Initiative of the French Republic with a view to adopting a Council Framework Decision on money laundering, the identification, tracing, freezing, seizing and confiscation of instrumentalities and the proceeds from crime
Date: 2000-08-24
Institutions: France
Subjects: confiscation of property, fight against crime, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU, organised crime

24.8.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 243/9

Initiative of the French Republic with a view to adopting a Council Framework Decision on
of
seizing
tracing,
money
instrumentalities and the proceeds from crime

identification,

confiscation

laundering,

freezing,

and

the

(2000/C 243/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in
particular Articles 31(a), (c) and (e) and 34(2)(b) thereof,

Having regard to the initiative of the French Republic,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas:

(1) The Council adopted Joint Action 98/699/JHA of 3
December 1998 on money laundering, the identification,
of
tracing,
instrumentalities and the proceeds from crime (1).

confiscation

freezing,

seizing

and

(7) This Framework Decision does not affect the application
of more favourable provisions in bilateral or multilateral
agreements concluded between the Member States, or in
the European Convention on Mutual Assistance
in
Criminal Matters, in arrangements concluded in the area
of mutual assistance in criminal matters on the basis of
uniform legislation or in a special system providing for
the reciprocal application of mutual assistance measures
within their respective territories,

HAS ADOPTED THIS FRAMEWORK DECISION:

Article 1

Reservations in respect of the 1990 Convention

(2) Account should be taken of the Presidency conclusions of
the European Council meeting in Tampere on 15 and 16
October 1999.

In order to enhance action against organised crime, Member
States shall take the necessary steps not to make or uphold
reservations in respect of the following articles of the 1990
Convention:

(3) The European Council accepts

the principle of
mutual recognition should also apply to pre-trial orders,
in particular to those which would enable competent
authorities quickly to secure evidence and to seize assets
which are easily movable.

that

(4) The European Council, noting that serious forms of crime
increasingly have tax and duty aspects, calls upon
Member States to provide full mutual legal assistance in
the investigation and prosecution of this type of crime.

(5) The European Council calls for the approximation of
criminal
law and procedures on money laundering (e.g.
tracing, freezing and confiscating funds), adding that the
scope of criminal activities which constitute principal
offences for money laundering should be uniform and
sufficiently broad in all Member States.

(a) Article 2,

in so far as the offence is punishable by
deprivation of liberty or a detention order for a maximum
of more than one year;

(b) Article 6, in so far as serious offences are concerned. Such
offences should in any event include offences which are
punishable by deprivation of liberty or a detention order
for a maximum of more than one year or, as regards those
States which have a minimum threshold for offences in
their legal system, offences punishable by deprivation of
liberty or a detention order for a minimum of more than
six months.

Article 2

Penalties

(6) The Member States have subscribed to the principles in
the 1990 Council of Europe Convention on Laundering,
Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from
Crime, hereinafter referred to as (cid:145)the 1990 Convention(cid:146).

(1) OJ L 333, 9.12.1998, p. 1.

Each Member State shall take the necessary steps to ensure
that the offences referred to in Article 6(1)(a) and (b) of the
1990 Convention, as they result from the Article 1(b) of this
Framework Decision, are punishable by deprivation of liberty
for a maximum of not less than five years.

C 243/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

24.8.2000

Article 3

Value confiscation

from crime also allow for

Each Member State shall take the necessary steps to ensure
that its legislation and procedures on the confiscation of the
proceeds
the confiscation of
property the value of which corresponds to such proceeds,
both in purely domestic proceedings and in proceedings
instituted at the request of another Member State,
including
requests for the enforcement of foreign confiscation orders.
However, Member States may exclude the confiscation of
property the value of which corresponds to the proceeds from
than
crime in cases
EUR 4 000. The words (cid:145)property(cid:146), (cid:145)proceeds(cid:146) and (cid:145)confiscation(cid:146)
shall have the same meaning as in Article 1 of the 1990
Convention.

in which that value would be less

Article 4

Identification and tracing of suspected proceeds

At least in investigations relating to serious offences as defined
in Article 1(b):

(cid:151) to permit assistance to be given at the earliest possible
stages in an investigation, each Member State shall take the
necessary steps to ensure that its legislation and procedures
enable it to identify and trace suspected proceeds from
crime, at the request of another Member State, where there
are reasonable grounds to suspect that a criminal offence
has been committed,

(cid:151) the optional grounds for refusal in Article 18(2) and (4)(a)
and the first of the two optional grounds for refusal
in
Article 18(3) of the 1990 Convention may not be invoked
between Member States of the European Union.

Article 5

Processing of requests for mutual assistance

Member States shall take the necessary steps to ensure that all
requests from other Member States which relate to asset
identification, tracing, freezing or seizing and confiscation are
processed with the same priority as is given to such measures
in domestic proceedings.

Article 6

Prevention of the dissipation of assets

Member States shall take the necessary steps to minimise the
risk of assets being dissipated, including such measures as may
be necessary to ensure that assets which are the subject of a
request from another Member State may be frozen or seized
expeditiously so that a later confiscation request
is not
frustrated.

Article 7

Repeal of existing provisions

Articles 1, 3, 5(1) and 8(2) of Joint Action 98/699/JHA are
hereby repealed.

Article 8

Implementation

1. Member States shall adopt
the measures necessary to
comply with the provisions of this Framework Decision by 31
December 2001.

2. Member States shall forward to the General Secretariat of
the Council
the European
and to the Commission of
Communities, by the same date, the text of the provisions
transposing into their national law the obligations arising from
them from this Framework Decision and, where appropriate,
the notifications made pursuant to Article 40(2) of the 1990
Convention. On the basis of this information and a written
report from the Commission, the Council shall ascertain, by 30
June 2002 at the latest, to what extent Member States have
taken the necessary measures to comply with this Framework
Decision.

Article 9

Entry into force

This Framework Decision shall enter into force on the day of
the European
its publication in the Official
Communities.

Journal

of

Done at (cid:133) .

For the Council

The President

(cid:133)