on the underground economy: a threat to democracy,
development and the rule of law, and to the outline priorities for
Council of Europe activities in 2012-2013, invites the Committee
of Ministers to draw the attention of the governments of member states
to the proposals put forward by the Assembly in this respect and
recommends that it:
1.1 instruct
the competent intergovernmental committees to prepare studies on
the situation of organised crime, on undeclared work and on the
use by the member states of financial intermediation services through
offshore centres;
1.2 put in place a European observatory for gathering data
on counterfeit and substandard consumer goods that represent substantial
risks to public health, with a view to facilitating the implementation
of the Council of Europe Convention on Counterfeiting of Medical
Products and Similar Crimes involving Threats to Public Health (Medicrime
Convention, CETS No. 211) and assessing the need for an additional
protocol to this convention;
1.3 urge member states which are not members of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to join the Working
Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions and to subsequently
adopt the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public
Officials in International Business Transactions;
1.4 ensure that adequate budgetary and human resources are
allocated to priority activities targeting the various forms of
economic crime and any new action relating to the underground economy;
1.5 develop and strengthen co-operation between the Council
of Europe and other international organisations, including the OECD,
the World Bank, the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (EBRD), Europol, Eurojust, the United Nations, the
International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) in order to facilitate interstate efforts to
tackle underground economic activities and economic crime;
1.6 facilitate accession by the member states, the European
Union and non-member states to the relevant Council of Europe conventions
essential for intensifying co-operation to combat the underground
economy and economic crime;
1.7 consider widening the scope of GRECO’s 4th Evaluation
Round in order to also cover the executive branch of governance
vis-à-vis lobbyists and lobbying;
1.8 in the framework of the convention critical review process
and in the light of new developments, examine the need to update
the following conventions: the European Convention on Products Liability in
regard to Personal Injury and Death (ETS No. 91), the Convention
on Insider Trading (ETS No. 130) and its protocol (ETS No. 133),
the European Convention on Certain International Aspects of Bankruptcy (ETS
No. 136) and the Convention on the Protection of the Environment
through Criminal Law (ETS No. 172);
1.9 invite the member states that have not yet done so to
sign and ratify the following conventions: the European Convention
on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers (ETS No. 93), the European Convention
on the Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters (ETS No. 73),
the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to
Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108) and its additional
protocol (ETS No. 181), the Convention on Mutual Administrative
Assistance in Tax Matters (ETS No. 127) and its amending protocol
(CETS No. 208), the Convention on Cybercrime (ETS No. 185), the
Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 173) and its additional
protocol (ETS No. 191), the Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS
No. 174), the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking
in Human Beings (CETS No. 197) and the Council of Europe Convention
on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds
from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS No. 198).
