48. Confiscation of foreign state property
On 13 August 2024, in response to the international debate on the possible confiscation of frozen Russian assets, the Minister of Foreign Affairs requested the Advisory Committee on Issues of Public International Law (CAVV) to prepare an advisory report examining whether or not the confiscation of foreign state property is permitted under international law. As this international debate has also involved consideration of other, less far-reaching measures regarding frozen foreign state property, such as the use of extraordinary revenues stemming from such property to finance a loan to a state, this advisory report will discuss these alternative measures as well.
[The original advisory report has been published on December 20, 2024. The English translation has been available since June 2, 2025.]
Part I delineates the scope of the report and defines a number of key concepts.
Part II briefly explains what concrete measures are on the table with regard to frozen Russian assets so that the subsequent legal analysis can distinguish between these measures.
Part III discusses the rule of immunity of state property, which may be an obstacle to confiscation (or alternative forms of intervention).
Next, part IV discusses what rules of international law may permit confiscation (or alternative forms of intervention), notwithstanding any prima facie incompatibility with the rule of immunity of state property that may have been established in part III. The CAVV examines, in succession, the doctrine of countermeasures, the right to self-defence and rules on combating terrorism financing.
The advisory report concludes in part V with some thoughts about the risks that the use of the examined measures may entail. Even if confiscation of foreign state property might be permitted in certain circumstances, this obviously does not mean that there are no political, economic or financial risks associated with taking such a measure. International law determines what measures are lawful, but deciding which of these lawful measures should be used is essentially a matter of political judgement.