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)

• Preamble

• 

  Chapter I - Use of terms

• Article 1 - Use of terms

• 

  Chapter II - Financing of terrorism

• Article 2 - Application of the Convention to the financing of terrorism

• 

  Chapter III - Measures to be taken at national level

• 

  Section 1 - General provisions

• Article 3 - Confiscation measures

• Article 4 - Investigative and provisional measures

• Article 5 - Freezing, seizure and confiscation

• Article 6 - Management of frozen or seized property

• Article 7 - Investigative powers and techniques

• Article 8 - Legal remedies

• Article 9 - Laundering offences

• Article 10 - Corporate liability

• Article 11 - Previous decisions

• 

  Section 2 - Financial intelligence unit (FIU) and prevention

• Article 12 - Financial intelligence unit (FIU)

• Article 13 - Measures to prevent money laundering

• Article 14 - Postponement of domestic suspicious transactions

• 

  Chapter IV - International co-operation

• 

  Section 1 - Principles of international co-operation

• Article 15 - General principles and measures for international co-operation

• 

  Section 2 - Investigative assistance

• Article 16 - Obligation to assist

• Article 17 - Requests for information on bank accounts

• Article 18 - Requests for information on banking transactions

• Article 19 - Requests for the monitoring of banking transactions

• Article 20 - Spontaneous information

• 

  Section 3 - Provisional measures

• Article 21 - Obligation to take provisional measures

• Article 22 - Execution of provisional measures

• 

  Section 4 - Confiscation

• Article 23 - Obligation to confiscate

• Article 24 - Execution of confiscation

• Article 25 - Confiscated property

• Article 26 - Right of enforcement and maximum amount of confiscation

• Article 27 - Imprisonment in default

• 

  Section 5 - Refusal and postponement of co-operation

• Article 28 - Grounds for refusal

• Article 29 - Postponement

• Article 30 - Partial or conditional granting of a request

• 

  Section 6 - Notification and protection of third parties' rights

• Article 31 - Notification of documents

• Article 32 - Recognition of foreign decisions

• 

  Section 7 - Procedural and other general rules

• Article 33 - Central authority

• Article 34 - Direct communication

• Article 35 - Form of request and languages

• Article 36 - Legalisation

• Article 37 - Content of request

• Article 38 - Defective requests

• Article 39 - Plurality of requests

• Article 40 - Obligation to give reasons

• Article 41 - Information

• Article 42 - Restriction of use

• Article 43 - Confidentiality

• Article 44 - Costs

• Article 45 - Damages

• 

  Chapter V - Co-operation between FlUs

• Article 46 - Co-operation between FlUs

• Article 47 - International co-operation for postponement of suspicious transactions

• 

  Chapter VI - Monitoring mechanism and settlement of disputes

• Article 48 - Monitoring mechanism and settlement of disputes

• 

  Chapter VII - Final Provisions

• Article 49 - Signature and entry into force

• Article 50 - Accession to the Convention

• Article 51 - Territorial application

• Article 52 - Relationship to other conventions and agreements

• Article 53 - Declarations and reservations

• Article 54 - Amendments

• Article 55 - Denunciation

• Article 56 - Notifications

Authentic text

COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONVENTION
ON LAUNDERING, SEARCH, SEIZURE AND CONFISCATION OF THE PROCEEDS FROM CRIME AND ON THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM*(1)

In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this Convention.

Done at Warsaw, this 16th day of May 2005, in English and in French, both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the archives of the Council of Europe. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall transmit certified copies to each member State of the Council of Europe, to the European Community, to the non-member States which have participated in the elaboration of the Convention and to any State invited to accede to it.

_______________

(*) The Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community entered into force on 1 December 2009. As a consequence, as from that date, any reference to the European Economic Community shall be read as the European Union.

(1) Note by the Secretariat: See the Declaration formulated by the European Community and the Member States of the European Union upon the adoption of the Convention by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, on 3 May 2005:

"The European Community/European Union and its Member States reaffirm that their objective in requesting the inclusion of a "disconnection clause" is to take account of the institutional structure of the Union when acceding to international conventions, in particular in case of transfer of sovereign powers from the Member States to the Community.

This clause is not aimed at reducing the rights or increasing the obligations of a non-European Union Party vis-a-vis the European Community/European Union and its Member States, inasmuch as the latter are also parties to this Convention.

The disconnection clause is necessary for those parts of the Convention which fall within the competence of the Community/Union, in order to indicate that European Union Member States cannot invoke and apply the rights and obligations deriving from the Convention directly among themselves (or between themselves and the European Community/Union). This does not detract from the fact that the Convention applies fully between the European Community/European Union and its Member States on the one hand, and the other Parties to the Convention, on the other; the Community and the European Union Members States will be bound by the Convention and will apply it like any Party to the Convention, if necessary, through Community/Union legislation. They will thus guarantee the full respect of the Convention's provisions vis-a-vis non-European Union Parties."