Discussions have been ongoing since 2020 to better organize and reorient the operational collaboration between the Benelux countries. Photo: Shutterstock

Discussions have been ongoing since 2020 to better organize and reorient the operational collaboration between the Benelux countries. Photo: Shutterstock

On 11 December 2021, the Benelux Interparliamentary Assembly unanimously approved a recommendation on the illegal drug trade and organised crime. Several initiatives were formed when the three governments met.

Deputy Gusty Graas (DP) in a parliamentary question raised the subject of the Benelux cooperation on fighting cross-border drug trafficking and crime and the sharing of data, which was answered 28 January, by a joint address from the Ministre of Justice, Sam Tanson and the minister of interior security, Henri Kox.

There are numerous treaties, conventions and initiatives at a bilateral, multilateral and European level which aim to strengthen cross-border police cooperation, answered in a joint letter justice minister Sam Tanson (déi Gréng) and interior security minister Henri Kox (déi Gréng).

In December of last year, . The proposal on police cooperation by the commission aims to make it easier for police officers to operate in other EU countries, with common standards, a joint data base between officers participating in joint operations anywhere in the EU.

The Benelux Police Treaty of 23 July 2018 will further consolidate police cooperation between the Benelux countries and is expected be an important tool in the fight against, among other things, organised crime.

“It's an innovative treaty, which could serve as an inspiration to the European Union in terms of police cooperation,” the parliamentary answer states. The treaty will enter into force this year, 2022.

Luxembourg has often been at the forefront of police cooperation bills. In 2008 the Benelux countries built upon on what was, at the time, an ambitious “cross-border police intervention treaty” (2004). Luxembourg is also one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Schengen.

Discussions have been ongoing since 2020 to better organise and reorient the operational collaboration between the Benelux countries in the fight against cross-border drug trafficking. The French authorities have also been participating.

Further measures

Following the conclusions in January 15, 2021 of a strategic consultation named “Hazeldonk”, an action plan aimed at combating organised networks of distribution of drugs between the four countries and the criminal organisations was developed. Hazeldonk lists all the operational actions that will be implemented during the period 2021-2024 and is subdivided into three pillars:

-       Exchange of information and expertise;

-       The approach of drug distribution networks;

-       Police checks

In addition, the Benelux countries intend to strengthen their cooperation in the fight against trafficking international organised drugs via postal and courier services.

Both the police, the customs services and the public prosecutors of the three countries and of North Rhine-Westphalia (RNW) are involved in this cooperation.

Finally, a continuous process of information sharing is envisaged between the Benelux countries. This includes the sharing of their assessments in how criminal gangs operate and their favoured methods, with the aim of offering new starting points for the approach to cross-border crime.

In answer to a question concerning cooperation with public-private partners, the two ministers revealed that the police does not currently use those partnerships, but that the postal service regularly cooperate with the Police and contact them directly in case of suspicious packages.

The general confiscation system in Luxembourg law is conviction-based.

Although Luxembourg does not have a general regime for confiscation without conviction, a British decision of the High Court in London was made enforceable in 2015 on basis of the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of crime of the Council of Europe of 1990.