Justice – Photo © Yanchenko – Fotolia
(BRUSSELS) – EU Parliament and Council negotiators reached a political agreement Tuesday on EU-wide minimum rules on the tracing, identification, freezing, confiscation and management of criminal property.
According to Europol data, criminal organisations amass revenues which are estimated to amount to at least EUR 139 billion every year. The new asset recovery and confiscation directive will apply to a wide range of crimes, such as organised crime, terrorism, trafficking in human beings and drug trafficking.
The proposed rules will also apply to the violation of sanctions once a still pending directive on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of EU restrictive measures has been adopted. As a result, people and companies profiting from circumventing sanctions will see their yields being seized in the same way as those of traffickers in human beings or drug cartels.
Member states’ reinforced asset recovery offices will be tasked with tracing and identifying criminal money, in support of asset tracing investigations carried out by national authorities and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. They will also carry out tracing and confiscation tasks for proceeds that are the subject of a freezing or confiscation order issued by a body in another member state.
Member states will need to take measures to enable the freezing of property in order to ensure an eventual confiscation and to ensure, in the event of a final conviction, the confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds stemming from a criminal offence.
However, member states will not only be obliged to ensure the confiscation of criminal money. They will also have to adopt rules which allow them to confiscate property of a value corresponding to the criminal yield.
A new rule on the confiscation of unexplained wealth will, under certain conditions, allow the confiscation of property identified in the context of an investigation in relation to criminal offences, provided that a national court is satisfied that the identified property is derived from criminal activities committed within the framework of a criminal organisation and that those activities give rise to substantial economic benefit. The agreement pays special attention to procedural safeguards.
Member states will be required to designate authorities (asset management offices) to manage the frozen or confiscated property, either through direct management or through the provision of support and expertise to other bodies responsible for the management of frozen and confiscated property. Member states will also be required to enable the sale of frozen property, even before final confiscation, under certain conditions for instance, if the property is perishable.
