By law of 27 March 2003, the Central Office for Seizure and Confiscation (COSC) was created in Belgium. The new institution, established within the Office of Public Prosecutors, assists the judicial authorities in criminal matters in the areas of seizure of assets, the implementation of criminal procedure with a view to the confiscation of assets, and the enforcement of final and conclusive sentences and orders involving confiscation of assets.1 One of the forms of assistance consists of the management of all cash, seized in criminal matters all over the country. By law of 20 July 2005, a new provision was… Read more

Council Framework Decision 2005/214/JHA on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to financial penalties was implemented into German law in October 2010. With this instrument, it is for the first time possible to enforce financial penalties in all Member States of the European Union using a uniform procedure, provided that the Member States have adopted the necessary implementation laws. FD 2005/214/JHA is governed by the principle of mutual recognition, which became a cornerstone of cooperation both in civil and in criminal matters at the Council meeting in Tampere in 1999. In particular, the concept of list offences under Art 5 of the FD, where double criminality is not verified by the executing State, is based upon this principle.
In Germany, the Federal Office of Justice (Bundesamt für Justiz) in Bonn has been designated as the competent authority for incoming and outgoing requests under FD 2005/214/JHA. The following article gives … Read more

This article focuses on the different implementation solutions of mutual recognition framework decisions, based on a study of the first four framework decisions and their implementation in the Nordic Member States. The Lisbon Treaty changed the environment of EU criminal law and explicitly mentions mutual recognition in Art. 82(1) TFEU. This article also briefly analyses the change towards using either directives or regulations as mutual recognition instruments.

The article examines the UK Bribery Act 2010 as a major reform of corporate criminal law, replacing fragmented anti-corruption legislation with a comprehensive and far-reaching framework.

The article explores the transposition of Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA on combating racism and xenophobia into the Greek legal order and situates this process within the broader development of European criminal law as a hybrid and evolving field.

The article examines the proposed European Protection Order (EPO) as a mutual recognition instrument aimed at ensuring continuous protection for victims of crime across EU Member States.