National strategy on asset recovery
1. Member States shall by 24 May 2027 adopt a national strategy on asset recovery and update it at regular intervals of no longer than five years.
2. The strategy referred to in paragraph 1 shall include:
(a)
elements concerning the priorities of national policy in this area, and the objectives and measures to achieve them;
(b)
the role and responsibilities of the competent authorities, including arrangements for coordination and cooperation among them;
(c)
resources;
(d)
training;
(e)
measures to be taken, where applicable, on the use of confiscated assets for public interest or social purposes;
(f)
activities to be undertaken on cooperation with third countries;
(g)
arrangements allowing for regular evaluation of results.
3. Member States shall communicate their strategies, and any updates of their strategies, to the Commission within three months from their adoption.
Resources
Member States shall ensure that asset recovery offices and asset management offices performing tasks pursuant to this Directive have appropriately qualified staff and appropriate financial, technical and technological resources necessary for the effective performance of their functions related to the implementation of this Directive. Without prejudice to judicial independence and differences in the organisation of the judiciary across the Union, Member States shall ensure that specialised training and the exchange of best practices is available to staff involved in asset identification, tracing and recovery and confiscation.
Efficient management of frozen and confiscated property
1. For the purpose of managing frozen and confiscated property, Member States shall ensure that asset management offices, and where appropriate asset recovery offices, and other competent authorities performing tasks pursuant to this Directive are able to swiftly obtain information on frozen and confiscated property that is to be managed under this Directive. For that purpose, Member States shall establish efficient tools of management of the frozen or confiscated property, such as one central register or other registers of property frozen and confiscated pursuant to this Directive.
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, Member States shall ensure that it is possible to obtain information regarding the following:
(a)
the property that is the object of a freezing or confiscation order and which is to be managed pursuant to Article 20(3) until its disposal further to a final confiscation order, including details that enable the identification of the property;
(b)
the estimated or actual value, where appropriate, of the property at the moment of the freezing, confiscation and disposal;
(c)
the owner of the property, including the beneficial owner, where such information is available;
(d)
the national file reference of the proceeding related to the property.
3. Where Member States establish a register of frozen and confiscated property pursuant to paragraph 1, they shall ensure that authorities with access to the register are able to search and obtain information on the name of the authority entering the information in the register and on the unique user identifier of the official who entered the information in the register.
4. Where Member States establish a register of frozen and confiscated property pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article, they shall ensure that the information referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article is retained for as long as is necessary for the purposes of keeping a record and overview of the property frozen, confiscated or under management, and no longer than the date of disposal, or for the purposes of providing annual statistics as referred to in Article 28.
5. Where Member States establish a register of frozen and confiscated property pursuant to paragraph 1, Member States shall ensure that any personal data stored in the register can be accessed and used for the purposes of freezing, confiscation and the management of instrumentalities, proceeds or property which is or might become the object of a confiscation order, in accordance with the applicable data protection rules.
6. Where Member States establish a register of frozen and confiscated property pursuant to paragraph 1, Member States shall ensure that appropriate technical and organisational measures are in place to ensure the security of the data contained in the registers of frozen and confiscated property and shall designate the competent authority or authorities responsible for the management of the registers and for performing the tasks of the controller as defined in the applicable data protection rules.
Statistics
Member States shall regularly collect from the relevant authorities and maintain comprehensive statistics in order to review the effectiveness of their confiscation systems. The statistics collected shall be sent to the Commission each year by 31 December of the following year and shall include:
(a)
the number of freezing orders executed;
(b)
the number of confiscation orders executed;
(c)
the estimated value of property frozen with a view to possible subsequent confiscation at the time of freezing;
(d)
the estimated value of property recovered at the time of confiscation;
(e)
the number of requests for freezing orders to be executed in another Member State;
(f)
the number of requests for confiscation orders to be executed in another Member State;
(g)
the value or estimated value of the property recovered following execution in another Member State;
(h)
the value of confiscated property compared to its value at the time of freezing, where available at central level;
(i)
the breakdown of the numbers and values relating to points (b) and (d) per type of confiscation, where available at central level;
(j)
the number of interlocutory sales, where available at central level;
(k)
the value of the property destined to be reused for social purposes.
