Brussels, 11/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - With a legislative revision slated for autumn 2012, the European Commission on Wednesday 11 April published a report on the implementation of the third anti-money laundering directive (2005/60/EC) on preventing the use of the financial system for the purposes of laundering money and funding terrorism.
In this report, the European institution reviews the measures taken within this legislative framework and assesses them with regard, amongst other things, to new international standards against money laundering and the funding of terrorism adopted in February of this year by the Financial Action Task Force of the OECD (FATF), an inter-governmental body which represents more than 180 countries. The report also looks at the changes to be made to this directive, such as defining a serious infringement on the laundering of capital, criminal fiscal violations and extending the scope of application of the directive.
“In general (…), although the existing framework appears to work well and no fundamental shortcomings have been identified which would require substantial changes, some modifications are necessary”, the Commission states in a press release. Amongst other things, it needs to be adapted to the evolving threats posed. This will be the objective of the fourth anti-money laundering directive, which will be presented before the end of the year.
This revision exercise will focus on seven points: - accommodating changes to the international standards “in order to incorporate more risk-based elements, which should allow a more targeted and focused approach to assessing risks and applying resources to where they are most needed”; - possible extensions of the scope of the rules, for example to ensure a more comprehensive coverage of the gambling sector; - possible clarification of the rules on customer due diligence, which require that banks and other obliged entities have in place adequate controls and procedures so that they know the customers with whom they are dealing and understand the nature of their business; - incorporating new provisions to deal with politically exposed persons (PEPs) at domestic level and those working for international organisations, and strengthening powers and cooperation between the different national Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs). (SP/transl.fl)