ABSTRACT
The response to international crime involves two aspects that could also be defined as 'phases', differing in their conception but closely related to each other: the perception and precise evaluation of the criminal phenomenon; and the development of the necessary means - institutions, procedures, people, resources, technologies - to combat this phenomenon. This paper will try to respect this distinction. It first seeks to identify, in their essentials, the character of the new challenges presented by international organized crime. It then focuses mainly on the situation in the ED countries, with particular emphasis on the role, competencies and the activity of Europo!.
