Author: Maria Paola Raciti
Committee. Criminal Lawyers Committee
Date: 29/04/2025
In the fight against economic crime the Directive (EU) 2024/1260 of the European Parliament andof the Council of 24 April 2024 represents a really significant step forward. The Directive establishes minimum rules on the tracing and identification, freezing, confiscation and management of property. Member States are required to comply with the directive by November 23, 2026.
There are three key aspects of this Directive:
– Confiscation, meaning a final deprivation of property ordered by a court in relation to criminal offence;
– Freezing, meaning the temporary prohibition of the transfer, destruction, conversion, disposal or movement of property or temporarily assuming custody or control of property.
– The principle of mutual recognition of seizure and confiscation orders at the European Union
level, which is crucial for effectively executing these measures and recovering assets.
Chapter III of the Directive specifically addresses the matters of freezing and confiscation.
· Looking more thoroughly at the confiscation topic, article 12 states the measures that the Member
States adapt to enable the confiscation, either wholly or in part. It is necessary to adapt measures to confiscate proceeds from crime, instruments used or intended to commit crimes, and property of equivalent value to illicit proceeds. Article 13 focuses on confiscation from third parties, requiring member States to implement measures to seize assets transferred from or acquired by third parties, if the assets are linked to the proceeds of crime.
· Article 14 explores the matter of “extended confiscation”, which allows to use the data on the disproportion between assets and legally earned income as an indication to establish that certain assets come from criminal activities.
· It’s also important to look at article 15 that concerns “non-conviction-based confiscation”. The directive allows for the confiscation even in the absence of a criminal conviction, provided that the criminal proceedings have been initiated and could not proceed due to circumstances such as illness of the accused, fight, death, or expiration of limitation periods.
· Article 16 regards confiscation of unexplained wealth linked to criminal conduct. This articles introduces the possibility of confiscating assets whose value is disproportionate to the lawful income of the suspected or accused person. This surely represents a help to combat the accumulation of illicit wealth.
This directive represents a step for the Member States ensuring that the proceeds of the crimes do not remain with the perpetrators, and contributing to strengthening the rule of law and public trust in the judicial system.