The signing ceremony took place at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg. Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino and the United Kingdom were the first of the 46 Council of Europe member states to sign the treaty, which has been opened for signature on the first day of this year’s Octopus conference on cybercrime.
Taking money from criminals’ pockets strengthens our democracies
The new treaty, an Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime and on the financing of terrorism (the “Warsaw Convention”), modernises the legal and institutional frameworks for asset recovery, in response to increasingly sophisticated, transnational and technologically advanced criminal networks.
“Criminal money sustains organised crime. It also buys what should never be for sale: our democracies. Taking that money away is democratic security,” said the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset. “No state can recover criminal assets across borders on its own. With this Protocol, none will have to.”
“Follow the money”
The protocol reinforces the Warsaw Convention, a cornerstone international treaty in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing adopted in 2005. It introduces major new tools to follow the money. Courts will be able to confiscate property linked to wider criminal conduct, in some cases without a criminal conviction. Assets held by third parties can also be targeted, while protecting good-faith holders.
Authorities will be able to freeze or seize assets urgently, where appropriate, without prior notice, before they can be moved or concealed. The protocol also requires states to establish offices to trace and manage criminal assets. It strengthens the role of financial intelligence units and improves authorities’ access to financial and virtual-asset data.
Effective use of the tools and mechanisms provided by the protocol will make cross-border asset recovery faster and fairer. The protocol will strengthen international cooperation through broader information-sharing, joint investigations, and direct cooperation between asset-recovery and asset-management offices, which will be required to respond to requests within set deadlines, including within three days in urgent cases.
Confiscated assets will be returned as a priority to victims or their legitimate owners, and confiscated sums above €10,000 will, as a rule, be shared equally between the countries involved. States are also encouraged to use confiscated assets for social or public benefit, turning the proceeds of crime into a benefit for communities.
Five ratifications are required for the protocol to enter into force, including three by Council of Europe member states.
The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the 46 Council of Europe member states adopted the additional protocol during their annual Committee of Ministers session in Chişinău on 15 May 2026.
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The Council of Europe’s Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime and on the financing of terrorism (CETS no. 198), opened for signature in Warsaw in 2005, is the first comprehensive international treaty covering both the prevention and the control of money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The convention currently has 39 states parties and five additional signatories that have not yet ratified it, including the European Union. It is also open to accession by states that are not members of the Council of Europe. A Conference of the parties monitors the implementation of the convention and protocol.
Read the text of the new protocol on fighting money laundering
