Limits of Criminal Law Intervention in Cross-Border Commercial Conflicts

This study examines the limits of criminal law intervention in cross-border commercial conflicts and the risks arising when criminal proceedings are used to obtain an advantage in private, corporate, investment, or contractual disputes. The report analyses the concept of “procedural capture”: the instrumental use of criminal prosecution, asset freezing, searches and seizures, restrictions on movement, extradition mechanisms, INTERPOL notices, mutual legal assistance, and financial monitoring to alter the balance between parties before an independent judicial determination of guilt, ownership, or liability. Drawing on international law, European human rights standards, comparative legal analysis, and relevant judicial practice, the study proposes a functional test for distinguishing legitimate criminal enforcement from proceedings predominantly serving private commercial interests. It examines indicators such as the overlap between criminal and commercial proceedings, selective prosecution, procedural asymmetry, timing of coercive measures, disproportionality, and the absence of effective remedies. The study also introduces the ARGA CPC-8 test, provides a typology of cross-border corporate conflicts, compares regional legal models, identifies consequences for businesses and third parties, and formulates recommendations for States, courts, law-enforcement authorities, financial institutions, INTERPOL-related proceedings, and legal practitioners. Particular attention is given to the protection of property, freedom of movement, access to justice, the presumption of innocence, proportionality of coercive measures, prevention of abuse of process, and safeguards against the international replication of potentially instrumental national proceedings.