Crime will no longer pay: Council agrees new rules on mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders | WPN World People News

On 20 June 2018, the Council, following a provisional agreement with the European Parliament, agreed on new rules concerning the mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders. The new regulation aims to ensure the effective freezing and confiscation of criminal assets across the EU. This will contribute to making the EU more secure by combating the financing of crime, including terrorist activities.

The main features of the new rules as agreed by both institutions include:

● A single regulation covering freezing and confiscation orders, directly applicable in the EU. This will resolve the issues linked to the implementation of the existing instruments, which have led to insufficient mutual recognition.

● The general principle of mutual recognition, meaning that all judicial decisions in criminal matters taken in one EU country will normally be directly recognised and, enforced by another member state. The regulation only sets out a limited number of grounds for non-recognition and non-execution. The institutions agreed on the inclusion of a ground for non-recognition based on fundamental rights but under very strict conditions.

● A wide scope of types of confiscation in criminal matters such as value based confiscation and non-conviction based confiscation, including certain systems of preventive confiscation, provided that there is a link to a criminal offence.

● Standard certificates and procedures to allow for speedy and efficient freezing and confiscation actions.

● A deadline of 45 days for the recognition of a confiscation order and in urgent case a deadline of 48 hours for the recognition and 48 hours for the execution of freezing orders. Those limits can be postponed under strict conditions detailed in the regulation.

● Provisions to ensure that victims' rights to compensation and restitution are respected in cross-border cases.

Next steps

After confirmation of the political agreement by the Parliament, the text will undergo linguistic revision and subsequently be formally adopted by the two institutions. The new rules will apply 24 months after the entry into force of the regulation.

Source: European Council Council of the European Union