The Zero-Gain from Crime Policy in Action – a Review of Non-Conviction Based Confiscation Through the Fair Trial Standard

The issue of recovering property obtained through a criminal act has always been one of the essential elements of justice. It is not just about performing its function of providing justice, but also its preventive function. In turn, returning elements of the property to the victim is supposed to serve a restorative function. An efficient system is one that performs all of these functions to the maximum possible extent, resulting in the full deprivation of illegally obtained property from the perpetrator and returning it to the victim or the state treasury. The text in question will discuss and evaluate the standards for forfeiture without trial, particularly in light of due process standards. In addition, an assessment will be made of the scope of the regulation in question and how it may be reflected in the systems of European Union member states. The question arises as to whether Directive 2024/1260, together with other pieces of EU law, constitute a sufficient standard to ensure the effectiveness of the proceedings and maintain the guarantees under the European Convention on Human Rights. In this context, these regulations can serve as an exemplary model also for those countries that do not belong to the EU. Namely, the challenges of creating a domestic form of forfeiture proceedings, also in terms of international crime, will become the subject of the study.