Given the increasing headwinds against global anti-corruption efforts blowing out of the United States in recent weeks, the EU’s commencement of trilogue negotiations regarding its proposed Directive on combating corruption has gone largely unnoticed.
Policy Brief 14: Targeting unexplained wealth: Implications of the EU’s 2024 Directive on asset recovery
The European Union’s 2024 Directive on Asset Recovery and Confiscation obliges Member States to, among other things, introduce legislative measures to enable the confiscation of “unexplained wealth”.
This policy paper examines Article 16, which contains this obligation, and the powers and restrictions that Member States will need to include in such “unexplained wealth” measures to ensure compliance with the Directive.
EU closes sanctions loophole and validates the confiscation of proceeds of sanctions violations
A recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) addresses two significant weaknesses in the effectiveness of EU sanctions enforcement.
First, it makes it clear that an EU-wide ban on “brokering services” for military goods to or from Russia applies even when these goods do not physically enter EU territory.