European Law Enforcement Research Articles

Cigarette Ssmuggling and Corruption in Ukraine: Current Challenges and New Trends

Considering the current problems associated with cigarette smuggling, the authors of the article highlight new challenges that arise in connection with the growing volume of counterfeit and contraband cigarettes smuggled to the European Union (EU) from Ukraine. One of the main reasons behind this trend is the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine, which exacerbates the economic situation, accompanied by an increase in unemployment due to the destruction of production capacities and infrastructure, the breakdown of economic and social ties between different parts of Ukraine, and the weakening of the financial, banking, transportation, and communication systems. Conflict and widespread corruption in public and law enforcement agencies are creating new challenges related to the current crisis of counterfeit and contraband cigarettes of Ukrainian origin. These challenges require the Ukrainian government to implement new measures to combat cigarette smuggling. In this regard, the authors of the article pay special attention to various anti-smuggling measures, including increasing excise taxes, anti-corruption programs, and cooperation with European customs and law enforcement authorities. It is noted that the initiatives of the State Border Guard Service and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine to combat smuggling are hampered by the continuing instability and lack of resources. This poses obvious challenges in strengthening the necessary infrastructure to continue the fight against cigarette smuggling. Obviously, successful anti-smuggling programs will require additional funding, human resources and technical support from the relevant authorities, as well as greater integrity among their staff. The article indicates that until the negative socio-economic consequences of the current crisis have been overcome, the illegal flows of tobacco products from Ukraine to the EU will remain high.

A SELEC bemutatása

The Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC) is the only law enforcement organization in Southeast Europe fighting transborder serious and organized crime, established in 1999 by 11 Member States, Hungary being one of the founding countries.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ ІНСПЕКТОРІВ ПРИКОРДОННОЇ СЛУЖБИ В УМОВАХ ЄВРОІНТЕГРАЦІЇ

У статті висвітлено особливості професійної підготовки інспекторів прикордонної служби в умовах євроінтеграції. З’ясовано, що основним відомчим навчальним закладом підготовки інспекторів прикордонної служби є Головний центр підготовки особового складу Державної прикордонної служби України імені генерал-майора Ігоря Момота. Головний центр – це сучасний прикордонний багатопрофільний навчальний заклад, основними напрямами діяльності якого є підготовка, перепідготовка та підвищення кваліфікації особового складу. Для виконання завдань щодо підготовки персоналу в Головному центрі створено 5 центрів, які навчають фахівців за різними спеціальностями, та унікальну навчально-матеріальна базу, яка активно використовується для проведення міжнародних семінарів, тренінгів, курсів підвищення кваліфікації. Розкрито основні напрямки співпраці Головного центру з міжнародними інституціями, їх вплив на процес удосконалення професійної підготовки інспекторів прикордонної служби. Деталізовано деякі форми ефективної співпраці з європейськими правоохоронними навчальними закладами та міжнародними організаціями такими як: Міжнародна організація з міграції (МОМ), Організація з безпеки і співробітництва в Європі (ОБСЄ), Європейська Агенція з прикордонної та берегової охорони (FRONTEX), Європейська Комісія з надання допомоги в питаннях кордону в Україні та Республіці Молдова (EUBAM), Міністерство енергетики США, Державний департамент США. Особливу увагу авторка приділила висвітленню особливостей та ролі Головного центру у реалізації проекту “Нове обличчя кордону”. З’ясовано, що співпраця з міжнародними партнерами внесла корективи у програми підготовки інспекторів прикордонної служби. У сучасних навчальних програмах основна увага приділяється питанням здійснення прикордонного контролю, ідентифікації осіб та транспортних засобів, підготовці інспекторів прикордонної служби до професійної комунікації з особами під час процедури паспортного контролю, застосуванню методів профайлінгу, організації та здійснення провадження по адміністративним правопорушенням, іншомовній та психологічній підготовці, антикорупційному законодавству та дотриманню основоположних прав людини.

To the issue of personal information circulation in the national police databases

The urgency of the problem under consideration is due to the outdated legal framework of Ukraine in the sphere of personal information circulation, which has been in existence for more than 10 years, given the significant gradual changes that have already taken place and are planned in the legislation of the member states of the European Union. And with the advent of modern information and telecommunication technologies, the issues of processing of personified information become even more urgent in view of respect for fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.
 The purpose of the article is to analyze the current legislation of the European Union and Ukraine in the sphere of the circulation of personal information during the detection, prevention and investigation of offenses.
 Research methods. To achieve this goal, a number of scientific methods were used, namely: theoretical - to study and analyze national and international legal acts, scientific and methodological literature, summarize information to determine theoretical and methodological bases of the research; logical analysis - to formulate basic concepts and conduct classification; specific historical - to demonstrate the dynamics of the development of protection of personalized information about a person; dialectics - to determine the content and features of the constituent elements in the sphere of personal information turnover; empirical methods - to summarize the best practices of EU countries.
 Results of the research. The article analyzes the recent changes in the EU countries in the field of protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens when processing personal data by law enforcement agencies. Particular attention is paid to the urgency of storing personal data in police databases. The article also gives examples of European countries' law enforcement models in the area of the circulation of personal information. Attention is drawn to the basic principles of the processing of personal data, which are set out in the documents of the «Data Protection Package» adopted by the European Parliament, namely: legality, fairness and transparency; target restriction; minimizing data; accuracy; storage restrictions; integrity and confidentiality. The main provisions of the normative legal acts of Ukraine are presented, which reflect the norms regulating the sphere of turnover of personal data.
 Practical importance. Thus, European legislation in the field of the circulation of personal information, which came into force in May 2018, significantly modernized the existing information relations. It is stated that in different EU countries there is an approach to regulating the timing of personal data retention in police bases, which should be compatible with the rights and freedoms of individuals. Changes in EU law go hand in hand with limiting the timeframes for finding information in police databases and differentiating information based on the nature of the crime, the person's age, time elapsed, and the person's behavior. Due to this, the legislator came to a balance between securing the right of privacy and property of a person for his personal data and the need to exercise the statutory functions of the state, performed in the interests of national security, protection of human rights and security.
 It is necessary to introduce in Ukraine a new model of personal data turnover, which will be based on the modern realities of accumulation, processing, analysis and dissemination of information, by changing the provisions of regulations in the specified field in accordance with the principles set out in the documents of the «Data Protection Package», which provide creating conditions for ensuring a consistent international legal framework for the protection of personal data.

DIRECTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF TRAINING OF POLICE STAFF

The scientific article examines the issues of areas of international cooperation in the field of police training. Emphasis is placed on the best practices of Western Europe, the United States and Canada. At first it was emphasized that in modern conditions there is a rapid development of international relations on the principles of integration and mutual enrichment, and not on the terms of rigid differentiation. It is determined that the interaction is especially evident in the field of international cooperation of European law enforcement agencies. The author found that international police cooperation is carried out in several main areas: 1) assistance in training for foreign law enforcement agencies; 2) joint research of problems of struggle against offenses; 3) exchange of experience in the field of police training; 4) provision of logistical and advisory assistance. Emphasis is placed on the fact that an important factor is the recognition by the international community among other areas and the need for cooperation in the field of personnel training. The author formulates the main directions of international cooperation in the field of police training, in particular: integration into international bodies and organizations in the field of police training; integration into international police educational institutions; integration into the education system of leading foreign educational institutions, study of experience, analysis of the work of structural units, study of the scale of social activity, the field of scientific research, etc .; creating conditions for the development of police education in a particular country with the help of international partners and the experience of foreign countries; provision-receipt on a mutual, and more often on a unilateral basis to foreign colleagues of means of equipment, communication, equipment for use in police training. Finally, it is noted that the most intensive and effective police cooperation is carried out by the police of highly developed countries with similar economic, political and social conditions, similar legal attitudes and principles of law enforcement.

Shifting Ethical Boundaries in Forensic Use of DNA

Abstract In this paper we explore shifts in how the law and ethics allow European law enforcement officers to use forensic genetic technologies. We do so by reviewing three technologies, ‘traditional’ (STR-based) forensic DNA profiling, forensic DNA phenotyping and the searching of genetic genealogy databases. In particular, we discuss changes in how ethical boundaries have been placed around what is seen as an appropriate use of genetic technologies in European criminal justice systems. While the ‘type’ of DNA that law enforcement officers are permitted to analyse offers a useful ethical reference point, for newer forensic genomic technologies, ethical scrutiny, we argue, would also look at the specific purpose or use of the technology.

The Evolving Judicial Politics of European Integration: The European Court of Justice and national courts revisited

AbstractThis article analyzes how the judicial politics sparked by the European Union's (EU) legal development have evolved over time. Existing studies have traced how lower national courts began cooperating with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to apply EU law because this empowered them to challenge government policies and the decisions of their domestic judicial superiors. We argue that the institutional dynamics identified by this ‘judicial empowerment thesis’ proved self‐eroding over time, incentivizing domestic high courts to reassert control over national judicial hierarchies and to influence the development EU law in ways that were also encouraged by the ECJ. We support our argument by combining an analysis of a dataset of cases referred to the ECJ with comparative case study and interview evidence. We conclude that while these evolving judicial politics signal the institutional maturation of the EU legal order, they also risk weakening the decentralized enforcement of European law.

INDONESIAN TIMBER LEGALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM (SVLK): IN PURSUIT OF SUSTAINABILITY IN FOREST GOVERNANCE

This paper investigates the Indonesian Timber Legality Assurance (Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu, SVLK) and its nature to produce legal wood under the European Union-Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (EU-FLEGT) system. It is intended to ensure the exporting states control over legality of wood under new forest governance and its enforcement in EU market. Using a critical legal analysis, this paper argued that the SVLK could present legality in a formalistic way, but it could not guarantee the substantial meaning of benefit for sustainability, participatory and community. Therefore this paper contributes to provide a better understanding of the application of SVLK in Indonesia, along with reflecting some recommendations, as developing SVLK for domestic market, and replicating it into other exporting natural resources products. The comprehensive approaches for enforcing SVLK can lead to accelerate sustainability in more practical and grounded sense, to improve forest governance and welfare for local people therein.

Compliance of smallholder timber value chains in East Java with Indonesia's timber legality verification system

The Indonesian Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK) has been developed primarily to address illegal logging in Indonesia, and is licensed under the European Union's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. While SVLK was catalysed by concerns about the legality of wood originating from natural forests, it applies to all wood production in Indonesia, including smallholders harvesting planted trees. This study investigates SVLK implementation in value chains originating from smallholder forests planted on private land in East Java Province, where these forests are important assets for both farmers and the forest industries. It follows value chains for two manufactured wood products, blockboard and plywood. There are specific SVLK requirements for each value chain actor, other than the market brokers in these chains. Results reveal the limitations of SVLK architecture in relation to smallholder value chains, variation in compliance practices, and points of ‘illegalisation’ and legalization within the value chains. The blockboard and plywood products from each case study chain claimed SVLK compliance. However, only one of the two case study chains for each product was compliant up to the blockboard or plywood manufacturing stage; and no distinction was made at this stage between SVLK-compliant and non-compliant wood. Consequently, none of the final products from any case study chain are SVLK-compliant. These results illustrate the challenges of designing and implementing timber legality systems for smallholder value chains, and suggest areas of focus to improve SVLK for smallholder value chains.

Irregular Migration and Terrorism in the European Union—An Analysis Based on Reports of EUROPOL and FRONTEX

<p><em>The international migration has intensified during the last two decades. The number of the irregular migrants entered the European Union reached unprecedented level between 2014 and 2018. From 2015 to nowadays the European Union experienced a massive number of casualties caused by terrorist attacks.</em><em> </em><em>These facts are reinforced by the data of the European criminal statistics as well. Having regard to that the terrorist attacks constitute one of the most serious violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms on which the EU is founded, it is very important to deal with the relationship between the mentioned two phenomena. Although, </em><em>there is no evidence to declare that all of migrants are terrorist, however—it can be underlined-, the terrorists make use of migratory flows to enter into EU. It shall be emphasized that the phenomenon of the irregular migration is favorable to the terrorist organizations. The paper deals with the question of whether</em><em> </em><em>is there a connection</em><em> </em><em>between the irregular migration and the terrorism in the European Union, using European statistics of the European Law Enforcement Agency (EUROPOL) and the FRONTEX. Dealing with legal documents and analyzing them is not aim of this paper. </em></p>

Left to interest groups? On the prospects for enforcing environmental law in the European Union

ABSTRACTThere have been important changes in the enforcement of European Union environmental law over the last 25 years. Environmental law has traditionally been reliant on the European Commission, but the Commission has started to withdraw from enforcement. Instead, it is undertaking efforts to ‘outsource’ enforcement to environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) by systematically promoting access for such groups to national courts. While the Commission has indicated that it sees centralised and private enforcement as substitutes, the advantages and drawbacks of each mechanism are evaluated and it is concluded that both mechanisms have an important role to play. In particular, the private enforcement of EU environmental law is dependent on national opportunity structures that are unlikely to ever be fully liberalised and harmonised by EU procedural law. Private enforcement is therefore not a panacea for compliance problems, and the growing absence of a central enforcing authority is a cause for concern.

The Importance of the Concept of Sustainable Development in the Formulation of the Assumptions of Contemporary European Public Security Policy

<p>Koncepcja sustainable development została wprowadzona na forum międzynarodowe za sprawą raportu Brundtland w 1987 r. (Our Common Future). Jej pojawienie się z pewnością można uznać za przełom w dotychczasowym myśleniu o społeczeństwie i przyrodzie. Aby rozwój był samopodtrzymujący się lub trwały, musi łączyć ze sobą trzy elementy: utrzymywanie równości społecznej przy jednoczesnym wzroście gospodarczym oraz ochrona środowiska naturalnego z uwzględnieniem tak obecnych, jak i przyszłych pokoleń. Rozwój taki nie jest stanem statycznym, lecz procesem transformacji, który uwzględnia warunki społeczne, gospodarcze i środowiskowe. W dyskusjach nad kształtem koncepcji sustainable developement prowadzonych w ostatnich latach przeważa nastawienie europocentryczne, co jest wynikiem obecności tego rozwoju w strategiach gospodarczych państw uznawanych za rozwinięte pod względem cywilizacyjnym i o wysokiej ogólnospołecznej odpowiedzialności. Tymczasem początki dyskusji nad koncepcją rozwoju samopodtrzymującego się odnoszą się do problematyki państw słabo rozwiniętych. Wywodzą się one z lat 60. i mają niewiele wspólnego z zaawansowaniem społeczno-gospodarczym. Dzięki swoim środkom oraz doświadczeniu państwa rozwinięte mogą stać się „przekaźnikami” założeń koncepcji, zabezpieczając i stabilizując sytuację w państwach sąsiadujących z UE. Przykładem takiej polityki bezpieczeństwa UE jest współpraca z państwami rozwijającymi się w basenie Morza Śródziemnego (BMŚ), które są odbiorcami zarówno środków, jak i wiedzy z tą koncepcją związanych. Wzajemna współpraca w ustanawianiu ram do jej stosowania sprzyja bezpieczeństwu wspólnego regionu, jakim jest BMŚ. Celem tak określonego obszaru badań jest analiza koncepcji rozwoju samopodtrzymującego się w kontekście formułowania założeń współczesnej europejskiej polityki bezpieczeństwa i ochrony porządku publicznego, biorąc pod uwagę uwarunkowania tej polityki wynikające z bliskiego sąsiedztwa społeczeństw odmiennych kulturowo.</p>

Measuring the Deterrent Effect of European Cartel Law Enforcement

Abstract This article proposes a new approach to measuring the deterrent effect of cartel law enforcement by combining a game-theoretic model with Monte Carlo simulations. The game-theoretical analysis shows which type of perfect Bayesian Nash equilibria is obtained depending on the parameter setup: perfect compliance, imperfect compliance or zero compliance. For each equilibrium, we also derive the probabilities of type I (false-positive) and type II (false-negative) errors committed by the cartel authority. To account for the uncertainty and the vague knowledge concerning the model parameters, we perform Monte Carlo simulations based on parameter ranges extracted from the related literature. The simulations indicate that zero compliance dominates the picture and that the error probabilities are high for type II and negligible for type I errors. The results are fairly robust against correlation in the input parameters. Further robustness studies and interactive visualizations can be obtained with a supplemental web application.

Effectiveness of Private Enforcement of European Competition Law in Case of Passing-on of Overcharges: Implementation of Antitrust Damages Directive in Germany, France, and Ireland

The term ‘passing-on’ in the framework of private enforcement of European competition law has been a point of discussion for a considerable period of time now. The debate has elevated to its peak following the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter CJEU, Court of Justice or the Court) in case Courage and later Manfredi.1 In those milestone cases the Court supported the idea that any individual who suffers harm as a result of competition law infringement ought to be able to claim damages. As a result of this jurisprudential development, it soon became clear that the EU legislator will have to catch up with the idea of strengthening the position of individuals in private enforcement proceedings.

DOES THE EUROPEAN DAMAGES DIRECTIVE MAKE CONSUMERS BETTER OFF?

In the enforcement of European competition law, both public and private actors play a role. Public enforcement dominates. Leniency programs give cartelists incentives to reveal the cartel and disclose relevant information to the competition authority. The incentives originate from a reduction in sanctions. Directive 2014/104/EU aims at removing practical obstacles to compensation for victims of infringements of EU competition law. The literature suggests that facilitating private damages actions tends to limit the effectiveness of leniency programs. If victims are able to claim compensation, the incentive to apply for leniency may vanish. In addition to the literature, this paper not only considers the effect of private damages on incentives to apply for leniency, but also explores the consequence for deterrence and consumer welfare. Specifically, this paper investigates the implications of an improvement in the claim position of victims for (1) decisions to start or continue a cartel, (2) decisions to apply for leniency, and (3) consumer welfare. Cartelists’ behavior is analyzed in a dynamic setting. The paper finds that a marginal improvement in the position of victims in most cases leads to an increase in consumer welfare but not in deterrence. In some cases, it also leads to an increase in deterrence, and, in exceptional cases, makes consumers worse off because cartelists refrain from applying for leniency.

THE ANTITRUST TREATMENT OF ELECTRICITY MARKET OF UKRAINE: CONUNDRUM WITH THE CONCEPT OF COLLECTIVE DOMINANCE AND EU EXPERIENCE

The main purpose of the article is to provide comparison research of collective dominance doctrine and practice in the EU and the enforcement practice in Ukraine. Methodology. The paper focused on the compliance of AMCU’s analysis of national electricity market in Ukraine with the European law enforcement practice that arises from the international legal obligations of Ukraine to use in its practice the EU competition rules according to Article 18 of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community and taking into account the criteria of interpretation in accordance with the EU case law. Article 255 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU that clearly provides the principle of transparency, non-discrimination, and neutrality in compliance with the procedures of the procedural justice and the right of defence also indicates a special actuality of the carried-out research in this field. The main practical impact of such research is to implement not only substantial norms of the EU Competition law but its enforcement practice & to introduce it within the practice of AMCU. Value/originality. The paper examines a dominance doctrine, market power definition, economic strength, and collective dominance practice in the EU enforcement practice. A special attention was paid to enforcement practice in the electricity market. Due to the fact that the investigation of Ukrainian electricity market was provided for the first time in Ukraine, there is no practice yet in this issue. This causes the necessity of wide comparative approach in the principles of collective dominance in the electricity market in Ukraine. Results. The paper finds that the AMCU’s approach to electricity market regulation in Ukraine confirms the necessity to reform the system of the governmental regulation in the wholesale electricity market and in the market of services for electricity transmission, necessity for the change of the system for tariff and pricing policy formation on the part of the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission of Ukraine and the Ministry of Energy and Coal-Mining Industry of Ukraine for developing the competition in electricity market and the need to follow the approaches and criteria of the EU competition law with regard to determination of the dominance in the market, which is stipulated by the international legal obligations of Ukraine arising from Articles 18 and 94 of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community and Art. 255 of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

The decentralized enforcement of European law: national court decisions on EU directives with and without preliminary reference submissions

ABSTRACTThis article contributes to the study of the preliminary reference procedure and the literature on the decentralized enforcement of European Union (EU) law through national courts. Drawing on the ‘compliance pull’ explanation for why national courts submit preliminary references to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), it suggests that a greater need to clarify ‘the validity and interpretation’ of one act compared to another is associated with variation in Article 267 submissions. Drawing on a sample of 1,300 national court decisions on EU directives with variation in Article 267 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) submissions, this article finds that disputes relating to directives leaving more room for manoeuvre in implementation (‘delegation’) and relating to more complex regulatory issues (‘information intensity’) are more likely to be referred to the ECJ for interpretation. It argues that neglecting the ‘compliance pull’ explanations has consequences for how we conceptualize ‘decentralized enforcement’.

Improving European Water Resources: Prodding Private Enforcement of European Environmental Law with Human Rights

In the European Union (EU), may private citizens or organizations go to court to seek penalties or injunctions against private polluters? Environmental advocates and human rights lawyers have long answered this question in the negative. Unlike in the United States, laws in the EU have not explicitly authorized citizen suits – lawsuits filed by private parties to enforce environmental laws when public officials choose not to do so. The absence of citizen enforcement mechanisms, however, has contributed to poor implementation of Europe’s water regulations. In fact, half of Europe’s water does not qualify for “good ecological status.” The Article develops new analytical approaches for advancing water resource management and environmental advocacy through a human rights approach. Human rights litigation automatically permits private parties to sue both state and non-state actors. Thus, private EU citizens can sue water polluters by asserting violations of their fundamental right to water. In the EU, fundamental rights must enjoy support from three distinct legal sources: community law, constitutional traditions of EU member states, and international law. While the EU Court of Justice has yet to recognize environmental rights, this article demonstrates that all three legal sources fully support recognition of the right to water. Hence, private citizens should be able to file lawsuits against water polluters and improve Europe’s water quality in the process.

How to enforce European law? A new history of the battle over the direct effect of Directives, 1958–1987

AbstractThis article explores the well‐known saga of the European Court of Justice's introduction of direct effect of Council Directives on the basis of new comprehensive archival research. The expansion of the doctrine of direct effect to include Directives was part of a drive of the Legal Service of the European Commission and the ECJ to strengthen the enforcement of European law. This threatened the deeper balance of competences between the European Community and its Member States and consequently led to a sharp response from the national parliaments and courts. The force of these responses and the deep crisis that had evolved in the late 1970s between France and the ECJ, led to a change in the EC's case law that limited the direct effect of Directives to the vertical relation between citizens and the respective Member State and excluded any horizontal effect. The story is an example of how the activist ECJ of the 1970s ran into resistance from the Member States and had to modify its doctrinal advances. It also suggests that the successful acceptance of the constitutionalisation of the Treaties of Rome pursued by the ECJ was by no means secure by the late 1970s.

КЛЮЧОВІ ЗАСАДИ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЮ ПОЛІЦІЄЮ ПУБЛІЧНОГО ПОРЯДКУ ПІД ЧАС МАСОВИХ ЗАХОДІВ

The article deals with the features of public order and security during mass events in terms of foreign experience, which is implemented in the activities of bodies and units of the National Police of Ukraine in the framework of its reform. There has been analyzed the basic principles that determine the strategy and methods of policing with mass gatherings under the best European practices (Scandinavian model) to ensure law and order. In particular, the key principles of European law enforcement practice in ensuring the human right to a peaceful assembly about the range of regulations that define the activities of the National Police in this area of ​​activity have been studied. There has been investigated the main criteria that affect the effectiveness of the study model of public order protection in the work of the National Police of Ukraine. The scientific research is based on the concept of the introduction of the Scandinavian model of public safety and order in the activities of bodies and subdivisions of the National Police of Ukraine during mass events, through the prism of the provisions enshrined in it. The presented conclusions and proposals in the scientific article are based on the interview of persons from the leadership of the bodies and units of the National Police, who were trained by the Advisory Mission of the European Union in Ukraine on public order during mass events [1].