Brussels, 08/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and Europol announced on Wednesday the creation of an interinstituional steering group to coordinate their activities to protect the euro against counterfeiting. The group defined an action plan that provides, from February 2001 on, for the preparation of a common approach in areas such as training, cooperation between establishments and bodies concerned (in the form of agreements), coordination with non-euro zone member countries, communication and legislation. In order to guarantee coordination between the relevant bodies, the steering group will provide an overview of the work carried out by the different parties, will develop a common strategy on the most important issues and will finalise a series of concrete priority measures over time. The steering group may convene high level meetings.
In the fight against counterfeiting, the institutional players concerned play different roles. The Commission takes legislative initiatives and makes a contribution to training and in the form of financial aid. The ECB makes a technical analysis of a new kind of forged note, stores data on counterfeiting, and carries out information campaigns. Europol supports the police services of the different Member States, facilitates the exchange of information and has a central data base available for police information relating to counterfeiting.
The priority measures with a view to a common approach in the fight against forgery had been defined by an ECB recommendation of 7 July 1998 and a Commission communication dated 22 July 1998. The ECB then adopted guidelines on the establishment of a centre for analysis of counterfeiting, the Europol mandate was extended and Europe created specialised working parties. Also, penal sanctions were used to strengthen the legal prosecution mechanism. Furthermore, a proposal of regulation on the exchange of information and cooperation in counterfeiting presented by the Commission in July 2000 should be adopted under Swedish Presidency.