Article 2

For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply: ‘property’ means funds or assets of any kind, including crypto assets, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, and legal documents or instruments in any form, including electronic or digital, evidencing title to, or an interest in such funds or assets; ‘public official’ means: a Union official, or a national official of a Member State or of a third country; any other person assigned and exercising a public service function, in accordance with national law, including those mandated by or under the authority of a public authority in Member States or third countries; a person assigned and exercising a public service function for an international organisation or for an international court; ‘Union official’ means a person who is: Members of an institution, body, office or agency of the Union and the staff of such bodies shall be assimilated to Union officials, inasmuch as the Staff Regulations do not apply to them; an official or other servant engaged under contract by the Union within the meaning of the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union laid down in Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 (25) (the ‘Staff Regulations’), or seconded to the Union by a Member State or by any public or private body, and who carries out functions equivalent to those performed by Union officials or other servants. ‘national official’ means any person holding an executive, administrative or judicial office at national, regional or local level, whether appointed or elected, or employed on the basis of a contract, whether permanent or temporary, paid or unpaid, irrespective of that person’s seniority. Any person holding a legislative office at national, regional or local level shall be assimilated to a national official, in accordance with national law; ‘arbitrator’ means any person called upon to render a legally binding decision in disputes submitted by the parties to the arbitration agreement where the status of arbitrators is set out in national law; ‘juror’ means any person acting as a member of a body responsible for deciding on the guilt of an accused person within the framework of a trial, in accordance with national law; ‘breach of duty’ means, as a minimum, any behaviour constituting a breach of a statutory duty or a breach of professional regulations or instructions which apply within the business of a person who in any capacity directs or works for a private-sector entity; ‘legal person’ means any entity having legal personality under applicable national law, except for States or public bodies in the exercise of State authority and for public international organisations; ‘high-level official’ means a public official who is entrusted with key executive, administrative, legislative or judicial functions in accordance with national law; this may include: heads of central and regional government, members of central and regional government, deputy ministers, state secretaries, key political advisers, heads and members of a minister’s private office or cabinet when such have been established, members of parliamentary chambers, members of constitutional and supreme courts, a prosecutor general, and members of supreme audit institutions as well as members of the College of Commissioners of the European Commission and of the European Parliament. The provisions of this Directive concerning high-level officials shall be understood without prejudice to immunities and privileges established under national constitutions or laws.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-09 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.