The research into the seizure and confiscation of criminal property in other European countries aims to answer the following two main questions:

1. Which methods do authorities (not only in the Netherlands but also) in England, Ireland, Italy and Germany use with regard to the seizure and the confiscation of property with an (allegedly) illegal origin in cases without an offender who can be prosecuted or convicted;

2. Which barriers do the authorities in these states encounter with respect to cross-border cooperation in the cases mentioned.?

The research focuses on the seizure and confiscation of illegal property from i) persons with no registered income, but with a luxurious lifestyle, ii) inheritances (or the property in which the inheritance was converted), the illegal origin of which has come to the surface after the heir obtained it, iii) assets of a bank account without an apparent owner, and iv) assets that could not be linked to a specific person (for instance: a box containing money buried in a garden, found by the new owner of the property). In this research, these situations are referred to as the four standard situations.

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