BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union reached agreement on Tuesday on rules to make freezing and confiscation of criminal assets more effective, including boosting the capacity of EU countries to identify assets of Russian or Belarusian people subject to sanctions.
Negotiators for the European Parliament and the grouping of EU governments called the Council struck a deal on EU-wide minimum rules on the tracing, identification, freezing, confiscation and management of criminal property.
The rules will ensure assets can be frozen quickly and widen the crimes covered under existing EU law to include trafficking of humans, drugs and firearms. They would also crack down on cases where a third person helps evade confiscation.
People and companies profiting from circumventing sanctions will see their earnings seized in the same way as those of drug cartels.
When proposing the law in May 2022, the European Commission said that organised crime was one of the greatest threats to European security. According to Europol data, criminal gangs amass revenues amounting to an estimate of at least 139 billion euros ($150.1 billion) per year.
EU members will be obliged to ensure authorities involved in tracing and freezing criminal money have qualified staff and sufficient resources.
The new law, likely to enter force next year, will also extend to confiscation of “unexplained wealth” and seek to prioritise restitution and compensation for victims of crime.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Nick Macfie)
