The EU standards on confiscation of proceeds from criminal activity

The EU regulation in this field is contained in a number of regulatory acts. They can be systematized in three groups depending on the main subject matter of regulation. The first group comprises those acts which regulate primarily the standards in the sphere of substantive criminal law. More specifically, here the important ones are: the Council Framework Decision of 26 June 2001 on money laundering, the identification, tracing, freezing, seizing and confiscation of instrumentalities and the proceeds of crime, effective as of 5 July 2001 /only “the 2001 Framework Decision” hereinafter/; the Council Framework Decision 2005/212/JHA of 24 February 2005 on confiscation of crime-related proceeds, instrumentalities and property, effective as of 15 March 2005 /only “the 2005 Framework Decision” hereinafter/ and the Second Protocol, drawn up on the basis of Art. K.3 of the Treaty on European Union /TEU/, to the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, signed as early as 19 June 1997, yet not effective until 19 May 2009 /only “the Second Protocol” hereinafter/ [...]