7th Meeting of the Thematic Working Group on Exchange of Information regarding Forged and Fake Travel Documents within PCC SEE
Belgrade, Serbia - The 7th Meeting of the Thematic Working Group on Exchange of Information regarding Forged and Fake Travel Documents within PCC SEE, organised under the auspices of the Serbian Chairmanship in Office with support from the PCC SEE Secretariat, took place in Belgrade on 11-13 December 2017. Experts with operational experience (border police) as well as a background in forensics from the PCC SEE Contracting Parties exchanged presentations on new forms and trends in document forgery, focusing more specifically on detected document fraud connected to the phenomena of the increased mixed migration flows, relevant forensic approaches, and discussed common challenges encountered in their daily work. The working group members continued with the good practice of exchanging national specimens and security feature descriptions of travel documents issued in their countries, which is essential for determining whether a document is genuine. Representatives from Frontex and Europol presented, respectively, on the modi operandi, key vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies for morphing attacks, and document fraud in connection with migrant smuggling. The working group members also further discussed the practical use of a request form that was developed at the previous meeting for the purpose of verifying travellers’ identities or for the examination of their travel document and agreed on the next steps to be taken towards their enhanced cooperation.