Call for stricter laws to battle drug traffickers

Date: 24/05/01

JUSTICE Commissioner António Vitorino will today (Wednesday 23 May) unveil proposals designed to help member states cooperate in the battle against international drugs traffickers.

Vitorino will call on member states to introduce a common definition of the crime of drugs trafficking and ask them to put in place strict penalties.

He will also propose that the Commission should be given responsibility for drawing up a report every five years, measuring how well member states are working together to tackle the drugs trade.

The first such report should be published by July 2007, Vitorino said.

"Drugs don't recognise any borders. Close cooperation between the different judicial authorities, police and customs service of the member states is crucial in order to be able to respond to the challenge of transnational drugs trafficking," he said.

"For such cooperation to be effective it must be based on a set of common principles and objectives which ensure that drugs trafficking is subject to sanctions which are effective, proportionate and dissuasive, in all the member states."

At the Tampere summit in 1999, member states agreed to to work towards greater cooperation in the fight against international drug trafficking.

Justice Commissioner António Vitorino will unveil proposals designed to help Member States cooperate in the battle against international drugs traffickers, 23.5.01.