The EU has agreed on a directive on the confiscation of property

14.06.2023 The Ministers of Justice of the Governments of the EU member States have agreed on their position on the draft directive on the return and confiscation of assets, which establishes minimum rules for tracking, identifying, freezing, confiscating and managing the property of criminals.

The directive will be based on a draft proposed by the European Commission in 2022. The asset recovery offices of the Member States will receive additional powers for cross-border tracking of criminal funds with immediate and direct access to relevant national databases and registries. They will also be given new powers to confiscate assets. The definition of property that can be subject to freezing and confiscation is formulated as broadly as possible. It covers legal documents or instruments confirming ownership or interest, including financial instruments, crypto assets and documents found in the possession of the target individual or trust.

The most controversial element of the directive is a new rule allowing the confiscation of funds and other property, the source of which is unknown, without a conviction. The delegations of the majority of Member States agreed with the essence of the proposed provisions, but considered that it was necessary to make adjustments to national legal systems and take into account technical requests.

In the process of confiscation of funds and property, the source of which is unknown, it will be necessary to prove that the value of the property is "substantially disproportionate" to the legitimate income of the owner of the affected property; that there is no probable legal source of the property; and that the person is associated with people associated with a criminal organization.

The scope of the directive will include violations of sanctions as soon as the EU adopts parallel legislation to define criminal offences and penalties for violations of EU restrictive measures.
The final text has yet to be agreed with the European Parliament. After the adoption of the directive, Member States will have three years to put its provisions into effect.

Link to source: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/06/09/freezing-and-confiscating-crimina...
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9314-2023-INIT/en/pdf