Book V: Enforcement procedures

Where the confiscation order relates to a sum of money expressed in a foreign currency, the criminal court converts the amount to be confiscated into euros at the exchange rate in force on the date on which the confiscation order was issued.

Subject to the provisions of the following four paragraphs, the criminal court may neither apply measures that would replace the confiscation order, nor modify the nature of the confiscated property or the amount subject to the confiscation order. Where the person concerned is able to provide proof of total or partial confiscation in another State, the criminal court, after consulting the competent authority of the issuing State, shall deduct in…

Reasons shall be given for any refusal to execute a confiscation order and the competent authority in the issuing State shall be notified without delay by any means capable of producing a written record.

Where the location of the property has not been indicated precisely enough in the certificate, the public prosecutor shall consult the competent authority of the issuing State. Where the property mentioned in the confiscation order has already been confiscated, has disappeared, has been destroyed or cannot be found at the location indicated in the certificate, or where the amount cannot be recovered and the person has no property on the…

The criminal court, at the request of the public prosecutor, may order, in accordance with the terms of article 484-1, the seizure of property when an appeal is lodged against the decision authorising the execution of the confiscation or when the execution of a confiscation order is deferred by the public prosecutor.

If several confiscation orders issued against the same person relate either to a sum of money and that person does not have sufficient assets in France for all the orders to be enforced, or to the same specific asset, the criminal court shall determine which confiscation order or orders are to be enforced, taking into account all the circumstances, including the possible existence of freezing measures relating to these assets…

The convicted person may appeal against the decision authorising the execution of the confiscation in France. The person who holds the property that is the subject of the confiscation order or any other person who claims to have a right to this property may, by means of a request delivered to the registry of the criminal appeals chamber with territorial jurisdiction within ten days of the date on which the…

The Public Prosecutor’s Office at the court that issued the ruling shall continue to enforce the confiscation authorisation order once it has become final in accordance with the procedures set out in Article 707 and shall inform the competent authority of the issuing State by any means that leaves a written record of the enforcement of the decision.

The Public Prosecutor may postpone the execution of a confiscation order in the following cases: 1° Where the confiscation order relates to a sum of money and the amount recovered is likely to exceed the amount specified in the confiscation order owing to its execution in several States; 2° Where the execution of the confiscation order is likely to prejudice an ongoing criminal investigation or proceedings. The public prosecutor who…

Property other than sums of money confiscated pursuant to the confiscation order may be sold in accordance with the provisions of the Code du domaine de l’Etat. The sums of money recovered and the proceeds of the sale of confiscated property are vested in the French State when the amount recovered is less than €10,000, and half in the French State and half in the issuing State in other cases….