Criminal offences and penalties for the violation of EU restrictive measures
On 31st of January, Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, presented a new proposal for a directive which aims to approximate the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures. This proposal was issued by the Commission following Parliament's consent of 7 July 2022 to a Council decision aimed at extending the list of eurocrimes in Article 83(1) TFEU to the violation of EU restrictive measures.
The objective of the Directive is to "make it easier to investigate, prosecute and punish violations of restrictive measures in all Member States". Currently, the EU has over 40 sets of restrictive measures in place with different systems of criminal law, different definitions of EU sanctions-related offenses and crimes, as well as different levels of penalties.