Among the measures initiated by the European bodies and subsequently taken over and adopted by the judicial authorities of the Member States to combat cross-border crime are those regarding the judicial cooperation in criminal matters referring to the tracing, identification, freezing and confiscation of proceeds, instruments and assets related to the offences committed by this kind of criminality.
In this regard, the Report of the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council on the progress made by Romania under the cooperation and verification mechanism, issued on 13 November 2018 in Strasbourg, through the Recommendation No 12, was sending to the Romanian authorities „the assurance that the National Agency for Management of Seized Assets is fully and effectively operational, so as to be able to publish the first annual report with reliable statistical information on the confiscation of assets coming from committing offences. The Agency should establish a system of regular reporting on the development of its administrative capacity, on the results obtained in the confiscation and management of proceeds resulted from committing offences”.
The Romanian legislative authorities have indeed adopted the Law No 318/2015 for the establishment, organization and functioning of the National Agency for Management of Seized Assets and for the amendment and supplementation of some normative acts, law published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No 961 of 24 December 2015.
This first legislative approach, however, had to be supported also by other administrative and executive formalities which involved the effective establishment, organization, functioning and operationalization of this Agency, a fact ongoing even at the date thereof.
It is also noted, at the time of writing this study, that this Agency is not operational and that there are ongoing, although with big delay, some procedures for organising contests and for filling several offices therein in order to become functional.
Starting from these coordinates, the article contains a brief analysis of the stage in which the Romanian authorities have complied with this recommendation, together with the relevant Romanian case law, with some of the Community norms and with the model of other European states in this matter, as well as its own conclusions necessary for an as good as possible implementation of this recommendation in the Romanian judiciary system.
