Supporting the confiscation and recovery of proceeds of crime in Romania

In the context of assessed deficiencies regarding the procedures and mechanisms for the implementation of extended confiscations at a national level, due to a delayed Romanian legislative alignment (i.e. Law 63 2012) to EU directive norms, the project SCRPCR serves as a necessary initiative which will facilitate the implementation of this new judicial framework through the assimilation of EU best practices and experience in implementing EC directives concerning this legal instrument.

– The Superior Council of Magistracy, the Prosecutor’s Office Attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice Romania, The Fraud Investigation Directorate within the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, Magistrats européens pour la démocratie et les libertés, the Expert Forum Association;
– Associate partner: Division of Criminal Affairs and Pardons, French Ministry of Justice. The general objective is improving Romanian institutional capacity to prevent and fight financial and economic crime by supporting extended confiscation procedures, recovery and re-use of criminal proceeds.

To achieve this, the following specific objectives have been set:

• Transferring other Member States’ experience and best practices to Romanian law enforcers and judicial practitioners;
• Increasing interoperability between law enforcers, judicial practitioners and their afferent institutions;
• Facilitate the creation of EU-wide relations between asset recovery practitioners;
• Achieve visible results on the short term concerning the application of the new law;
• Developing public private partnerships and favoring the involvement of civil society and the media in the prevention and fight against economic and financial crime.

The target group is selected from among Romanian stakeholders with relevant roles in asset recovery, divided into three categories: penal law judges (100), prosecutors (50) and police officers (50).

The project will have a period of implementation of 24 months and will be structured as follows:

•  A one-day opening conference which will bring together project partners, representatives of the target group and other relevant Romanian and EU stakeholders. It will focus on showcasing and discussing best practice examples, outlining an implementation calendar, discussing training needs and event agendas.
•  Four training sessions, with Romanian (i.e. EFOR) and foreign experts (MEDEL, DCAP FR, EUROPOL, EUROJUST, CARIN) for 80 magistrates and operational officers from national authorities in 72 training hours: 40 CSM penal judges, 20 PG prosecutors, 20 DIF law enforcers
• Two panel-structured debates on the issue of extended confiscation and recovery of criminal proceeds, with law enforcers, judicial practitioners, NGOs and media representatives.
• A closing conference, focused on presenting the project’s results, discussing the development of complementary initiatives and ensuring sustainability through the inclusion of the training curricula into the development courses of the partners.

For more details about the project, partners and events calendar visit the website of the project.
The project Supporting the confiscation and recovery of proceeds of crime in Romania is cofinanced by Prevention of and Fight against Crime (ISEC) Programme of the European Union.