Council Decision 2007/845/JHA of 6 December 2007 concerning cooperation between Asset Recovery Offices of the Member States in the field of tracing and identification of proceeds from, or other property related to, crime
Date: 2007-12-06
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: confiscation of property, cross-border cooperation, economic offence, exchange of information, fight against crime, organised crime

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Official Journal of the European Union

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III

(Acts adopted under the EU Treaty)

ACTS ADOPTED UNDER TITLE V OF THE EU TREATY

COUNCIL DECISION 2007/845/JHA

of 6 December 2007

concerning cooperation between Asset Recovery Offices of the Member States in the field of
tracing and identification of proceeds from, or other property related to, crime

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in
particular Articles 30(1)(a) and (b) and 34(2)(c) thereof,

Having regard to the initiative of the Kingdom of Belgium, the
Republic of Austria and the Republic of Finland,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

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. To combat organised crime effec-
information that can lead to the tracing and
tively,
seizure of proceeds from crime and other property
belonging to criminals has to be exchanged rapidly
between the Member States of the European Union.

The Council adopted Framework Decision 2003/577/JHA
of 22 July 2003 on the execution in the European Union
and
property
of
Framework Decision 2005/212/JHA of 24 February

evidence (2)

freezing

orders

or

(1) Opinion of 12 December 2006 (not yet published in the Official

Journal).

(2) OJ L 196, 2.8.2003, p. 45.

2005 on Confiscation of Crime-Related Proceeds, Instru-
mentalities and Property (3), 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.

Close cooperation is necessary 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 provision should be made
allowing for direct communication between those autho-
rities.

To that end, Member States should have national Asset
Recovery Offices in place which are competent in these
fields, and should ensure that these offices can exchange
information rapidly.

The Camden Assets Recovery Inter-Agency Network
(CARIN) established at The Hague on 22-23 September
2004 by Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands
and the United Kingdom already constitutes a global
network of practitioners and experts with the intention
of enhancing mutual knowledge on methods and tech-
niques in the area of cross-border identification, freezing,
seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from, and other
property related to, crime. This Decision should complete
the CARIN by providing a legal basis for the exchange of
information between Asset Recovery Offices of all the
Member States.

In its Communication to the Council and the European
Parliament ‘The Hague Programme: Ten Priorities for the
next five years’, the Commission advocated strengthening
tools to address the financial aspects of organised crime,
inter alia, by promoting the establishment of criminal
asset intelligence units in Member States.

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(3) OJ L 68, 15.3.2005, p. 49.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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(7)

(8)

Cooperation between the Asset Recovery Offices and
between the Asset Recovery Offices and other authorities
charged with the facilitation of the tracing and identifi-
cation of proceeds of crime should take place on the
basis of the procedures and time limits provided for in
Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA of 18
December 2006 on simplifying the exchange of infor-
mation and intelligence between law enforcement autho-
rities of the Member States of the European Union (1),
including the grounds for refusal contained therein.

arrangements

This Decision should be without prejudice to the
under Council Decision
cooperation
concerning
2000/642/JHA of
arrangements for cooperation between financial
intel-
ligence units of the Member States in exchanging infor-
mation (2) and to existing arrangements for police coop-
eration,

17 October

2000

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Asset Recovery Offices

Article 1(1), by exchanging information and best practices, both
upon request and spontaneously.

2. Member States shall ensure that this cooperation is not
hampered by the status of the Asset Recovery Offices under
national law, regardless of whether they form part of an admin-
istrative, law enforcement or a judicial authority.

Article 3

Exchange of information between Asset Recovery Offices
on request

1.
An Asset Recovery Office of a Member State or other
authorities in a Member State charged with the facilitation of
the tracing and identification of proceeds of crime may make a
request to an Asset Recovery Office of another Member State
for information for the purposes set out in Article 1(1). To that
end it shall rely on Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA and on
the rules adopted in implementation thereof.

Each Member State shall set up or designate a national
1.
Asset Recovery Office, for the purposes of the facilitation of the
tracing and identification of proceeds of crime and other crime
related property which may become the object of a freezing,
judicial
seizure or confiscation order made by a competent
authority in the course of criminal or, as far as possible
under the national
law of the Member State concerned, civil
proceedings.

2. When filling out the form provided for under Framework
Decision 2006/960/JHA, the requesting Asset Recovery Office
shall specify the object of and the reasons for the request and
the nature of the proceedings. It shall also provide details on
property targeted or sought (bank accounts, real estate, cars,
yachts and other high value items) and/or the natural or legal
persons presumed to be involved (e.g. names, addresses, dates
and places of birth, date of registration, shareholders, head-
quarters). Such details shall be as precise as possible.

2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, a Member State may, in
conformity with its national law, set up or designate two Asset
Recovery Offices. Where a Member State has more than two
authorities charged with the facilitation of the tracing and iden-
tification of proceeds of crime, it shall nominate a maximum of
two of its Asset Recovery Offices as contact point(s).

3. Member States shall indicate the authorities which are the
national Asset Recovery Offices within the meaning of this
Article. They shall notify this information and any subsequent
changes to the General Secretariat of the Council
in writing.
This notification shall not preclude other authorities which
are charged with the facilitation of the tracing and identification
of proceeds of crime from exchanging information under
Articles 3 and 4 with an Asset Recovery Office of another
Member State.

Article 2

Cooperation between Asset Recovery Offices

1. Member States shall ensure that
their Asset Recovery
Offices cooperate with each other for the purposes set out in

(1) OJ L 386, 29.12.2006, p. 89.
(2) OJ L 271, 24.10.2000, p. 4.

Article 4

Spontaneous exchange of information between Asset
Recovery Offices

1.
Asset Recovery Offices or other authorities charged with
the facilitation of the tracing and identification of proceeds of
crime 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 purpose set out in Arti-
cle 1(1).

Article 3 shall apply to the exchange of information under

2.
this Article mutatis mutandis.

Article 5

Data protection

1.
Each Member State shall ensure that the established rules
on data protection are applied also within the procedure on
exchange of information provided for by this Decision.

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The use of information which has been exchanged directly
2.
or bilaterally under this Decision shall be subject to the national
data protection provisions of the receiving Member State, where
the information shall 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 appli-
cation of this Decision shall 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 Trans-
border Data Flows. The principles of Recommendation 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 this Decision.

Article 6

Exchange of best practices

Member States shall ensure that the Asset Recovery Offices shall
exchange best practices concerning ways to improve the effec-
tiveness of Member States’ efforts in tracing and identifying
proceeds from, and other property related to, crime which
may become the object of a freezing, seizure or confiscation
order by a competent judicial authority.

Article 7

Relationship to existing arrangements for cooperation

This Decision shall be without prejudice to the obligations
resulting from European Union instruments on mutual
legal
assistance or on mutual recognition of decisions regarding
criminal matters, from bilateral or multilateral agreements or
arrangements between the Member States and third countries
legal assistance and from Decision 2000/642/JHA
on mutual
and Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA.

Article 8

Implementation

The Member States shall ensure that

they are able to
1.
this
cooperate fully in accordance with the provisions of
Decision by 18 December 2008. By the same date Member
States shall transmit to the General Secretariat of the Council
and to the Commission the text of any provisions of their
national
law enabling them to comply with the obligations
imposed on them under this Decision.

So long as the Member States have not yet implemented
2.
Framework Decision
that
2006/960/JHA,
Framework Decision in this Decision shall be understood as
references to the applicable instruments on police cooperation
between the Member States.

references

to

3.
By 18 December 2010 the Council shall assess Member
States’ compliance with this Decision on the basis of a report
made by the Commission.

Article 9

Application

This Decision shall take effect on the date of its publication in
the Official Journal of the European Union.

Done at Brussels, 6 December 2007.

For the Council
The President

A. COSTA