13 Amendments of Maria GRAPINI related to 2022/0167(COD)
Amendment 76 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) Europol’s 2021 Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA) highlighted the rising threat from organised crime and criminal infiltration. Driven by the large revenues generated by organised crime, which amount to at least EUR 139 billion every year, and which are increasingly laundered through a parallel underground financial system, the availability of such proceeds from criminal activities poses a significant threat to the integrity of the economy and society, eroding the rule of law and fundamental rights. The EU Strategy to tackle Organised Crime 2021-2025 aims at addressing these challenges by promoting cross-border cooperation and the exchange of information between Member States, supporting effective investigations against criminal networks, eliminating proceeds from criminal activities, and making law enforcement and the judiciary fit for the digital age.
Amendment 85 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Therefore, the existing legal framework should be updated, so as to facilitate and ensure effective asset recovery and confiscation efforts across the Union. To that end, the Directive should lay down minimum rules on tracing and identification, freezing, confiscation and management of property within the framework of proceedings in criminal matters. In this context, proceedings in criminal matters is an autonomous concept of Union law interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union, notwithstanding the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The term covers all types of freezing and confiscation orders issued following proceedings in relation to a criminal offence. It also covers other types of orders issued without a final conviction. Proceedings in criminal matters could also encompass criminal investigations by the police and other law enforcement authorities. It is necessary to reinforce the capacity of competent authorities to deprive criminals of the proceeds from criminal activities. For this purpose, rules should be laid down to strengthen asset tracing and identification, as well as freezing capabilities, to improve management of frozen and confiscated property, to strengthen the instruments to confiscate instrumentalities and proceeds of crime and property derived from criminal activities of criminal organisations, and to improve the overall efficiency of the asset recovery system. At the same time, closer cooperation between Member States and between asset recovery offices in each Member State is needed to enable the authorities to act more efficiently.
Amendment 98 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) In order to capture property which might be transformed and transferred in order to conceal its origin, and in order to ensure harmonisation and clarity of definitions across the Union, a clear and broad definition of proceeds of crime should be provided for, to include the direct proceeds from criminal activity and all indirect benefits, including subsequent reinvestment or transformation of direct proceeds, in line with the definitions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1805 of the European Parliament and of the Council22. Thus proceeds should include any property including that which has been transformed or converted, fully or in part, into other property, and that which has been intermingled with property acquired from legitimate sources, up to the assessed value of the intermingled proceeds. It should also include the income or other benefits derived from proceeds of crime, or from property into or with which such proceeds have been transformed, converted or intermingled. _________________ 22 Regulation (EU) 2018/1805 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 on the mutual recognition of freezing orders and confiscation orders (OJ L 303, 28.11.2018, p. 1).
Amendment 99 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) In order to facilitate cross-border cooperation, the tracing and identification of property at an early stage of a criminal investigation is of essence to ensure the prompt identification of instrumentalities, proceeds, or property, which might be subsequently confiscated, including property related to criminal activities located in other jurisdictions. To ensure that financial investigations are sufficiently prioritised in all Member States, so to address a crime of cross-border nature, it is necessary to require competent authorities to launch asset tracing from the moment there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activities that are likely to generate substantial economic benefits. All Member States should therefore have an effective set of procedures for the freezing, management and confiscation of criminal assets that is underpinned by the necessary institutional, financial and human resources.
Amendment 101 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Investigations to trace and identify property should also be launched where necessary to prevent, detect or investigate criminal offences related to the violation of Union restrictive measures. For that purpose, asset recovery offices should be empowered to trace and identify property of persons or entities subject to targeted financial sanctions. Once property is identified asset recovery offices should have the power to temporarily freeze the property pending clarification to ensure that property does not disappear.
Amendment 106 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) Given the limitation on the right to property imposed by freezing orders, such provisional measures should not be maintained longer than necessary to preserve the availability of the property with a view to possible subsequent confiscation. This may require a review by the national court in order to ensure that the purpose of preventing the dissipation of property remains valid. The Member State authorities should be empowered to prohibit immediately the transfer or disposal of property in order to prevent its disappearance before an asset freeze can be ordered.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) Criminal organisations engage in a wide range of criminal activities. In order to effectively tackle organised criminal activities, there may be situations where it is appropriate that a criminal conviction for a criminal offence that is liable to give rise to economic benefits be followed by the confiscation not only of property associated with a specific crime, including proceeds of crime or its instrumentalities, but also of additional property which the court determines as being derived from criminal conduct. It should be possible to confiscate assets in order to halt criminal activities and ensure that resulting profits cannot be reinvested in licit economic activity.
Amendment 125 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 34
Recital 34
(34) Freezing, confiscation, and interlocutory sales orders should be communicated to the affected party without delay. The purpose of communicating those orders is, inter alia, to allow the affected person to challenge them before a court. Therefore, such communications should, as a general rule, indicate the reason or reasons for the order concerned. The affected party should have the effective possibility to challenge the freezing, confiscation, and interlocutory sales orders. In the case of confiscation orders where all elements of the criminal offence are present but a criminal conviction is impossible, the defendant should have a possibility to be heard, in the presence of a lawyer if requested, before the adoption of the order. The same possibility should be provided for the owner affected by an order to sell the property before confiscation.
Amendment 174 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
1. Each Member State shall set up at least one asset recovery office to facilitate cross-border cooperation in relation to asset tracing investigations following similar procedures.
Amendment 184 #
1. For the purposes of performing the tasks referred to in Article 5, Member States shall ensure that asset recovery offices have immediate and direct access to the following information to the extent that information is necessary for the tracing and identification of proceeds, instrumentalities, and property and to ensure data protection:
Amendment 301 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
(da) to ensure the protection of data collected in connection with the management of frozen and confiscated property.
Amendment 310 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 24 – paragraph 1
Article 24 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall adopt by [one year after the entry into force of this Directive] a national strategy on asset recovery and update it at regular intervals of no longer than fiveour years.
Amendment 366 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 33 – paragraph 2
Article 33 – paragraph 2
2. The Commission shall, by [date of entry into force + 54 years], submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council evaluating this Directive. The Commission shall take into account the information provided by Member States and any other relevant information related to the transposition and implementation of this Directive. On the basis of this evaluation, the Commission shall decide on appropriate follow-up actions, including, if necessary, a legislative proposal.