and, on the other hand, EUROPOL would faciliate the access for OLAF to the corresponding Analysis Working File s (e.g. AWF SMOKE, COPY, SUSTRANS, etc. 20