Regulation (EU) 2018/1805 on the mutual recognition of freezing orders and confiscation orders

Summary:

On 21 December 2016 the European Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation on the mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders.

The Council of the European Union adopted its stance on this draft law on 8 December 2017. The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee backed the proposal and adopted a negotiating mandate on 11 January 2018. An informal agreement was reached on 20 June, and the Regulation was adopted on 14 November.

Further information:

The European Agenda on Security of April 2015 highlighted the need for measures to address terrorist financing in a more effective and comprehensive manner. One of the priorities identified was the disruption of organised criminal networks and the ways they are financed. In this context the European Agenda on Security also attached strategic importance to the need for improving the mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders.

The initiative is a response to identified deficiencies of the existing mutual recognition instruments and to calls by the co-legislators to put in place such legislative initiative. Some of the main elements of the draft legislation include the unification of freezing and confiscation under a single resolution, to resolve issues linked to the implementation of the existing instruments; the inclusion of a wider scope of types of confiscation such as non-conviction based confiscation; the standardisation of documents and procedures; the protection of victims' rights to compensation and restitution in cross-border cases.

This proposal was adopted as part of a package of measures aimed at increasing the EU's capacity to fight the financing of terrorism and organised crime.

Official

EUR-Lex: COM(2016)819: Proposal for a Regulation on the mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2016:819:FIN

European Parliament: Legislative Observatory: Procedure File on Mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil-mobile/fiche-procedure/2016/0412(COD)

European Parliament: Legislative Train: Mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders http://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-area-of-justice-and-fundamental-rights/file-mutual-recognition-of-freezing-and-confiscation-orders

European Commission: Regulation on the mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders [Q&A] http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-4467_en.htm

Council of the European Union: Press Release, 08/12/2017: Freezing and confiscation: Council agrees general approach on the mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2017/12/08/freezing-and-confiscation-council-agrees-general-approach-on-the-mutual-recognition-of-freezing-and-confiscation-orders/

European Parliament: Press Release, 11/01/2018: New rules to speed up freezing and confiscating criminal assets across the EU http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20180111IPR91501/

Council of the European Union: Press Release, 20/06/2018: Council agrees new rules on mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/06/20/crime-will-no-longer-pay-eu-agree-new-rules-on-mutual-recognition-of-freezing-and-confiscation-orders/

European Commission: Statement, 20/06/2018: Strengthening the fight against crime and terrorism: Commission welcomes agreement on the confiscation of assets across borders http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-18-4238_en.htm

European Parliament: Press Release, 10.07.18: Quicker freezing and confiscation of criminal assets in the EU http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20180709IPR07544/

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Commentary and Analysis

EPRS: Briefing, June 2017: Mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders [Initial Appraisal of a European Commission Impact Assessment] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/603243/EPRS_BRI(2017)603243_EN.pdf

EPRS: Plenary at a Glance, October 2018: Freezing and confiscation orders http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2018)628224

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