Cap. 621 Art. 56Foreign confiscation orders.       Cap. 12.       Cap. 12.

(1) A confiscation order made by a court outside Malta shall be enforceable in Malta in accordance with the following provisions of this article.

(2) Where the Director in accordance with European Union Law or with such applicable treaties, conventions or agreements, applicable to Malta by whatever name called, receives a request by a judicial or prosecuting authority of any place outside Malta for the enforcement in Malta of a Confiscation Order made by a competent court of criminal or civil jurisdiction in that place (hereinafter referred to as a "Foreign Confiscation Order") the Director may bring an action in the Civil Court (Asset Recovery Section) by an application containing a demand that the enforcement in Malta of the Foreign Confiscation Order be ordered.

(3) The Director shall attach to the application a copy of the relevant Foreign Confiscation Order, (and where such order is in a language other than Maltese or English, together with a translation of the Order into Maltese or English) together with such documents in support of the demand as it may be in his power to produce and shall indicate in his application the names of all the witnesses he intends to produce, stating in respect of each the proof which he intends to make.

(4) The application shall be served on the person whose property the Foreign Confiscation Order purports to confiscate who shall file his reply within fifteen (15) days after the date of the service of the application. The reply shall contain a list of the witnesses which the respondent intends to produce stating in respect of each the proof which he intends to make and such documents as it may be in his power to produce.

(5) The Court shall without delay set down the application for hearing at an early date, which date shall in no case be later than thirty

(30) days from the date of filing of the application or the date of its service in accordance with sub-article (4), whichever is the later.

(6) In entering orders to enforce the Foreign Confiscation Order, the Court shall be bound by the findings of fact to the extent that they are stated in the foreign order. The Court, however, shall not order the enforcement in Malta of the Foreign Confiscation Order if:

(a) the respondent was not notified of the proceedings which led to the making of the relevant Foreign Confiscation Order, and did not have an adequate opportunity to contest the making of the said Order;

(b) the Foreign Confiscation Order was obtained by fraud on the part of any person to the prejudice of the respondent;

(c) the Foreign Confiscation Order contains any disposition contrary to the public policy or the internal public law of Malta; or

(d) the Foreign Confiscation Order contains contradictory dispositions;

(e) the Foreign Confiscation Order is based on a manifest error of law or of fact.

(7) A decision by the Court ordering the enforcement of a Foreign Confiscation Order shall have the effect of confiscating in favour of the Government of Malta all things and property whatsoever situated in Malta the confiscation of which was ordered in the Foreign Confiscation Order, subject to any direction which the Minister may give providing for the further disposal of the things or property so confiscated.

(8) The decision ordering the enforcement of a Foreign

Confiscation Order which provides for the confiscation of immovable property shall have the effect of transferring that immovable property to the Government of Malta, and for the purposes of article 239 of the

Code of Organization and Civil Procedure the Director shall be considered as the interested party that may obtain the registration of the transfer.

(9) The decision ordering the enforcement of a Foreign Confiscation Order providing for the confiscation of unspecified property the value of which corresponds to proceeds of crime shall, upon being registered in the Public Registry, create as from the date of registration a general hypothec in regard to the debt amounting to the value of such proceeds. The value of such proceeds shall be determined by application before the Civil Court (Asset Recovery Section) served on the owner of the property to be confiscated, in accordance with the provisions, of article 38. mutatis mutandis,

(10) Where the Foreign Confiscation Order relates to the confiscation of a sum of money, expressed in a currency other than the euro, the sum to be confiscated shall be the equivalent of such sum in euro, in accordance with the rate of exchange established by the Central Bank of Malta, operative on the date of the decision ordering the enforcement.

(11) The Director may, in order to secure any of the property which the Foreign Confiscation Order refers to, or the value of such property, apply to the Civil Court (Asset Recovery Section) for the issue of any of the precautionary acts referred to in article 830 of the

Code of Organization and Civil Procedure.

(12) For the purposes of this article:

"Confiscation Order" includes any judgment, decision, declaration or other order made by a court outside Malta providing or purporting to provide for the confiscation or forfeiture of property subject to confiscation, whether conviction based or non-conviction based;

"equivalent offence" means any act or omission by any name called which if committed in Malta would constitute a relevant offence; and

"proceeds of crime" has the same meaning as assigned to it in article 3, as if any reference therein to relevant offence were a reference to equivalent offence.