FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: William Julié, Amélie Beauchemin, Camille Gosson and Elena Moreno, WJ Avocats
Another guiding instrument is the Joint Guidelines of the Directorate General of the Treasury and the ACPR on the Implementation of Asset Freezing Measures. In addition, French authorities refer to the EU best practices. 7.3 Circumvention 7.3.1 Prohibiting Provisions Article 459 of the French Customs Code provides for the criminalisation of having “contravened or attempt - ed to contravene the laws and regulations governing financial relations with foreign countries, either by fail - ing to comply with reporting or repatriation obliga - tions, or by failing to observe prescribed procedures or formalities, or by failing to obtain the required authorisations or to meet the conditions attached to such authorisations”, and “contravening or attempt - ing to contravene measures restricting economic and financial relations provided for by Community regu - lations adopted pursuant to Article 75 or 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or by international treaties and agreements duly approved and ratified by France”. The Code therefore encompasses circumvention of French, EU and UN sanctions, which are the only sanctions implemented in France. At the EU level, and since April 2024, the circumven - tion of EU sanctions is also a criminal offence pur - suant to Article 3 (h) of Directive 2024/1226, which details the behaviours targeted: “(i) using, transferring to a third party, or otherwise disposing of, funds or economic resources directly or indirectly owned, held or controlled by a designated person, entity or body, which are to be frozen pursu - ant to a Union restrictive measure, in order to conceal those funds or economic resources; (ii) providing false or misleading information to conceal the fact that a designated person, entity or body is the ultimate owner or beneficiary of funds or economic resources which are to be frozen pursuant to a Union restrictive measure; (iii) failure by a designated natural person, or by a rep - resentative of a designated entity or body, to comply
with an obligation that constitutes a Union restrictive measure to report to the competent administrative authorities funds or economic resources within the jurisdiction of a Member State, belonging to, owned, held or controlled by them; (iv) failing to comply with an obligation that consti - tutes a Union restrictive measure to provide the com - petent administrative authorities with information on frozen funds or economic resources or information held about funds or economic resources within the territory of the Member States, belonging to, owned, held or controlled by designated persons, entities or bodies and which have not been frozen, where such information was obtained in the performance of a pro - fessional duty”. 7.3.2 Criminal Penalties As cited in 7.3.1 Prohibiting Provisions , Article 459 of the French Customs Code provides for the criminali - sation of circumvention of sanctions. This offence is punishable by five years’ imprisonment, confiscations and a fine. Until 12 June 2024, there was an additional penalty prohibiting those convicted for this offence to act as stockbrokers, or to be voters or elected mem - bers of chambers of commerce, commercial courts or industrial tribunals. However, this provision was declared unconstitutional and effectively taken out of Article 459 of the Customs Code by Constitutional Council decision No 2024-1096 QPC of 12 June 2024. The judge ruled that this provision established an additional penalty of disqualification that would apply automatically and without the criminal court being able to adjust its duration, in violation of the princi - ple of individualisation of penalties. It was effectively taken out of Article 459. On 24 April 2024, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU adopted Directive 2024/1226 on the definition of criminal offences and sanctions for violations of EU restrictive measures, amending Direc - tive (EU) 2018/1673. Article 3 of this text establishes minimum rules on the definition of criminal offences and sanctions for violations of EU restrictive meas - ures. This includes measures concerning the freez - ing of funds and economic resources, prohibitions on making funds and economic resources available, and prohibitions on entry into or transit through the terri -
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