The cross-border recognition and enforcement of patrimonial sanctions imposed on the grounds of misconduct by legal persons: a comparative study of Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.

Legal persons have an important economic and societal role, but are also vulnerable for misuse. Both economic crimes as well as non-economic crimes often involve the use of legal persons. In order to combat this criminal conduct, patrimonial sanctions are the most important sanctions that can be imposed on these legal persons. Evidently, it is crucial to enforce these sanctions, considering their preventive, compensatory and economic function. This is easier said than done, as criminals may flee to another country, in order to escape the sanction that is imposed upon them. For this reason, effective cooperation between different legal systems is required. Practice shows, however, that the cross-border recognition and enforcement of patrimonial sanctions is often still deficient. A number of challenges to this cooperation have been identified in previous research, but a comprehensive analysis that includes a detailed study of different national legal systems is missing. Little is known about the extent to which the different international and European instruments dealing with cooperation are interrelated and how they interact with the national legal system as a whole. The envisaged research therefore aims to study the cross-border recognition and enforcement of patrimonial sanctions between Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. This includes a thorough study of these national systems, in order to identify potential challenges and solutions in a more detailed manner.