Luxembourg, 29/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, Member States undertook to recognise and execute confiscation orders on their territory, which had been ruled by the legal authorities in other Member States. Political agreement was reached in Thursday's JHA Council, on the framework decision on confiscation orders, nearly two years after it was proposed by Denmark (EUROPE of 25 July 2002). This text will add to another framework decision, aligning confiscation modalities, which obtained political agreement at the end of last year. Council has still to approve both texts formally.
Confiscation is an extra penalty over and above sentencing for serious crimes, such as drugs trafficking, organised crime, financial crime and terrorism. "If we are to fight terrorism effectively, we must fight its profitability", said the French Justice minister, Dominique Perben, welcoming the political agreement. By way of example, the Minister said that a German judge would be able to use the new framework decision to seize a villa belonging to a drugs dealer on the Côte d'Azur.
The framework decision lays down the details for the transmission and execution of confiscation orders, and reasons for refusing to execute them. The request for execution must, in principle, be executed directly, without formalities or a judicial or administrative visa, unless the requested State decides to invoke one of the possible grounds for refusal. If the act for which the confiscation order was raised is punishable by three years in prison or more, the request must be complied with, even if the requested State would not publish the act in the same way, as long as it relates to organised crime, terrorism, trafficking in human beings, or the sexual exploitation of children. However, for all other crimes, the requested State can refuse to execute it if its legislation does not provide for confiscation for the act in question. Before Thursday's Council, discussions were held up only on how to formulate the possibility for the requested State to refuse to execute it, either if the crime was committed at least partly on its territory, or to ensure respect for fundamental rights. These two points have been resolved.
The framework decision also lays down rules for the division of confiscated goods or assets. The State which carried out the confiscation keeps the product of the confiscation, if it is a sum of money below 10,000 EUR. Above this, half of the sum will be transferred to the State which pronounced the confiscation order. For goods, the executing State can choose between different methods, including the sale of the goods, followed by division based on the rule of the 10,000 EUR threshold.
Each State must let its partners know the competent authorities to issue or apply confiscation orders on its territory. It can appoint a central authority to carry out these tasks.