History of CARIN
In October 2002 a conference was held in Dublin co-hosted by the Criminal Assets Bureau Ireland and Europol. The conference was attended by representatives of all Member States of the European Union and some applicant states together with Europol and Eurojust. Participants were drawn from law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities within member states. Workshops were held between practitioners and the objective was to present recommendations dealing with the subject of identifying, tracing and seizing the profits of crime. One of the recommendations arising in the workshops was to look at the establishment of an informal network of contacts and a cooperative group in the area of criminal asset identification and recovery.
The name agreed for the group was the Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network (the Camden Court Hotel Dublin being the original location of the workshops where the initiative started). The aim of the CARIN is to enhance the effectiveness of efforts in depriving criminals of their illicit profits. This is now a major law enforcement tool in targeting organised crime gangs with particular reference to financial deprivation. There is added value in that membership of the group will improve cross-border and interagency cooperation as well as information exchange, within and outside the European Union.
The official start of CARIN took place during the CARIN Establishment Congress in The Hague, 22–23 September 2004. The aim of this congress was the establishment of an informal network of practitioners and experts with the intention of improving mutual knowledge on methodologies and techniques in the area of cross-border identification, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime. It is expected that this network will improve international co-operation amongst law enforcement and judicial agencies, which in turn will provide a more effective service.
The following states and jurisdictions which attended the launch congress were:
Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK (including the UK Crown Dependencies of Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey and Gibraltar), and the USA.