Asset management and planning
1. Member States shall adopt appropriate measures to ensure the efficient management of entities, such as undertakings, that are to be preserved as a going concern.
2. Member States are encouraged to take appropriate measures to prevent property from being acquired, in the course of its disposal further to a confiscation order, by persons convicted in the criminal proceedings in which the property was frozen.
3. Member States shall ensure the efficient management of frozen and confiscated property until its disposal further to a final confiscation order.
4. Member States shall ensure that, where justified by the nature of the property, competent authorities responsible for the management of frozen property assess the specific circumstances of property that might become the object of a confiscation order in order to minimise its estimated management costs and to preserve the value of such property until its disposal. Such an assessment shall be carried out when preparing or, at the latest, without undue delay after executing the freezing order.
5. Member States may require the costs for the management of frozen property to be charged, at least partially, to the beneficial owner.
Interlocutory sales
1. Member States shall ensure that property that is the object of a freezing order can be transferred or sold before a final confiscation order in one or more of the following circumstances:
(a)
the property subject to freezing is perishable or rapidly depreciating;
(b)
the storage or maintenance costs of the property are disproportionate to its market value;
(c)
the management of the property requires special conditions and expertise which is not readily available.
2. Member States shall ensure that the interests of the affected person are taken into account when issuing an order for an interlocutory sale, including whether the property to be sold is easily replaceable. With the exception of cases where the affected person has absconded or cannot be located, Member States shall ensure that the affected person is notified and, except in cases of urgency, given the opportunity to be heard before the sale. The affected person shall be given the possibility to request the sale of the property.
3. Earnings from interlocutory sales shall be secured until a judicial decision on confiscation is reached.
Asset management offices
1. Each Member State shall set up or designate at least one competent authority to function as an asset management office for the purpose of the management of frozen and confiscated property until the disposal of that property further to a final confiscation order.
2. Asset management offices shall have the following tasks:
(a)
to ensure the efficient management of frozen and confiscated property, either through directly managing frozen and confiscated property or through providing support and expertise to other competent authorities responsible for the management of frozen and confiscated property and planning in accordance with Article 20(4);
(b)
to cooperate with other competent authorities responsible for the tracing and identification, freezing and confiscation of property pursuant to this Directive;
(c)
to cooperate with other competent authorities responsible for the management of frozen and confiscated property in cross-border cases.
