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7. The European Union regulations7.1.2 Judicial cooperation in criminal mattersInternational cooperation is an essential requisite for any type of strategy to combatthe phenomena considered. The reason is the structurally transnational nature ofthese illicit activities, due to the mobility of the goods (human beings) moved fromone country to another and transferred among a number of criminal groupsconstantly moving from one territory to another. 52Until a few years ago it was argued that there were insufficient incentives for thecreation of an ‘international judicial area’, in contrast to what was happening withpolice cooperation. Commentators emphasised the “the widening gap between theinternationalisation of police investigation and the predominantly domesticcharacter of judicial activities which constitutes an obstacle against the efficacy ofrepressive action”. 53 Since then, significant progress has been made. With regard tojudicial cooperation on criminal matters, to be noted are various procedures nowavailable to combat trafficking and smuggling, some of which, as shown by theresults of the interviews with prosecutors (chapter 13), have already been utilisedby the Italian authorities.First to be mentioned is the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Mattersbetween the Member States of the European Union 54 , which supplements theprovisions of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of20 April 1959 and seeks to promote mutual assistance among judicial and policeauthorities, facilitating the implementation of certain procedural measures. Amongthe activities proposed are the following:- spontaneous exchange (i.e. without prior request) of information among thedomestic competent authorities;- controlled deliveries, in the framework of criminal investigations intoextraditable offences;- investigations into crime by officers acting under covert or false identity, withdue authorisation by the Member State on whose territory the investigationtakes place;- interceptions of telecommunications.The agencies currently engaged in such cooperation and coordination are:a) Europol;52 See P. Vigna, “Cooperazione giudiziaria nel contrasto al crimine organizzato. Contributo della DirezioneNazionale Antimafia” [Judicial Cooperation in Combating Organised Crime. A Contribution by the State AntimafiaDivision], in “Contributo dell’Italia. La posizione del Governo italiano in materia di lotta al traffico diesseri umani” [Italian Contribution. The Position of the Italian Government on Combating the Trafficking inHuman Beings], paper presented to the European Conference for the Prevention and the Combat of theTrafficking in Human Beings: a Global Challenge for the 21st Century [Conferenza europea per laprevenzione e la lotta al traffico di esseri umani: una sfida globale per il 21° secolo], Brussels, September18 th -20 th , 2002, p. 20, available at the website of the International Organization for Migration, www.iom.int.53 L. Violante, “La strategia internazionale nella lotta alla mafia” [The International Strategy for Combatingthe Mafia], in B. Nascimbene, M. Pastore (eds.), Da Schengen a Maastricht. Apertura delle frontiere,cooperazione giudiziaria e di polizia, Giuffrè, Milan, 1995, pp. 90-91.54 Adopted by Council Act on 29 May 2000 (2000/C 197/01), pursuant to article 34 of the Treaty of theEuropean Union.53