EUROPOL: Created by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 as the law enforcement agency of the European Union that handles criminal intelligence and combating serious international organised crime by means of cooperation between the relevant authorities of the member states. Headquarters in The Hague. Not entitled to conduct investigations, provides support with its tools of information exchange, intelligence analysis, expertise and training to national authorities. Europol cooperates outside the EU on an operational basis with: Albania, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Macedonia, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, the United States and Interpol, and it has strategic agreements with: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Customs Organization.

It has over 900 staff, and 185 Europol Liaison Officers (ELOs) are based at Europol headquarters. These ELOs are police officers seconded to Europol by the EU Member States and our non-EU partners. They guarantee fast and effective cooperation based on personal contact and mutual trust. It has an operational coordination centre and secure information network, to carry out over 18 000 cross–border investigations each year.

For the last five years, Europol has provided the permanent Secretariat for EnviCrimeNet (see below).

2011 Policy Brief: ‘OCGs based in the EU are involved in the illegal trafficking of (CITES) specimens…driven by the extraordinary ‘low risk/high profit’ ratio. Globally, the revenues generated by TES are estimated at over 4.4 billion Euros per year. Together, the EU Member States are the foremost destination for many endangered species from all over the world.’ Refers to seizures of forged and fraudulent permits, the use of the internet and correlation of TES with other OC activities as all increasing.

(During its Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2016, Dutch law enforcement authorities will put a focus on financial investigations related to environmental crimes. Concerns in Europe are the illegal logging and timber trade, in particular, the huge illicit profits gained through logging.)