International cooperation on seizure and confiscation under treaties in Monaco: amendment of Sovereign Orders No. 11.863 and No. 605 (Sovereign Order No. 11.863 of 9 April 2026)

Sovereign Order No. 11.863 of 9 April 2026 (JDM No. 8795 of 17 April 2026) amends:

• Sovereign Order No. 15.457 of 9 August 2002 on international cooperation in matters of seizure and confiscation pursuant to various international treaties, as amended, and
• Sovereign Order No. 605 of 1 August 2006 implementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and its Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, air and sea, adopted in New York on 15 November 2000, as amended.

PURPOSE OF THE AMENDMENTS

→ Sovereign Order No. 11.863 extends the application of the provisions of Sovereign Order No. 15.457 to requests for mutual legal assistance made pursuant to Articles 13 (International cooperation for the purposes of confiscation) and 14 (Disposition of proceeds of crime or confiscated property) of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime of 15 November 2000 (by a State Party) seeking one or more of the following measures:

1. the search for and identification of
   instruments used or intended to be used for offences covered by the Convention against Organised Crime and its two Additional Protocols (on preventing, suppressing and punishing trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and on the smuggling of migrants by land, air and sea),
   the proceeds of such offences or property the value of which corresponds to such proceeds, and other property liable to confiscation;
2. the confiscation of such instruments, proceeds or property the value of which corresponds to such proceeds, and other property liable to confiscation;
3. the taking of precautionary measures in respect of such instruments, proceeds or property the value of which corresponds to such proceeds, and other property liable to confiscation, with a view to possible confiscation.

Articles 3, 4, 5 and 9 of Sovereign Order No. 15.457 are consequently amended to include a reference to the new Article 2-2.

Article 16 of Sovereign Ordinance No. 605 is amended accordingly to specify in parallel that "International cooperation for the purposes of confiscation, pursuant to Articles 13 and 14 of the aforementioned Convention, shall be granted under the conditions laid down in Sovereign Order No. 15.457 of 9 August 2002 on international cooperation in matters of seizure and confiscation pursuant to various international treaties, as amended."

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Consequently, Sovereign Order No. 15.457 now applies to requests for mutual legal assistance made on the basis of the following four international conventions:

• United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 20 December 1988, known as the "Vienna Convention";
• Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime of 8 November 1990, known as the “Strasbourg Convention” (ETS No. 141);
• Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism of 16 May 2005, known as the “Warsaw Convention” – ETS No. 198, since Sovereign Order No. 10.576 of 29 May 2024;
• United Nations Convention of 15 November 2000 against Transnational Organised Crime and its two Additional Protocols (on trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants), since Sovereign Order No. 11.863 of 9 April 2026.

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→ Furthermore, Sovereign Order No. 11.863 corrects an error in the reference to Article 1 of Sovereign Order No. 605, which was repealed by Sovereign Order No. 9.966 of 30 June 2023

In Article 18 of Sovereign Order No. 605, the reference to one of the offences "provided for in Article 1" is thus replaced by a reference to "one of the offences covered by the Convention on the Fight against Organised Crime and its two additional protocols, referred to above".

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