The Role of the Border Guard in Combating Economic Crime

Abstract

Economic crime is an extremely harmful phenomenon for a country’s economy. In the free-market era with accelerating globalization of financial markets, business related crime can only be considered on international grounds. The efficiency of combating economic crime relies heavily on international regulations and on activities undertaken by relevant organs and agencies. Economic crime occurs in different layers of business turnover. Therefore, the Polish legislator entrusted the Border Guard the mission to counteract economic crime because this particular formation by nature of their statutory tasks monitors border areas and keeps an eye on routes through which illegal goods may be smuggled. Border areas are often the only spots where business related crime can be detected due to the fact that any human activity within the borderland is subject to controls and checks on regular bases. This paper looks at the phenomenon of business crime or economic crime, as the authors use the terms interchangeably, from the angle of the activities the Polish Border Guard undertakes to counteract business related crime.