The European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) gathered on 7-9 December 2021 for its 80th Plenary meeting, in hybrid format, via teleconference under the Chairmanship of Mr Jesper Hjortenberg (Denmark).
During this meeting, the CDPC approved the draft Recommendation on the Protection of Witnesses and Collaborators of Justice and its draft Explanatory Memorandum and decided to submit it to the Committee of Ministers for final adoption.
The Committee furthermore approved the draft proposal of the Declaration by the Committee of Ministers on the need to revitalise the criminal justice work of the Council of Europe with a focus on procedural rights under Articles 5 and 6 and agreed to submit it to the Committee of Ministers for final adoption.
The CDPC also discussed and welcomed the progress made in its Working Group on the Environment and Criminal Law (CDPC-EC), notably that the draft Feasibility Study on a possible new Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law will soon be completed. In addition, the CDPC discussed the progress made in the Drafting Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Criminal Law (CDPC-AICL), tasked with the elaboration of an instrument on AI and Criminal Law with a focus on vehicles and automated driving.
Furthermore, the Committee expressed its appreciation to Mr Jesper Hjortenberg for his excellent stewardship of the Committee over the last two years and decided to elect Ms Katariina Jahkola (Finland) as its new Chair and Mr Thomas Gregoire (France) as Vice-Chair.
The next Plenary meeting will take place during the week of 13 June 2022.
