In response to the situation in Ukraine, the EU has adopted a series of restrictive measures against Russia to ensure compliance with its international legal obligations, including the need to provide reparations for the damage its aggression has caused. The article analyses the recently adopted Directive on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures along with the Directive on asset recovery and confiscation. These instruments harmonise the definition of violations and circumventions of EU restrictive measures as a “European criminal offence” under Article 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and establish sanctions for them, including the confiscation of assets and possible transfer of those assets to Ukraine. Until now, this area was regulated by the Member States and their respective national laws, which have encompassed a range of civil, administrative and criminal sanctions for breaching the restrictive measures. The new framework seeks to unify Member States’ legislation with a view to making it more effective and preventing the EU’s sanctions from being circumvented. Yet, at the same time it appears that the EU is utilising the mechanisms of criminal law to further the Union’s political and economic interests, encompassing the confiscation and transfer of assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Further, the new regime of sanctions will cause a substantial tightening of the criminal law framework in the Member States and is likely to give rise to a number of significant criminal law issues.
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