DISPOSAL OF CONFISCATED ASSETS IN THE EU MEMBER STATES LAWS AND PRACTICES DISPOSAL OF CONFISCATED ASSETS IN THE EU MEMBER STATES LAWS AND PRACTICES This report was prepared in the context of the Study RECAST – REuse of Confiscated Assets for social purposes: towards Common EU standards. The Study was awarded to the University of Palermo – Department of European Studies and International Integration (Coordinator: Giovanni Fiandaca, Professor of criminal law) by the European Commission, DG Home Affairs, under the 2010 ISEC Programme. It was carried out in cooperation with the Center for the Study of Democracy and the FLARE Network (co-beneficiaries) and with the support of the Italian Agenzia Nazionale per L’amministrazione e la Destinazione dei beni Sequestrati e Confiscati alla Criminalità organizzata and UNICRI (associate partners). This report analyses laws and practices for the management and disposal of confiscated assets in the European Union. The analysis explores the challenges and best practices of the Member States in this hitherto neglected area and strives to contribute to improvement of the overall effectiveness of the existing confiscation systems. This mapping has been carried out by the University of Palermo – Department of European Studies and International Integration (UNIPA) and by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD). The main tool used to gather relevant information was a questionnaire administered to one (or more) national expert/s in each Member State; this information was complemented with secondary data. The chapters of this report shall be attributed to their authors as follows: Barbara Vettori, Assistant Professor In Criminology, Catholic University of Milan (Project Manager): Chapter 4 and the following country profiles: belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom. Todor Kolarov, Senior Fellow and Atanas Rusev, Research Fellow, Center for the Study of Democracy: Executive Summary, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 5 and following country profiles: Austria, bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden. Editorial board: Dr. Ognian Shentov Dr. Alexander Stoyanov Dr. Maria Yordanova With the financial support of the prevention of and Fight against Crime programme, European Commission – Directorate-General Home Affairs ISBN: 978-954-477-218-5 © 2014, Center for the Study of Democracy All Rights Reserved. 5 Alexander Zhendov Str., Sofia 1113 tel.: (+359 2) 971 3000, fax: (+359 2) 971 2233 www.csd.bg, [email protected] 3 TAble of contents Executive summary ................................................................................. 7 1. Introduction ......................................................................................11 2. EU and MS disposal context ..........................................................13 2.1. How disposal became an issue in the EU context. ................13 2.2. Overview of national confiscation legislations .........................18 2.2.1. MS confiscation regime ................................................. 18 2.2.2. Management of seized assets ....................................... 19 2.2.3. Disposal ......................................................................... 20 3. Institutional aspects of MS disposal. Who is in charge? ............ 23 3.1. Centralised approach with specialised institutions ...................24 3.2. Centralised approach with non-specialised institutions ............26 3.3. Decentralised approach ............................................................28 4. Methods of disposal and destination of proceeds ....................... 33 4.1. Disposal Method ......................................................................36 4.1.1. Sale .................................................................................36 4.1.2. Disposal method: transfer of property ..........................38 4.1.3. Disposal method: rent ...................................................39 4.1.4. Disposal method: destruction ........................................39 4.2. Destination of proceeds ...........................................................39 4.2.1. Destination of proceeds from sale ................................39 4.2.2. Destination of transferred property ...............................41 4.2.3. Destination of rented property ......................................43 5. Policy proposals on “the way forward” .........................................45 5.1. Proposals at EU level ...............................................................45 5.2. Proposals at MS level ...............................................................48 Annex I. Country profiles .....................................................................51 Austria ...............................................................................................51 Belgium .............................................................................................52 Bulgaria ..............................................................................................54 Cyprus ...............................................................................................57 Czech Republic .................................................................................59 Denmark ...........................................................................................61 4 Estonia ...............................................................................................63 Finland ...............................................................................................66 France ................................................................................................68 Germany ............................................................................................70 Greece ...............................................................................................72 Hungary .............................................................................................74 Ireland ...............................................................................................76 Italy ...................................................................................................78 Lithuania ............................................................................................81 Luxembourg .......................................................................................83 Malta .................................................................................................85 Netherlands .......................................................................................86 Poland ...............................................................................................88 Portugal .............................................................................................90 Romania ............................................................................................92 Slovakia .............................................................................................94 Slovenia .............................................................................................97 Spain .................................................................................................99 Sweden ............................................................................................101 United Kingdom ..............................................................................103 Annex II. Acknowledgements ..............................................................106 5 List of figures Figure 1. Confiscation regimes across the EU ................................................ 18 Figure 2. Disposal procedure in Finland ........................................................ 21 Figure 3. Institutional arrangements in regard to the management and disposal of confiscated assets .................................................. 24 Figure 4. Disposal procedure for real estate in Italy. .................................... 25 Figure 5. Disposal procedure in belgium ....................................................... 26 Figure 6. Disposal procedure in Estonia ......................................................... 29 Figure 7. Disposal procedure for assets from drug-related crimes in Spain ................................................................................ 40 Figure 8. Social re-use practices in the EU ................................................... 41 List of tables Table 1. Legal instruments for the recognition of confiscation orders in the EU ............................................................................. 17 Table 2. Institutional approaches to disposal and their implications ............ 31 Table 3. Disposal methods and destination of proceeds .............................. 33 Table 4. Policy proposals ............................................................................... 45 6 List of abbreviations AED The Land Registration and Estates Department, Luxembourg (Administration de l'enregistrement et des domaines) AgRASC Agency for Management and Recovery of Assets Seized and Forfeited, France (Agence de gestion et de recouvrement des avoirs saisis et confisqués) ANBSC National Agency for Administration and Destination of Assets Seized and Confiscated from organised Crime, Italy (Agenzia nazionale per l’amministrazione e la destinazione dei beni sequestrati e confiscati alla criminalità organizzata) ARO Asset