Council Framework Decision 2001/500/JHA of 26 June 2001 on money laundering, the identification, tracing, freezing, seizing and confiscation of instrumentalities and the proceeds of crime

The Framework Decision does not define the crime of money laundering but it provides that Member States shall take the necessary steps not to make or uphold reservations in respect of a number of provisions of the 1990 Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime. Likewise, it also provides that each Member State shall take the necessary steps consistent with its system of penalties to ensure that some of the laundering offences regulated by the 1990 Convention are punishable by deprivation of liberty for a maximum of not less than 4 years.

In December 2016, the Commission tabled a Proposal for a new Directive on countering money laundering by means of criminal law, with the aim to replace the Framework Decision. It shall be reminded that the provisions related to confiscation included in the Framework Decision have been already replaced by Directive 2014/42/EU.