NCJ Number
147950
Journal
Justitiele verkenningen Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: (January-February 1993) Pages: 85-109
Date Published
1993
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Fraud against the European Community (EC) involves economic crimes such as fraud with customs duties and export subsidies.
Abstract
Although the known cases of EC fraud amount to no more than around 0.5 percent of the EC budget, the real extent of fraud is claimed to be as high as 10 percent. If this claim is true, such extensive criminality would negatively affect European policymaking in the areas involved, as well as fair national and international economic competition. Therefore, it is strange that the 10 percent figure has not received serious study. The data provided so far is far from convincing. A major problem in addressing fraud is that the enforcement of EC regulations is the responsibility of national agencies that have no direct interest in reducing EC fraud. However, the European Economic Community Treaty requires loyal implementation of EC regulations. Recent cases in the European Court of Justice require member countries to enforce EC regulations in the same way they do their national regulations and to provide proportionate and effective national law enforcement. If suitably extended and made operational, these criteria could well serve as measurable standards of quality for law enforcement systems in both national and international contexts. Measuring the actual extent of the fraud phenomenon has a crucial role in all these criteria. Tables, notes, and 28 references