ABSTRACT
The G8's decision to set up a group of experts on transnational organized crime, which in 1996 became known as the Lyon Group, marked a turning point as far as the inclusion of this issue on its agenda was concerned. G8 summits may no longer be unfamiliar to the media and the general public but these annual meetings of the Heads of State and Government from the member states, which many see as a closed and exclusive club, conceal a whole process of advance preparation, involving a large number of actors who remain hidden behind official and media communiques. Another consequence of this institutionalization of the preparatory process was that the different components of the G8 system began to operate independently of each other. Finally, at the bottom level of the G8 come the groups of experts working on specific topics.
