EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 25.3.2009 
SEC(2009) 359 
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
 
Accompanying document to the 
 
Proposal for a  
 
COUNCIL FRAMEWORK DECISION 
 
on preventing and combating trafficking in  human beings, and pr otecting victims, 
repealing Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA 
  
SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  
 
 
{COM(2009) 136 final} 
{SEC(2009) 358}
 
EN 2   EN SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  
1. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM ? 
Trafficking is considered one of the most se rious crimes worldwide, a gross violation of 
human rights, a modern form of slavery1, and an extremely profitable business for organised 
crime. It consists of the recruitment, transfer  or receipt of persons, carried out by coercive, 
deceptive or abusive means, for the purpose  of exploitation including sexual or labour 
exploitation, forced labour, domestic serv itude or other forms of exploitation.  
Although trafficking in the EU is often linke d with illegal immigration and smuggling, there 
is a clear difference. Trafficking is a crime wh ich infringes the fundamental rights of persons, 
while smuggling is a violation of legislation protecting the borders. In the case of illegal 
migration facilitated by a smuggler there is  an agreement between  the migrant and the 
smuggler, and the relationship betw een the two ends when the form er enters the territory of 
the receiving State. In the case of trafficking illicit means such as coercion, deception or abuse of a position of vulnerability are used at a certain  stage of the trafficking process; in addition, 
the transfer of the person is carried out for the purpose of fu rther exploitation, which normally 
starts in the country  of destination.  
Social vulnerability is arguably a major root cau se of trafficking. Vulnerability derives from 
economic and social factors such as poverty, ge nder discrimination, arme d conflicts, domestic 
violence, dysfunctional families, personal circumstances such as age or health conditions or disabilities. Such vulnerability is used by internationa l organised crime networks to facilitate 
migration and subsequently severely exploit people by use of force, threat, coercion, or 
various forms of abuse such as debt bondage. In fact the high level of profits generated is a 
major underlying driver. The demand for sexual se rvices and cheap lab our in countries of 
destination is a c oncurrent driver.  
A person can be trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation or for other illicit purposes 
such as labour exploitation or domestic se rvitude. Although traffi cking of young men does 
take place, mostly for the purpose of labour exploitation, women and gi rls still make up the 
majority of trafficked persons. Indeed, the ro ot causes of trafficking include also gender 
discrimination and domestic violence and therefor e trafficking is considered a form of gender-
based violence. Children are trafficked with a vi ew to being exploited in activities associated 
with begging or illicit conduct. Both girls a nd boys are trafficked for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation. Trafficking can also  be carried out for the purpose  of the removal of organs.  
It is not easy to estimate the extent of this crim e, since criminal activities related to trafficking 
are hidden behind widespread phenomena such  as prostitution or immigration. The only 
estimates on trafficking and forced labour based on transparent an d accepted methodology are 
on a global scale and have been carried out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). 
According to ILO
2, bearing in mind that the majority of  forced labour and services is linked 
with traditional slavery-like practices, that is to say that the person is not transferred but 
exploited in loco , forced labour in the context of tra fficking represents around 20% of total 
                                                 
1 Georgina Vaz Cabral, La traite des êtres humains. Réalités de l'esclavage contemporain , Paris, 2006. 
2 Patrick Belser, Michaelle De  Cock, Fahrad Mehran, ILO Minimum Estimate of Forced Labour in the 
World, ILO, Geneva, April 2005.  
 
EN 3   EN forced labour. Therefore it is believed that globally there are at least 2.45 million people in 
forced labour as a result of trafficking . Of those, 1.225 million people are trafficked for the 
purpose of forced labour every year. These estimates include both transnational trafficking and trafficking within countries. Most people are trafficked into forced labour for commercial 
sexual exploitation (43%) or mixed reasons ( 25%). The remainder (32%) are victims of 
trafficking for economic exploitation. Women and girls represent 56% of victims of forced 
economic exploitation, while men and boys repr esent 44%. Regarding forced commercial 
sexual exploitation, an overwhelming majority (98%) are women and girls. Children under 18 
represent between 40% and 50% of  all victims of forced labour
3.  
Trafficking in the EU is mostly a criminal  phenomenon coming from third countries, but 
especially after the last enlargement there are flows of trafficking within the EU area. Cases 
of internal trafficking are also re ported by national monitoring mechanisms4. Estimates which 
have been attempted for Europe are scarce and not reliable. However, as one of the most 
significant destinations in the world, it is reasonabl e to estimate from the available figures that 
several hundred thousand people are trafficked in to the EU or within the EU every year. 
The response to trafficking must be robust, and aimed at both prosecuting the crime and 
protecting victims.  
At international level, the 2000 UN Protocol to  Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against 
Transnational Organized Crime5, was the first comprehensive international instrument dealing 
with trafficking in human beings. The Coun cil of Europe Convention on Action against 
Trafficking in Human Beings6 is regarded as constituting the highest international standard to 
date. At EU level, the Framework Decision  on combating trafficking in human beings 
2002/629/JHA7 addressed in particular the need for approximation of criminal law and 
penalties8.  
Although Member States have generally complie d with the essential requirements of the 
Framework Decision, the implementation of co mprehensive and effective anti-trafficking 
policy will require more effort.  
2. WHAT IS THE RATIONALE FOR EU ACTION ? 
A substantive international legal framework fo r tackling human traffi cking already exists. 
This current framework, however, is considered by stakeholders to suffer from insufficient or 
erratic implementation in Member States (MS). 
                                                 
3 These percentages correspond to between 4.9 an d 6.15 million children. The latter estimate is 
considered consistent with the estimate c ontained in the ILO Global Report of 2002 "A future without 
child labour"  which had estimated with a different methodol ogy that there were 5.7 million children in 
forced and bounded labour. 
4 For example, cases of internal trafficking have been reported by the Sixth Report of the Dutch National 
Rapporteur, 2008. 
5 United Nations Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and 
children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against transnational organised crime, 2000. 
6 Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197). 
7 2002/629/JHA, cit.  
8 Report based on Article 10 of the Council Framework Decision of 19 July 2002 on combating 
trafficking in human beings - COM(2006) 287. 
 
EN 4   EN The Commission's 2006 Report on the implementa tion of the Framework Decision (FD) on 
combating trafficking in human beings9, and the 2008 Working Document on the EU Action 
Plan10 found that the FD's requirements had been largely met by MS in terms of transposition 
of legislation. In fact, MS' compliance with th e essential requirements of the current FD is a 
consequence of pre-existing le gislation, or new legislation transposing the FD. However, 
since a number of provisions in the FD allow fo r exceptions or reservations, and since the FD 
only contains criminal law provisions, implem entation of a comprehensive anti-trafficking 
policy in MS is still unsatisfactory. The above-mentioned Commission Working Document 
found that implementation of anti-traffick ing policy would require more effort.  
The 2005 Council of Europe Convention on Acti on against Trafficking in Human Beings 
establishes a higher international standard and is an important step towards harmonisation of 
legislation, including criminal law, victim support, prevention , and monitoring. However, the 
Convention contains binding and non-binding pr ovisions, and allows for reservations in 
crucial areas such as extraterritorial jurisd iction. Therefore the Conve ntion itself shows a 
number of weak points.  
Taking into account the current legal framewor k, relating to UN and CoE instruments, and 
EU legislation, the loopholes can be identified as follows:  
– Criminals not being brought to justice  
• Not enough criminal proceedings are currently undertaken11. In 2006, the highest figures 
concerning investigation and prosecution of trafficking for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation were recorded in AT (128), BE (291), BG (291), DE (353), IT (214), PT (65), 
and UK (54)12. The total number of cases investigat ed in the EU was 195 in 2001, 453 in 
2003, 1 060 in 2005, and 1 569 in 2006.13 Despite the upward trend, the number of 
criminal proceedings is still not comparable  with the presumed scale of the crime as 
described above.  
– Victims not receiving adequate assist ance, protection or compensation 
• Concerning the numbers of victims who have recei ved support in recent years, figures have 
only been provided by AT (162), BE (121), BG (81), CZ (14), FI (9 ) IT (2.143), LT (96), 
PL (10), SL (40), and NO (37).14 Given the presumable scale of trafficking in Europe, it is 
necessary to conclude that only a few countries have taken measures that can be considered 
                                                 
9 Report based on Article 10 of the Council Framework Decision of 19 July 2002 on combating 
trafficking in human beings - COM(2006) 287. 
10 Commission Working Document "Evaluation and monitoring of the implementation of the EU Action 
Plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking in human 
beings" - COM(2008) 657. The Document was drafted on the basis of 24 replies to a Questionnaire 
circulated by the Commission in December 2007, and information transm itted by various bodies such as 
Europol and Eurojust. 
11 Commission Working Document COM(2008) 657, cit. is the source of all the figures this paragraph 
refers to.  
12 In some countries figures include trafficking for la bour exploitation. It is possible that a number of 
cases of trafficking for sexual exploitation are still prosecuted as cases of exploitation of prostitution, 
due to the difficulty in gathering evidence.  
13 The number of sentenced cases is much lower. Th e total amount in 2006 was 284 sentenced cases of 
trafficking for sexual exploitation. 
14 These figures are not comparable with those included in the IOM database.  
 
EN 5   EN to be a real response. On the other hand, in  countries such as AT, BE, IT, BG and UK, 
which have a significant number of assisted victims, figures on criminal proceedings are 
also higher.  
– Poor monitoring of the situation 
• There is a general lack of figures and estimates on trafficking. In the fiel d of victims' rights 
and victims' support, the vast  majority of countries do not even possess figures. The 
national machinery still seems to be inadeq uate as far as monitoring mechanisms are 
concerned. Two countries (NL and SE) have  appointed National Ra pporteurs and eight 
indicate that comparable mechanisms have  been set up (BE, BG , CY, CZ, DK, FI, PT, 
UK). This situation might have a negative im pact on the quality of the data collected. 
For these reasons, stakeholders argue for more effective, specific and binding measures 
especially in the above-m entioned critical areas. 
3. WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES ? 
The overall goal of the exercise is to combat cr ime, organised or otherwise, in particular 
trafficking in persons and offen ces against children, in conformity with Article 29 of the EU 
Treaty, by building a more cohere nt framework for the fight ag ainst trafficking within the 
third pillar and to increase its effectiveness.  
A Specific objective: To  prosecute the crime 
– Operational objectives: 
– A1 To impose effective, proportio nate and dissuasive penalties; 
– A2 To facilitate victims' cooperat ion with judicial authorities; 
– A3 To remove obstacles to internati onal cooperation and generalise the use 
of investigative tools which are effective in organised crime and transnational cases; 
– A4 To facilitate prosecution of tr affickers when the offence has been 
committed outside the territory of the State. 
B Specific objective: To protect victims' rights 
– Operational objectives:  
– B1 To provide any presumed victim with unconditional and individualised 
assistance before, during and after criminal proceedings; 
– B2 To protect victims from detention and prosecution for crimes they have been 
induced to commit such as vi olation of immigration laws; 
– B3 To increase the protection of vict ims from secondary victimisation, which 
derives from the way the proceedings are carried out by the competent authorities; 
 
EN 6   EN – B4 To establish specific means aimed at ensuring effective protection and 
compensation.  
C Specific objective: To prevent trafficking  
– Operational objectives: 
– C1 To reduce vulnerability fact ors in countries of origin;  
– C2 To improve skills of public officials lik ely to come into contact with potential 
victims; 
– C3 To discourage the demand for se xual services and cheap labour. 
– D Specific objective: To establis h effective monitoring systems  
– Operational objectives: 
– D1 To set up consistent national mechanisms such as National Rapporteurs 
or equivalent mechanisms;  
– D2 To establish close cooperati on between National Rapporteurs or 
equivalent mechanisms. 
4. WHAT ARE THE POLICY OPTIONS ? 
Various policy options have been examined as  a means to achieve the identified objectives. 
• Policy option (1): No new EU action  
• The EU would take no action to combat traffi cking, while Member States may continue the 
process of signature and ra tification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action 
against Trafficking in Human Beings.  
• Policy Option (2): Non- legislative measures  
FD 2004/629/JHA would not be am ended. Non-legislative measures could be put in place in 
the areas of victim support schemes, monito ring, prevention measures  in countries of 
destination, prevention measur es in countries of origi n, training, law enforcement 
cooperation.  
• Policy option (3): New legislation on pr osecution, victim support, prevention and  
monitoring  
A new FD would be adopted, in corporating the provision of  the existing FD, along with 
certain provisions of the CoE Convention, and a dditional elements. In particular, the new FD 
would contain provisions in th e areas of substantive criminal law, jurisdiction and 
prosecution, victims' rights in criminal proc eedings, victim assistan ce, special protective 
measures for children, prevention, and monitoring.  
 
EN 7   EN • Policy option (4): New legislatio n (as in option 3) + non-legisl ative measures (as in option 
2)  
– A new FD would be adopted, incorporating th e existing FD and incl uding new provisions. 
The new FD would be supplemented by non-legis lative measures, and in particular those 
identified in option 2. 
5. HOW DO THE POLICY OPTIONS COMPARE ? 
Option 1 (status quo)  may provide significant improvement if Member States sign, ratify and 
implement the CoE Convention CETS No. 197. However, the lengthy national ratification 
procedures in the absence of an EU-wide le gally binding framework ma ke it uncertain when 
and to what extent the be nefits of that Convention will put into practice.  
Option 2  would boost the implementation of the ex isting legal framework, but it would be 
insufficient to improve prosecution in a numbe r of areas where a spec ific legal basis is 
required. In addition, the low level of implem entation of non-binding documents adopted in 
the past does not give grounds for optimism concerning the effectiveness of option 2. 
Option 3  would improve matters in comparison to the current situation.  It would strengthen 
legislation in the areas covered by the curr ent EU rules on prosecution of offenders and 
protection of victims. It would also address prevention and monitoring. The financial cost is 
expected to be outweighed by the social and economic benefit of more efficient action against 
this crime. 
Option 4  would multiply the effectiveness of the measures in options 2 and 3 by combining 
them and encouraging Member States to coope rate on setting up tools and acting to improve 
the implementation of the more comprehensive le gal framework that will be put in place. 
Following the analysis of economic impact, social  impact, and impact on fundamental rights, 
options 3 and 4 present the best  approach to the problems with a view to achieving the 
identified objectives. The pref erred option would be option 4.