Notice of freezing and confiscation orders in accordance with the Regulation (UE) 2018/1805

Part 1. Registry requirements

1. What is the procedure to lodge or present these judicial orders in the Land Register? Particularly electronic.

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, in Romania, immovable property is made unavailable by seizing it (security measure). The application for registration in the land register of such a seizure is submitted to the cadastre and real estate advertising office within the area of the building (territorial office), and is accompanied by the order issued by the prosecutor, the decision of the Court or the certificate containing the decision pronounced by the Court, accompanied by the official report on the seizure.

The acts must be submitted in original or in a legalized copy. The application together with the mentioned documents can be submitted to the registry of the territorial office, or can be sent by post or e-mail, or it can be registered online. The application which is registered online will be accompanied by the reproduction on infomatic support of the documents issued in a material form, signed by the depositor with the qualified electronic signature.

2. Possibility of registering these orders in the event that who appears as the owner of a property according to the land registry («A») is a different person from the defendant (or person «B») who is issued a freezing or confiscation order against

The unavailability of immovable property is done by imposing a seizure on the immovable property belonging to both person, A and other persons in whose ownership or possession the property is located. The judgment should indicate the existence of a relationship between A and B.

3. Type and duration of the registration of these orders

A order of unavailability and a confiscation order are considered different; each of them leads to a different record or notification.

Part 2. Registry effects

1. Effects of the freezing order once registered

By imposing a seizure on these assets, it is aimed to avoid the hiding, destruction, alienation or evasion of the assets that may be subject to special confiscation or extended confiscation, or that may serve to guarantee the execution of the fine or legal expenses or of the repairing of damage caused by the crime.

2. Effects of the confiscation order once registered

Romanian legislation regulates the fact that the confiscation measure has the character of a criminal law sanction.

a) special confiscation – measure of a patrimonial character which consists in the passing into the state patrimony of certain things listed generically, but at the same time limiting. This is final and irrevocable.

b) extended confiscation – a measure consisting in the confiscation of certain assets, which consists in the forced transfer into state ownership of some assets owned by the perpetrator. Extended confiscation is based on personal liability, thus solidarity cannot be applied.

3. What is the registry proceeding and moment in which the opening procedures of freezing or confiscation are applied for registration?

In Romania, based on the Criminal Procedure Code, the inalienation of immovable properties is made by imposing a procedure of freezing (precautionary measure). The application for registration in the land book of a freezing procedure is submitted to the cadastre and land registration office in the jurisdiction of which the building is located, accompanied by the order issued by the prosecutor, the decision of the court or by the certificate containing the pronounced decision, accompanied by the minutes of freezing procedure. The documents are submitted either in original or in certified copies. The application together with the mentioned documents can be submitted to the registry of the territorial office, can be sent by post or by email or can be registered online.

4. What are the executing authorities of these orders in this national system and what is the role of the land registers?

The judicial bodies which are competent to order the measure of distraint and of confiscation are the prosecutor, by ordinance, or the judge of the preliminary chamber or court, by court decision. The registration of the security measures in the land register is carried out whenever the competent authorities, specified above, formulate such a request, according to the previously described procedure.

Part 3. National land registry experience

The National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration does not hold statistics on the number of orders of non-disposal or confiscation entered in the land register, but we can state that the registration of insurance measures in the land book is carried out whenever the competent authorities make such a request.

Criminal procedural legislation in Romania expressly refers to the possibility of taking precautionary measures to repair the damage caused by the crime or to avoid the hiding, destruction, alienation or evasion of assets that can be subject to confiscation, or that can serve to guarantee the execution of the fine or legal expenses.