- Main page
- Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS No. 198) (Warsaw, May 16, 2005)
- Chapter III - Measures to be taken at national level
- Section 1 - General provisions
- Article 7 - Investigative powers and techniques
Article 7 - Investigative powers and techniques
Article 7 - Investigative powers and techniques
1 Each Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to empower its courts or other competent authorities to order that bank, financial or commercial records be made available or be seized in order to carry out the actions referred to in Articles 3, 4 and 5. A Party shall not decline to act under the provisions of this article on grounds of bank secrecy.
2Without prejudice to paragraph 1, each Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to enable it to:
a determine whether a natural or legal person is a holder or beneficial owner of one or more accounts, of whatever nature, in any bank located in its territory and, if so obtain all of the details of the identified accounts;
b obtain the particulars of specified bank accounts and of banking operations which have been carried out during a specified period through one or more specified accounts, including the particulars of any sending or recipient account;
c monitor, during a specified period, the banking operations that are being carried out through one or more identified accounts; and,
d ensure that banks do not disclose to the bank customer concerned or to other third persons that information has been sought or obtained in accordance with sub-paragraphs a, b, or c, or that an investigation is being carried out.
Parties shall consider extending this provision to accounts held in non-bank financial institutions.
3 Each Party shall consider adopting such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to enable it to use special investigative techniques facilitating the identification and tracing of proceeds and the gathering of evidence related thereto, such as observation, interception of telecommunications, access to computer systems and order to produce specific documents.