The Council of Europe has historically been at the forefront of international action against organised crime by developing a range of conventions and other soft law standards aimed at facilitating international co-operation as regards investigative assistance, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from all types of criminality. Work in this area has led to the adoption of the 1990 Council of Europe Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime (“the Strasbourg Convention”), as the first internationally binding treaty that focuses exclusively on money laundering.

In May 2005, the Council of Europe opened for signature the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS No. 198), which is the first international treaty covering both the prevention and the control of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

On 23 November 2023, the  Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Terms of Reference establishing the Committee of Experts on Criminal Asset Recovery (PC-RAC).

The PC-RAC is  entrusted, under the authority of the Committee of Ministers and the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC), to elaborate an additional protocol supplementing the Council of Europe Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime and on the financing of terrorism (CETS no. 198), as well as a draft explanatory report.

The PC-RAC will meet 3 times a year, in closed session. Access to information about specific meetings and documents of the PC-RAC is available below, or depending on their classification, can be consulted in line with Resolution Res(2001)6 on access to Council of Europe documents.

  Terms of Reference 2024-2025

 Members

 Resolution CM/Res(2021)3 on intergovernmental committees and subordinate bodies, their terms of reference and working methods

 Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime and on the financing of terrorism (CETS no. 198) and Explanatory Report to CETS no 198

 Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty CETS no. 198 

 Interpretative Notes adopted by the Conference of the Parties to CETS no. 198

 Conference of the Parties Thematic Monitoring Reviews

 European Court of Human Rights - New Key Theme: Confiscation / Seizure of assets

 Study on the possible added value and feasibility of preparing a new binding instrument in the Council of Europe on international co-operation as regards the management, recovery and sharing of assets proceeding from crime

 The Use of Non-Conviction Based Seizure and Confiscation