MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

CM Documents

CM(2026)2

20 January 2026[1]

1551st meeting, 25 February 2026

10 Legal questions

 

10.6 European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC)

a. Abridged report of the 88th plenary meeting (Strasbourg, 25-27 November 2025)

Item to be considered by the GR-J at its meeting on 12 February 2026

 

Opening of the meeting and adoption of the agenda

The European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) held its 88th plenary meeting from 25 to 27 November 2025 under the chairmanship of Mr Fritz ZEDER (Austria).

The agenda of the meeting is contained in the Appendix. The full report of the meeting including the list of participants is available here.

List of items for decision by the Committee of Ministers

The CDPC:

-               approved the draft Additional Protocol supplementing the Council of Europe Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime and on the financing of terrorism, prepared by the CDPC Committee of Experts on Criminal Asset Recovery (PC-RAC) and its draft explanatory report as they appear in documents CM(2026)2-add1 and CM(2026)2-add2 respectively;

-               approved the draft revised Recommendation Rec(89)12 on education in prison with its Explanatory Memorandum as proposed by the Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP);

-               approved the draft Recommendation on Accountability for Technology-facilitated Violence against Women and Girls with its Explanatory Memorandum, prepared by the Committee of Experts on combating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (GEC/PC-eVIO).

List of items for information of the Committee of Ministers

The CDPC:

-           endorsed the opinion of the Committee of Experts on the operation of European conventions on co‑operation in criminal matters (PC-OC) on the possible accession of Kyrgyzstan to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (CETS 030) and instructed the Secretariat to transmit it to the Committee of Ministers when Kyrgyzstan formally requests to be invited to accede to that Convention;

-               instructed the PC-RAC to fine-tune the Explanatory Report to above-mentioned Protocol;

-           elected Mr Lorenzo Salazar (Italy) as President of the CDPC and Ms Garonne Bezjak (Germany) as its Vice President;

-           elected Ms Paulina Tallroth (Finland), Ms Florence Gilbert (France) and Ms Anna Wardell (United Kingdom) as members of the CDPC Bureau;

-           elected Mr Michael Sorger (Austria), Ms Caron McCaffrey (Ireland), Ms Aleksandra Deanoska-Trendafilova (North Macedonia) and Ms Iuliana-Elena Carbunaru (Romania) as new members of the Council for Penological Cooperation (PC-CP) Working Group.

The CDPC took note of:

-               the Secretary General’s initiative on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI), the new sub-committee (PC-FIMI) set up under the authority of the CDPC and the expected feasibility study on FIMI, which must be adopted by the CDPC no later than 15 April 2026, with a view to its adoption at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers in May 2026 in Chisinau;

-           the opening for signature of the Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law on 3 December 2025 in Strasbourg;

-               the work carried out by the PC-CP since June 2025, including the ongoing work on revising and updating Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)12 concerning foreign prisoners; the ongoing work on the revision of the Council of Europe Probation Rules; and the upcoming Conference of Directors of Prisons and Probation Services in Valletta (Malta);

-           the election of Mr Jorge Monteiro (Portugal) as President of the PC-CP and Ms Carla Ciavarella (Italy) as Vice-President of the PC-CP;

-               the work carried out by the PC-OC since June 2025, including on a draft paper on the role of the Council of Europe conventions in the context of international co-operation relating to core international crimes and the articulation between these conventions and the Ljubljana-The Hague Convention;

-               the work carried out by the PC-OC on the issues of the relationship between asylum and extradition procedures, time limits for surrender, confidentiality in MLA proceedings, a questionnaire on the application of the Convention on the transfer of sentenced persons, as well as the supervision of conditionally sentenced or conditionally released offenders;

-               the information provided by the Secretariat on the Committee of Experts on combatting the smuggling of migrants (PC-TM) set up under the authority of the CDPC and responsible for drafting the Recommendation on deterring and fighting the smuggling of migrants, and for supporting the implementation of the Action Plan on Fighting the Smuggling of Migrants (SoM);

-               the information on the 3rd international Conference on SoM held in Strasbourg on 21 October 2025, followed by the annual meeting of the Network of Prosecutors on SoM;

-               the fact that the Explanatory Report to the draft Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism would be fine-tuned at the 7th meeting of the PC-RAC in December 2025;

-               the information on the ongoing work on the CDPC’s deliverable “Draft legal instrument on criminal liability related to the use of artificial intelligence”;

-               the information on the ongoing work on the CDPC’s deliverable “Draft guidelines for implementing Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)8 on restorative justice in criminal matters”;

-               the monitoring work carried out by the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs (CETS No. 216) concerning its implementation, as well as the growing interest in this Convention;

-               the monitoring activities of the Committee of the Parties to the MEDICRIME Convention (CETS No. 211) aimed at improving its effective use and implementation, along with the growing number of States Parties to this Convention;

-               the work of the Aragon Group, advisory body to the Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property (CETS No. 221), aimed at supporting the Convention’s implementation and the establishment of National Platforms, as well as the growing number of States Parties to this Convention;

-               the ongoing work within the CAI concerning the development of a Council of Europe methodology for the risk and impact assessment of AI systems from the point of view of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (HUDERIA);

-               the work of the Pompidou Group on developing policy guidelines on combating organised crime relating to drug trafficking based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights;

-               the List of Decisions of the 15th Plenary Meeting of the Committee on Counter-Terrorism (CDCT), the finalisation of the Report on factors driving violent extremism leading to terrorism, the draft Recommendation on countering terrorism, violent extremism and the underlying radicalisation online, and the Guidelines on support services for victims of terrorism;

-               the ongoing work of the Steering Committee for Anti-discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI);

-               the ongoing process concerning a possible update of the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers on Child-Friendly Justice.

Resource implications

The financing of most of the activities described in this report is assured for 2026. Additional resources will be required for 2026 to:

-               enable the reconvening of the CDPC-AICL drafting committee for the completion of tasks decided in relation to the CDPC’s expected deliverable of a draft legal instrument on criminal liability related to the use of AI;

-               support further promotional efforts in 2026-27 related to Restorative Justice ahead of the CDPC’s approval of Guidelines to implement Recommendation CM/Rec(2008)8 by the end of 2027.

Appendix

Agenda

1.         Opening of the meeting

           

2.         Adoption of the draft agenda

           

3.         Information by the Chair, the delegations of the CDPC and the Secretariat

4.         Foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI)

           

5.         Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP)

a.      Education in prison

b.      Foreign nationals in prison – updating CM/Rec(2012)12 concerning Foreign Prisoners and its Explanatory Memorandum

c.      Updated Council of Europe Probation Rules and Explanatory Memorandum

d.      30th Conference of Directors of Prison and Probation Services (CDPPS) “Can We Move Away from the Overuse of Penal Sanctions?” (Krakow, Poland, 24-25 September 2025)

e.      31st Conference of Directors of Prisons and Probation Services (CDPPS) (Valletta, Malta, 3‑4 June 2026)

f.       Elections

6.         Committee of Experts on the operation of European conventions on co-operation in criminal matters (PC-OC)

7.         Environment and Criminal Law

8.         Smuggling of Migrants

9.         Combating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls

10.       Asset recovery

11.       Artificial Intelligence and criminal law

12.       Restorative Justice

13.       Election of the President, Vice-President and Bureau-members

14.                   Information points

a.      Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI)

b.      Combatting organised crime relating to drug trafficking (Pompidou Group)

c.      Terrorism

d.      Medicrime

e.      Trafficking in Human Organs

f.       Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property

g.      Hate Crime

h.      Child-friendly justice

15.       Any other business

16.       Dates of the next meetings

17.       Adoption of the List of Decisions


[1] This document has been classified restricted until examination by the Committee of Ministers.