Activites

• 2007/12/18 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Decision 2007/845
  • OJ L 332 18.12.2007, p. 0103
• #2838
• 2007/12/06 Council Meeting
• 2007/12/06 End of procedure in Parliament
• 2007/12/06 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 2006/12/12 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0541/2006 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Mihael Brejc (EPP-ED, Slovenia) and made some amendments to the Belgian, Austrian and Finnish initiative concerning cooperation between Asset Recovery Offices of the Member States in the field of tracing and identification of proceeds from crime:- a Member State may set up or designate two Asset Recovery Offices. Where a Member State has more than two units having the same powers, charged with facilitating the tracing and identification of proceeds of crime, no more than two units may be designated as national contact points. This amendment is intended to make it clear that there is no need to set up a new national contact point if a Member State already has asset recovery units which would be given that competence. If that competence is to be allocated to such units, only two of them can be designated national contact points.- Parliament deleted Article 5 on the use of information or documents obtained under the Decision, since it felt that the substance of it was already included in other Articles of this Council Framework Decision.

• 2006/11/09 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A6-0388/2006
• 2006/11/06 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• #2740
• 2006/06/27 Council Meeting
  • 2740 summary

    Pending the opinion of the European Parliament, the Council reached a general approach on the draft Council decision on arrangements for cooperation between the asset recovery offices of the Member States.It should be noted that the main motive for cross-border organised crime is financial gain. This financial gain is a stimulus for committing further crime to achieve even more profit. Accordingly law enforcement services should have the necessary skills to investigate and analyse financial trails of criminal activity. In order to combat organised crime effectively, information that can lead to the tracing and seizure of proceeds from crime and other property belonging to criminals has to be exchanged rapidly between the Member States of the EU.It is therefore necessary that close cooperation takes place between the relevant authorities of the Member States involved in the tracing of illicit proceeds and other property that may become liable to confiscation and that provision be made for direct communication between those authorities.To that end, this decision will allow Member States to put national asset recovery offices with competences in these fields in place and will ensure that these offices can exchange information rapidly.

• #2732
• 2006/06/01 Council Meeting
  • 2732 summary

    Pending the lifting of a reservation by the Irish delegation, the Council broadly agreed on a draft Decision concerning arrangements for cooperation between asset recovery offices of the Member States.The Council preparatory bodies will be responsible for finalising the text of the Decision, with a view to its adoption at a forthcoming Council meeting.It should be noted that the main motive for cross-border organised crime is financial gain. This financial gain is a stimulus for committing further crime to achieve even more profit. Accordingly, law enforcement services should have the necessary skills to investigate and analyse financial trails of criminal activity. In order to combat organised crime effectively, information that can lead to the tracing and seizure of proceeds from crime and other property belonging to criminals has to be exchanged rapidly between the Member States of the European Union. It is therefore necessary that close cooperation takes place between the relevant authorities of the Member States involved in the tracing of illicit proceeds and other property that may become liable to confiscation and that provision be made for direct communication between those authorities.To that end, this Decision will allow Member States to put in place national Asset Recovery Offices with competences in these fields and will ensure that these offices can rapidly exchange information.

• 2006/04/26 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2006/04/05 Legislative proposal published
  • 07259/2006 summary

    PURPOSE : to establish rules for cooperation between Asset Recovery Offices of the Member States with regard to tracing and identification proceeds from, or other property related to, crime.PROPOSED ACT : Council Decision.CONTENT : This proposal comprises an initiative from the Austrian, Belgian and Finnish Delegations. The main motive for cross border organised crime is financial gain. This financial gain is a stimulus for committing further crime to achieve even more profit. Accordingly lawenforcement services should have the necessary skills to investigate financial trails of criminal activity. In order to combat organised crime effectively, information that can lead to the tracing and seizure of proceeds from crime and other property belonging to criminals has to be exchanged rapidly between the Member States of the EU. It should be noted that the Council has adopted a Framework Decision on Confiscation of Crime-RelatedProceeds, Instrumentalities and Property on 24 February 2005 and a Framework Decision on the execution in the European Union of orders freezing property or evidence on 22 July 20032, dealing with certain aspects of judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the field of the freezing and confiscation of the proceeds from, instrumentalities of, and other property related to, crime.The main points of the proposal are as follows: - Each Member State will designate a national Asset Recovery Office, charged with the facilitation of the tracing and identification of proceeds of crime and other crime related property which may become the object of an order made by a competent judicial authority for freezing or seizure in the course of criminal proceedings or for confiscation.- Member States must ensure that their Asset Recovery Offices co-operate with each other by exchanging information and best practices, both upon request and spontaneously.- An Asset Recovery Office may make a request for information and use the procedures provided for under the Framework Decision on simplifying the exchange of information and intelligence between law enforcement authorities. The grounds of refusal of that Framework Decision shall apply.- Asset Recovery Offices may, within the limits of the applicable national law and without a request to that effect, exchange information which they consider necessary for the execution of the tasks of another Asset Recovery Office in pursuance of the purposes of the Decision. - Information or documents obtained under the Decision may be used in any proceedings aimed at the freezing, seizure or confiscation of proceeds of crime or other crime related property. The transmitting Asset Recovery Office may impose restrictions and conditions on the use of information. However, such restrictions may not relate to the use of information for the purpose of compensations to victims of the offence in respect of which the information has been obtained.Finally, on data protection, the proposal provides that the use of information which has been exchanged under this Decision will be subject to the national data protection provisions of the receiving Member State, where the information and intelligence will be subject to the same data protection rules, as if they had been gathered in the receiving Member State . The personal data processed in the context of the application of this Decision will be protected in accordance with the Council of Europe Convention of 28 January 1981 for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, and, for those Member States which have ratified it, the Additional Protocol of 8 November 2001 to that Convention, regarding Supervisory Authorities and Transborder Data Flows. The principles ofRecommendation No. R(87) 15 of the Council of Europe regulating the Use of Personal Data in the Police Sector should also be taken into account when law enforcement authorities handle personal data obtained under the Decision.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/justice/', 'title': 'Justice'}, FRATTINI Franco

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: 07259/2006
• Debate in Council: 2732
• Debate in Council: 2740
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A6-0388/2006
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0541/2006
• : Decision 2007/845
• : OJ L 332 18.12.2007, p. 0103

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)