The seizure or confiscation of goods is a measure of the judicial authority by which the goods covered by the same are removed from the availability of the owner in order to allow further investigations and prevent them from being used in an unlawful manner.
If the reason for ordering a seizure leads to criminal proceedings, the confiscation of the goods may be decided upon at the conclusion of the seizure, which results in the permanent loss of the availability of the property by the original owner. The confiscated goods become the property of the state of the EU territory, which normally auctions them.
