The fast development and success of the activities of the SECI Center has led to an increase in the need for a more harmonized overview of the regional legal framework concerning organized and trans-border crime activities as well as for a more viable legal framework for the activities of the SECI Center. The operational and action oriented nature of the SECI Center and the provisions of the SECI Agreement on the basis of which it was founded, constrained the role of the legal department to monitoring and ensuring the implementation of the SECI Center founding and organizational documents.

On the other hand, a comprehensive approach for legal harmonization on organized crime issues within the SEE region has been initiated by the Stability Pact Initiative to fight Organized Crime - SPOC with the establishment of its Secretariat in Bucharest. The SPOC office provided regional analyses of the organized crime issues as well as identified needs for legislative harmonization. It also cooperated closely with the SECI Center, providing it with useful info on legal aspects related to the operational activities undertaken under its auspices. In 2004, this cooperation was further deepened through the initiation of a process to integrate the functions of the SPOC Secretariat into the Legal/Internal department of the SECI Centre.

The rapprochement foresaw the transformation of the SPOC Secretariat into "a real legal service provider" to the SECI Center and was approved by both Stability Pact for SEE and SECI Center

In this context, the SECI in cooperation with the Stability Pact Initiative to fight Organized Crime (SPOC), in 2004 supported the project Upgrading the capacity of the SECI Regional Centre. The project was continued with the support by the SECI Office in Vienna in 2005 and 2006 of the activities of the SPOC Chairman in the framework of the Project Stability Pact Initiative Against Organised Crime (SPOC)/SECI Regional Centre Bucharest: Strengthen Regional Capacities to Combat Organised Crime. The aim of the latter in the framework of the SPOC overall objective was to strengthen regional legal capacities to combat organised crime in accordance with internationally recognised standards. In addition it aimed at providing legal expertise to the SECI Centre in the process of its legal and institutional transformation, which was the result of the growth of its operational activities and achievements and in the framework of its overall objective to foster economical and political stability and reliability on regional level. The cooperation between the two institutions continues through an active role of the SPOC initiative in providing regional analysis of the SEE legal frameworks on specific issues as well as through recommendations on possible improvements and institutional bottlenecks removal.

More detailed information on the activities of the SPOC on and the SECI Center you can find out on their respective websites.