The problem

Management of seized and provisionally confiscated assets is crucial for the overall effectiveness of prosecutors to secure assets value before confiscation. The idea of actively managing the assets is not well-established, thus a great number of assets lay, also because of the intricacy of their management, in bad conditions and lose value before final confiscation. This is the consequence of a variety of situations (e.g. scant awareness, lack of resources and unfamiliarity with managerial principles) but mainly it is due to the lack of a comprehensive and updated data management system for mapping seized assets, since it prevents relevant agencies from knowing which assets are available for management, where they are located, their characteristics, as well as any critical issue, and to track them at different stages of the procedure. At present, such systems lack in the vast majority of the MS.

Final report

Payback
Towards a EU Data Management System for Seized Assets

Authors:
Andrea Di Nicola
Barbara Vettori
Marco Angheben

With:
Alex Pellegrini, Yuly Margeory Sanchez Quispe, Luca D’Amore, Radu Nicolae, Jesús Palomo Martínez, Georgiana Camelia Iorgulescu, Vadim Mihai Chiriac

ISSN 2284-3302
ISBN 978-88-8443-814-0


Aim of the Project

The aim of the European Project Payback is to develop and test in selected MS an Innovative Data Management System (i.e. Payback DMS prototype) for the collection, management and automatic analysis of data on seized assets as to increase the efficiency of assets management and promote international cooperation among stakeholders in the EU. The Payback DMS is intended to be a scalable ICT tool (transferable with adaptations to different EU contexts and supporting multi-lingual interface) that will be developed starting from the existing experiences at MS level and stakeholders' needs.

The Objectives

Project Payback specific objectives are:
  • to map existing databases and/or Data Management Systems (DMS) for seized assets in the EU, identifying strong and weak points;
  • to understand stakeholders' needs in the EU in terms of management of seized assets;
  • to develop the software prototype of an innovative DMS for seized assets (Payback DMS prototype);
  • to pilot test the Payback DMS prototype in selected countries and refine it;
  • to disseminate the projects' findings.

Questionnaire (1)

To map and assess existing national databases and Data Management Systems (DMS) for seized assets in the EU.

Questionnaire (2)

To understand stakeholders' needs in the EU in terms of management of seized assets.

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