Preliminary assessment of the second payment request of Romania

and freezing of assets. The assessment of the compliance with the Directive for the purposes of payments from the Recovery and Resilience Facility does not prejudge the assessment by the Commission in any other proceedings regarding the conformity of the national law with the aforementioned legislation. The legislative act shall introduce several changes related to the extension of the institutional mandate. Law No 230 of 19 July 2022 amending Law No 318/2015 on the establishment, organisation and functioning of the National Agency for the Administration of Seized Assets and amending certain legislative acts and amending Law No 135/2010 on the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 230/2022). Law No. 230/2022 extends the institutional mandate of ANABI, adding additional powers related to the administration and valorisation of seized properties, and provides for additional collaboration frameworks with other relevant bodies in the process of

recovering proceeds of crime through Article 1 (16), Article 27(8), Article 28, Article 197(3), and Article 252. The legislative act shall address issues such as administration of seized property. Law No. 230/2022 introduces the following additional powers for ANABI: (i) the legal mandate to manage seized stocks of merchandise with a cumulative value exceeding EUR 300 000 (Article 1 (16)); (ii) upon ANABI’s request, and with the approval of the public prosecutor or the court, amounts of money seized within the same judicial proceeding can be transferred to a unique bank account owned by ANABI itself (Article 27(8)); (iii) for seized assets whose management requires particular care, ANABI must be provided free of charge with technical and logistical support from the authorities, public institutions and publicly owned entities, both at central and local level with adequate expertise (Article 28).

The legislative act shall address issues such as valorisation of seized property. Law No. 230/2022 extends ANABI’s powers with respect to the valorisation of the seized properties, including to: (i) request the transfer of perishable seized properties to public authorities or institutions governed by public law with adequate infrastructure to manage such goods (Article 197(3)); (ii) request the sale of movable or immovable properties that could depreciate quickly already in the course of the criminal proceedings (Article 252(1)); (iii) deposit seized precious metals and stones, or objects made with them, at the State Treasury and deposit foreign currencies at the nearest credit institution (Article 252(4)); (iv) sell without the agreement of the owner the following seized movable assets (in addition to those already stipulated by the Law No. 135/2010 on the Criminal Procedural Code): (I) flammable or petroleum products, wood mass and wood materials,

pharmaceutical products and sanitary materials (Article 252(2)(c)); (II) merchandise with a value lower than EUR 300 000 (Article 252(2)); (III) means of transportation, when the owner does not deposit in the account established by the special law an amount equal to the value of the seized good, within 6 months of the date of seizure (Article 252). The legislative act shall address issues such as collaboration with other relevant bodies in the process of recovering damages. Law No. 230/2022 extends ANABI’s capacity to coordinate with other relevant bodies in the process of recovering damages. In particular, ANABI is able to: (i) request, in accordance with the law, when necessary, the presence and assistance of a

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