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14. ENFORCEMENT SYSTEMS

The project aims to ensure that the enforcement is effective. It is divided into two sub-projects.

Enforcement model. The aim is to adapt enforcement mechanisms to make them more effective. It will be done through the white paper methodology: working groups and debate, analysis and proposals. This white paper will contain proposals with a time horizon for complete implementation in 2030.

Asset Recovery and Management Office (ARMO). In development of the EU Directive 2014/42 EU of the European Parliament and the Council, 3 April 2014, on the seizure and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union, Royal Decree 948/2015 of 23 October was approved, which regulates the Asset Recovery and Management Office as a body of the General State Administration, attached to the Ministry of Justice, and whose function is to assist the courts, tribunals and prosecutors' offices in locating assets and in the subsequent management of the assets audited, seized or confiscated by court order.

If the proceedings are initiated at the request of the courts or of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the scope of action falls within the scope of serious economic crimes subject to extended confiscation (Article 127a of the Criminal Code) or organized crime ones.

If the proceedings are initiated at the request of ARMO, in addition to the general scope of extended confiscation and subject to agreement on the part of the judicial body in the proceedings in question, the scope of asset management action may be extended to any criminal activity where certain requirements are met.

The scenario the Office will face in the coming years is very different from the five years that have elapsed since it was launched, during which time the Office has been able to provide a very high quality service to its clients. As a newly created administrative body that has taken on functions that until now did not correspond to the State Administration, it has had to direct a significant part of its effort to implementing resources and procedures.

The objective is to optimize the Office in order to:

  • Optimize the confiscation proceeds so that they can be used to make monetary restitution to the victims by paying the compensation established in the criminal proceedings.
  • Collaborate in the national and international financial blockage of criminal networks and in the recovery of the proceeds of crime, turning the principle that a crime which generates illicit profits can never compensate its perpetrator into a reality.
  • Reverse the proceeds of crime in connection with social purposes and to strengthen institutions dedicated to the fight against organized crime.
  • Provide the competent authorities with the appropriate means to enable them not only to locate, seize and confiscate property effectively, but also to administer it efficiently and effectively.
  • Comply with the obligations of international cooperation and the strengthening of the country's trustworthiness.
  • Reduce the costs derived from the management of seized and confiscated assets.

In this process, the desirability of making the Office more institutionalized needs to be assessed.

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