Section 94
Request for freezing, seizure and search

(1) Outside of the area of application of the Freezing and Confiscation Regulation, section 58 (3) and section 67 apply to requests made in accordance with the provisions of Council Framework Decision 2003/577/JHA of 22 July 2003 on the execution in the European Union of orders freezing property or evidence (OJ L 196, 2.8.2003, p. 45), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2018/1805 (OJ L 303, 28.11.2018, p. 1) (Framework Decision on Freezing of Property or Evidence), whereby

1. no double criminality check is carried out if the offence giving rise to the request is punishable, under the law of the requesting state, by a sentence of imprisonment of a maximum of at least three years and belongs to one of the categories of offences listed in Article 3 (2) the Framework Decision on Freezing of Property or Evidence,

2. a request in relation to taxes, duties, customs duties and currency exchange activities is also permissible even if German law does not impose the same kind of taxes or does not contain the same kind of provisions on taxes, duties, customs duties and currency exchange activities as the law of the requesting Member State.

(2) Authorisation of requests referred to in subsection (1) is not permissible if

1. a ban on confiscation pursuant to section 77 (1) in conjunction with section 97 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been imposed or

2. final judgment has already been passed upon the person pursued in a Member State other than the requesting Member State for the same offence which gave rise to the request, provided that, in the case of conviction, the sanction has already been enforced, is currently being enforced or can no longer be enforced under the law of the sentencing state.

This does not apply if the request serves the purpose of preparing an order for confiscation and such a measure could be independently ordered under section 76a of the Criminal Code.

(3) Authorisation of requests for measures as set out in section 58 (3) and section 67 may be deferred as long as

1. they might compromise ongoing criminal investigations and

2. the property to which the request refers has been confiscated or frozen for other criminal proceedings.