Meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday 12 October, European justice ministers called for including the preventive confiscation of criminal assets in the draft regulation to unify mutual recognition practices for decisions to freeze and confiscate criminal assets.
This idea was not included in the original text unveiled by the European Commission in 2016 (see EUROPE 11694) but several member states called for it. Italy includes in its law the option of seizing criminal assets before sentencing. Italian justice minister Andrea Orlando said it provided an extra opportunity to increase cooperation in the fight against cross-border crime.
Although some member states showed that they favoured the idea from the start, others issued reservations during earlier talks. Poland and the Czech Republic, for example, which are both now prepared to accept the proposal as long as the regulation also guarantees key aspects of the penal process for these preventative measures (described in the penal code as ‘administrative’).
Returning to the earlier reservations by her country, Portuguese justice minister Francisca Van Dunem said they had finally understood that this is part of penal law, with the intervention of a penal court judge. Milda Vainiutė, the Lithuanian minister, said that sauce this was simply an option on the cards, the member state of implementation must be free to recognise the measure rather than forcing member states to set up an identical system to what exists in other member states.
The justice ministers stressed the need to establish in the future regulation clear procedures for implementation and safeguards for rights. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)