Customs should become more powerful – Bundestag decides on new powers

The Bundestag is expanding customs options in the fight against international money laundering and organized crime. The black-red coalition spoke of the biggest reform in this area in decades. The governing factions of the Union and SPD voted for the corresponding law on Thursday. The AfD also voted in favor, the Left against, and the Greens abstained.

"If you really want to hit criminal structures, you have to get to their financial flows, their assets and thus their economic power," said SPD MP Ingo Vogel in parliament. The core of this is an additional instrument for “administrative asset determination and security”, which should be used for criminal proceedings even without initial suspicion. This involves assets whose legal origin there are reasonable doubts about.

According to the draft law, values ​​of more than 100,000 euros are generally considered significant. For goods that require registration, such as real estate or vehicles, the threshold is 50,000 euros. The final decision on confiscation should be made by a tax court - a panel consisting of several judges.

According to estimates, around 100 billion euros in black money are laundered in Germany every year. The Greens criticized that the coalition needed to work harder on the structures and become more ambitious. The left expressed similar views.

According to the draft law, the government expects the new powers to generate annual revenue of 308 million euros from 2028. This estimate takes into account assets such as real estate, luxury vehicles, fine art, and crypto assets. A success rate of around 50 percent is assumed for the procedure. There are currently no statistics on assets of illegitimate origin. According to the SPD, the new powers are intended to better track illegal money flows.

In addition, investigative units are being combined to make them more effective. The financial control of undeclared employment should be strengthened in terms of personnel and finances. The exchange of data between authorities should be improved. “For example, we rely on AI for data analysis,” said Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD). It will hurt criminals if illegally acquired assets such as luxury cars are confiscated much more quickly in the future. Representatives of the Union and SPD announced that the coalition would introduce further laws against financial crime.