Combating Corruption and Organized Crime: Legislative Framework and Institutional Challenges

Project title: Combating Corruption and Organized Crime: Legislative Framework and Institutional Challenges
Project acronym: SKOK
Project number: uniri-mz-25-43
Project financing: European Union – NextGenerationEU
Project duration: 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2029
Total value of the project (EUR): 37.498,82
Legal disclaimer: This project is funded by European Union – NextGenerationEU via the Croatian National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026, in conjunction with the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law Programme Financing. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.

Name and surname: Iva Parenta
E-mail: iparenta@uniri.hr

The project examines corruption offences and offences of organized crime as distinct yet interconnected forms of criminality that threaten the rule of law and the integrity of public institutions. By analyzing the legislative framework, case law, and institutional mechanisms for their suppression, the project seeks to identify normative shortcomings and practical obstacles in the detection and proof of such offences. The first research segment analyzes the de lege lata normative framework and relevant case law, and formulates de lege ferenda proposals. Since corruption and organized crime are global phenomena whose suppression requires coordinated international action, the analysis of the normative framework also includes UN, Council of Europe, and EU conventions and directives, which form an integral part of the Croatian legal order. The second segment focuses on exploring the institutional challenges faced by law enforcement authorities in detecting and proving these offences, which have a direct impact on the effectiveness of criminal prosecution.

Project goals:

• Analyze the de lege lata legislative framework and relevant case law to identify normative shortcomings and develop de lege ferenda proposals concerning corruption offences and organized crime.
• Examine the institutional challenges faced by law enforcement authorities in detecting and proving such offences, and assess their impact on the effectiveness of criminal prosecution.
• Contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge on the interconnection between corrupt and organized structures, and encourage the development of sustainable public policies grounded in research findings.
• Ensure transparency and accessibility of research results in accordance with the principles of open science, through a digital collection of judgments and open-access publications.

Expected results:

• The project will result in a comprehensive analysis of the legislative framework and case law concerning the suppression of corruption offences and organized crime, identifying existing normative shortcomings and providing proposals for their improvement. Based on the collected and processed data, scientific papers will be produced that contribute to a deeper understanding of the legislative and institutional aspects of criminal prosecution and will be made available in open access. As a lasting outcome, the project will establish a digital repository of court judgments relevant to the researched area, ensuring the visibility and reusability of data. In this way, the project will provide a sustainable contribution to the development of legal science and practice.

Key words:

• corruption offences, organized crime, legislative framework, case law