Eurostat countries are dealing with different legal concepts and traditions, different criminal justice systems and laws as well as different definitions, methodologies, and instruments to collect crime data. All these differences limit the comparability of crime statistics across Europe. Implementing a common classification of offences such as the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) will strengthen the comparability and consistency of crime and criminal justice data and improve analytical capabilities at national, European, and international levels. Implementation steps already undertaken by Eurostat include using ICCS categories in the joint UNODC/Eurostat data collection and publishing data on criminal offences according to ICCS categories. The next goal is for Eurostat countries to implement the ICCS in the production of crime statistics on national level.

This publication is the second in a series of Eurostat booklets to support the implementation of the ICCS, with the first booklet providing general remarks, a roadmap for the implementation as well as translations of ICCS category titles in all official EU languages. The overall purpose of this second booklet is to describe how the specific criminal offences defined in the legislation passed at EU level should be mapped to the ICCS. For these offences, a common approach towards the alignment with the ICCS needs to be developed, where possible, to ensure that all EU Member States treat these offences consistently when applying the ICCS at national level. The relevant offences make up the chapters of this booklet. Each chapter provides explanations on how to align offences defined at EU level with ICCS categories by suggesting possible mapping scenarios, providing correspondence tables or pointing out inconsistencies between ICCS definitions and definitions in EU legislation. For some offences, the classification may require supplementary guidance to map said offences to the matching ICCS category. 

Chapter 11: Drug control, illicit drug markets and drug trafficking