Forfeiture of assets - national procedures for ICC proceedings

Australia

Australia - International Criminal Court Act No. 41 2002 (2018) EN

Part 1—Preliminary

4 Definitions

evidential material means:
(a) in Subdivision F of Division 14 of Part 4—evidence relating to:
(i) property in relation to which a forfeiture order has been or could be made; or

Australia - Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act No. 85 1987 (2018)

Part VI—Proceeds of crime
Division 2—Requests by foreign countries
Subdivision A—Enforcement of foreign orders
34 Requests for enforcement of foreign orders
(1) If:
(a) a foreign country requests the Attorney General to make arrangements for the enforcement of:
(i) a foreign forfeiture order, made in respect of a foreign serious offence, against property that is reasonably suspected of being located in Australia; or
(ii) a foreign pecuniary penalty order, made in respect of a foreign serious offence, where some or all of the property available to satisfy the order is reasonably suspected of being located in Australia; and
(b) the Attorney General is satisfied that:
(i) a person has been convicted of the offence; and
(ii) the conviction and the order are not subject to further appeal in the foreign country;
the Attorney General may authorise a proceeds of crime authority, in writing, to apply for the registration of the order.
(2) If a foreign country requests the Attorney General to make arrangements for the enforcement of:
(a) a foreign forfeiture order that:
(i) has the effect of forfeiting a person’s property on the basis that the property is, or is alleged to be, the proceeds or an instrument of a foreign serious offence (whether or not a person has been convicted of that offence); and
(ii) is made against property that is reasonably suspected of being located in Australia; or
(b) a foreign pecuniary penalty order in respect of which both of the following apply:
(i) the order has the effect of requiring a person to pay an amount of money on the basis that the money is, or is alleged to be, the benefit derived from a foreign serious offence (whether or not the person has been convicted of that offence);
(ii) some or all of the property available to satisfy the order is reasonably suspected of being located in Australia;
the Attorney General may authorise a proceeds of crime authority, in writing, to apply for the registration of the order.
(3) If a foreign country requests the Attorney General to make arrangements for the enforcement of a foreign restraining order, against property that is reasonably suspected of being located in Australia, that is:
(a) made in respect of a foreign serious offence for which a person has been convicted or charged; or
(b) made in respect of the alleged commission of a foreign serious offence (whether or not the identity of the person who committed the offence is known);
the Attorney General may authorise a proceeds of crime authority, in writing, to apply for the registration of the order.

Part VI—Proceeds of crime
Division 2—Requests by foreign countries
Subdivision A—Enforcement of foreign orders
34A Registration of foreign orders
(1A) An application to a court for registration of a foreign order in accordance with an authorisation under this Subdivision must be to a court with proceeds jurisdiction.
(1) If a proceeds of crime authority applies to a court with proceeds jurisdiction for registration of a foreign order in accordance with an authorisation under this Subdivision, the court must register the order accordingly, unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.
(2) The proceeds of crime authority must give notice of the application:
(a) to specified persons the authority has reason to suspect may have an interest in the property; and
(b) to such other persons as the court directs.
(3) However, the court may consider the application without notice having been given if the proceeds of crime authority requests the court to do so.
(4) If a foreign pecuniary penalty order or a foreign restraining order is registered in a court under this Subdivision:
(a) a copy of any amendments made to the order (whether before or after registration) may be registered in the same way as the order; and
(b) the amendments do not, for the purposes of this Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act, have effect until they are registered.
(5) An order or an amendment of an order is to be registered in a court by the registration, in accordance with the rules of the court, of:
(a) a copy of the appropriate order or amendment sealed by the court or other authority making that order or amendment; or
(b) a copy of that order or amendment duly authenticated in accordance with subsection 43(2).

34B Enforcement of foreign forfeiture orders
(1) A foreign forfeiture order registered in a court under this Subdivision has effect, and may be enforced, as if it were a forfeiture order made by the court under the Proceeds of Crime Act at the time of registration.
(2) In particular, section 68 of the Proceeds of Crime Act applies in relation to the forfeiture order as if:
(a) the reference in subparagraph 68(1)(b)(i) of that Act to a proceeds of crime authority having applied for the order were a reference to the foreign forfeiture order having been made; and
(b) subparagraph 68(1)(b)(ii) of that Act did not apply if the person in question died after the authority applied for registration of the order under section 34A of this Act.
(3) Subject to section 34C, property that is subject to a foreign forfeiture order registered under this Subdivision may be disposed of, or otherwise dealt with, in accordance with any direction of the Attorney General or of a person authorised by the Attorney General in writing for the purposes of this subsection.
(4) Sections 69 and 70 and Divisions 5 to 7 of Part 2 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act do not apply in relation to a foreign forfeiture order registered under this Subdivision.

34D Enforcement of foreign pecuniary penalty orders
(1) A foreign pecuniary penalty order registered in a court under this Subdivision has effect, and may be enforced, as if it were a pecuniary penalty order that:
(a) was made by the court under the Proceeds of Crime Act at the time of registration; and
(b) requires the payment to the Commonwealth of the amount payable under the order.
(2) Any amount paid (whether in Australia, in the foreign country in which the order was made or elsewhere) in satisfaction of the foreign pecuniary penalty order is taken to have been paid in satisfaction of the debt that arises because of the registration of the foreign pecuniary penalty order in that court.
(3) Division 5 of Part 2 4 of the Proceeds of Crime Act does not apply in relation to a foreign pecuniary penalty order registered under this Subdivision.

Rome Statute

Article 93 Other forms of cooperation

1. States Parties shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Part and under procedures of national law, comply with requests by the Court to provide the following assistance in relation to investigations or prosecutions:

(k) The identification, tracing and freezing or seizure of proceeds, property and assets and instrumentalities of crimes for the purpose of eventual forfeiture, without prejudice to the rights of bona fide third parties; and