Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS No. 198), enforceable in Monaco (August 2022)

The so-called Warsaw Convention of 16 May 2005 (SCTE no. 198), ratified on 23 April 2019, became enforceable in Monaco by Sovereign Order n° 9.393 of 29 July 2022 (JDM no. 8604 of 19 August 2022). Its entry into force with regard to Monaco is fixed as from 1 August 2019.

The Warsaw Convention updates and extends the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime of 8 November 1990 (ETS No. 141, known as the Strasbourg Convention, given effect in Monaco by Sovereign Order No. 15. 452 of 8 August 2002), in order to take account of the fact that terrorism is no longer financed solely by money laundering (“dirty” money), but also by legitimate activities (“clean” money, collected for example through charitable organisations or legitimate commercial activities).

It is intended to meet the need for speedy access to financial or asset information held by criminal organisations, including terrorist groups.

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The 2005 Warsaw Convention takes up the general structure of the 1990 Strasbourg Convention, while bringing it into line with current requirements:

Thus, it deals not only with money laundering and confiscation of proceeds of crime (as the original text did), but also with the financing of terrorism by recalling the crucial importance of the United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of 9 December 1999 (the so-called New York Convention, made enforceable in Monaco by Sovereign Order No. 15.319 of 08 April 2002), which for the first time provided an international framework for the prevention of terrorism.

Furthermore, it updates the provisions of the 1990 Convention relating to international cooperation, in order to promote its correct and extensive application, and to take account of new investigative techniques adopted in other international fora, including those applicable in the framework of the Protocol of 16 October 2001 between the Member States of the European Union to the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (governing in particular requests for information on bank accounts and transactions, as well as requests for the monitoring of bank transactions).

Austria's objection to certain reservations and declarations made by Monaco:

It should be noted that the Principality of Monaco made reservations (and interpretative declarations) after the ratification of the Convention (on 21 October 2020, based on the text of the Convention and public international law [1]), to which Austria objected for late formulation (on 14 October 2021). As long as the objection to a reservation is not withdrawn, it cannot enter into force:

"The Principality of Monaco ratified the Convention already on 23 April 2019, without making the abovementioned reservations and declarations. Austria therefore considers the reservations and declarations to Articles 7(2)(c), 9(1), 19, 24(2) and 31(2) as well as according to Articles 35(3) and 42(2) of the Convention to be formulated late and opposes them."

Finally, it should be recalled that Law No. 1.521 of 11 February 2022 transcribed certain requirements of the Warsaw Convention following the Recommendations of the Conference of the Parties (CoP).

NOTE:

[1] Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties (2011), Text adopted by the International Law Commission at its sixty-third session, in 2011, and submitted to the General Assembly in the context of its report on the work of that session (A/66/10).