Joined Cases C-845/19 and C-863/19: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 21 October 2021 (requests for a preliminary ruling from the Apelativen sad — Varna — Bulgaria) — Criminal proceedings against DR (C-845/19), TS (C-863/19) (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Judicial cooperation in criminal matters — Directive 2014/42/EU — Freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union — Scope — Confiscation of illegally obtained assets — Economic benefit derived from a criminal offence which has not been the subject of a conviction — Article 4 — Confiscation — Article 5 — Extended confiscation — Article 6 — Confiscation from a third party — Conditions — Confiscation of money allegedly belonging to a third party — Third party having no right to appear as a party in the confiscation proceedings — Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union)
Date: 2021-10-21
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: confiscation of property, drug traffic, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU, right to justice








C_2021513EN.01000801.xml










20.12.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 513/8






Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 21 October 2021 (requests for a preliminary ruling from the Apelativen sad — Varna — Bulgaria) — Criminal proceedings against DR (C-845/19), TS (C-863/19)
(Joined Cases C-845/19 and C-863/19) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Judicial cooperation in criminal matters - Directive 2014/42/EU - Freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union - Scope - Confiscation of illegally obtained assets - Economic benefit derived from a criminal offence which has not been the subject of a conviction - Article 4 - Confiscation - Article 5 - Extended confiscation - Article 6 - Confiscation from a third party - Conditions - Confiscation of money allegedly belonging to a third party - Third party having no right to appear as a party in the confiscation proceedings - Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union)
(2021/C 513/13)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Apelativen sad — Varna

Parties in the main proceedings

DR (C-845/19), TS (C-863/19)

Interested party: Okrazhna prokuratura — Varna

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Directive 2014/42/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union must be interpreted as meaning that the possession of narcotics for the purposes of their distribution comes within its scope, even though all the elements inherent in the commission of that offence are confined within a single Member State.










2.


Directive 2014/42 must be interpreted as meaning that it not only provides for the confiscation of property constituting an economic benefit derived from the criminal offence in respect of which the perpetrator has been convicted, but also provides for the confiscation of property belonging to that perpetrator in respect of which the national court hearing the case is satisfied that it derives from other criminal conduct, in compliance with the safeguards provided for in Article 8(8) of that directive and on condition that the offence in respect of which its perpetrator has been convicted is among those listed in Article 5(2) of that directive and that that offence is liable to give rise, directly or indirectly, to economic benefit within the meaning of the same directive.










3.


Article 8(1), (7) and (9) of Directive 2014/42, read in conjunction with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which allows for the confiscation, in favour of the State, of property which is claimed to belong to a person other than the perpetrator of the criminal offence, without that person having the right to appear as a party in the confiscation proceedings.






(1)  OJ C 68, 2.3.2020.