EU Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2009 (OCTA)

OCTA is prepared periodically by Europol. It makes use of data on organized criminal groups, provided by national authorities. The report describes the structural characteristics and the functioning of organized criminal groups, in addition to identifying trends that will define their future development. One of OCTA main features is that all criminal activities are viewed through the prism of the so-called EU criminal hubs, the latter being defined by the interaction between the EU-based organized criminal groups and non-European criminal networks, integrated within the global crime system. OCTA represents an important step towards further harmonization of scientific/methodological and practical efforts to introduce strategic planning in the activities of law enforcement institutions in all member states, which will make use of forecasts about future development of threats from organized crime within the EU.

The integral text is available at: EU Organised Crime Threat Assessment: OCTA 2009