United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime Article 1 Statement of purpose The purpose of this Convention is to promote cooperation to prevent and combat transnational organised crime more effectively. Article 2 Use of terms For the purposes of this Convention: (a) «organised criminal group» shall mean a structured group of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences established in accordance with this Convention, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit; (b) «serious crime» shall mean conduct constituting an offence punishable by a maximum deprivation of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty; (c) «structured group» shall mean a group that is not randomly formed for the immediate commission of an offence and that does not need to have formally defined roles for its members, continuity of its membership or a developed structure; (d) «property» shall mean assets of every kind, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, and legal documents or instruments evidencing title to, or interest in, such assets; (e) «proceeds of crime» shall mean any property derived from or obtained, directly or indirectly, through the commission of an offence; (f) «freezing» or «seizure» shall mean temporarily prohibiting the transfer, conversion, disposition or movement of property or temporarily assuming custody or control of property on the basis of an order issued by a court or other competent authority; (g) «confiscation» , which includes forfeiture where applicable, shall mean the permanent deprivation of property by order of a court or other competent authority; (h) «predicate offence» shall mean any offence as a result of which proceeds have been generated that may become the subject of an offence as defined in article 6 of this Convention; (i) «controlled delivery» shall mean the technique of allowing illicit or suspect consignments to pass out of, through or into the territory of one or more States, with the knowledge and under the supervision of their competent authorities, with a view to the investigation of an offence and the identification of persons involved in the commission of the offence; (j) «regional economic integration organisation» shall mean an organisation constituted by sovereign States of a given region, to which its member States have transferred competence in respect of matters governed by this Convention and which has been duly authorised, in accordance with its internal procedures, to sign, ratify, accept, approve or accede to it; references to «States Parties» under this Convention shall apply to such organisations within the limits of their competence. Article 3 Scope of application 1. This Convention shall apply, except as otherwise stated herein, to the prevention, investigation and prosecution of: (a) the offences established in accordance with Articles 5, 6, 8 and 23 of this Convention; and (b) serious crime as defined in article 2 of this Convention; where the offence is transnational in nature and involves an organised criminal group. 2. For the purpose of paragraph 1 of this Article, an offence is transnational in nature if: (a) it is committed in more than one State; (b) it is committed in one State but a substantial part of its preparation, planning, direction or control takes place in another State; (c) it is committed in one State but involves an organised criminal group that engages in criminal activities in more than one State; or (d) it is committed in one State but has substantial effects in another State. Article 4 Protection of sovereignty 1. States Parties shall carry out their obligations under this Convention in a manner consistent with the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and that of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States. 2. Nothing in this Convention entitles a State Party to undertake in the territory of another State the exercise of jurisdiction and performance of functions that are reserved exclusively for the authorities of that other State by its domestic law. Article 5 Criminalisation of participation in an organised criminal group 1. Each State Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as criminal offences, when committed intentionally: (a) either or both of the following as criminal offences distinct from those involving the attempt or completion of the criminal activity: (i) agreeing with one or more other persons to commit a serious crime for a purpose relating directly or indirectly to the obtaining of a financial or other material benefit and, where required