Press Release: European Commission calls on 14 EU Member States to make sure cross-border crime doesn’t pay

EU rules in force since 2006 allow Member States to obtain the confiscation of criminal assets abroad. However, a report published by the European Commission today shows that half of EU countries have yet to put these rules in place. This means that the assets – whether property, laundered money or stolen cars – of a criminal organisation prosecuted in France are safe in Slovakia or Bulgaria, for example. The EU rules should allow justice authorities to ask their counterparts in other Member States to enforce confiscation orders, but today's report highlighted that poor implementation and red tape, which often reflect a lack of trust in other country's justice systems, still make it hard to attack criminal assets.