Brussels, 05/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - In keeping with the commitment it had made, the European Commission introduced a proposal, on Tuesday 5 February, to strengthen its rules to prevent money-laundering and the use of the financial system to fund terrorism. More specifically, it proposed revising its third “money laundering” directive adopted in 2006, to adapt it to the most recent recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of February 2012, as well as its regulation on information accompanying the transfer of funds, to improve the traceability of payments in the EU. The new money laundering directive will compel both financial and non-financial institutions, such as tax lawyers and advisers, for example, to step up their vigilance with regard to checking the identity of their clients and the nature of their transactions. On Tuesday, the Commission indicated that it had also lowered the threshold for compulsory inspections for cash payments. This threshold had been set at €15,000 and has now been halved to €7500. This will affect, for example, car dealers who have received a certain amount in cash or precious stone traders, said the Commission, adding that the proposal more generally affected all those involved in trading in goods or providing services and receiving payments for such transactions.
Another innovation included in the directive is the extension of the directive to the online gaming and betting sector, which has also been subject to fraud, as demonstrated on Monday 4 February in a new Europol investigation into match fixing. Operators will be obliged to apply improved checking mechanisms to all transactions worth €2000 and above. The approach presented on Tuesday will also focus more on risk, said the Commission. The proposal also expands the provisions to politically exposed persons, (i.e. people who may represent higher risk by virtue of the political positions they hold) to now also include “domestic” (those residing in EU member states) (in addition to “foreign”) politically exposed persons and those in international organisations. This includes heads of state, members of government, members of parliaments, judges of supreme courts, indicated the Commission. Overall, the establishments now covered by the provisions of the Directive will need to collect more information about their customers, with companies having to provide more information about their owners.
Commissioner Cecilia Malmström described these measures as important and argued that they would make life more complicated for organised crime, as she indicated on Twitter. The NGO, Transparency International, however, is not entirely satisfied with them and says that they still do not go far enough.
Although the NGO considers that the Commission proposal is of major importance in fighting corruption “whether it is in London or Luxembourg”, it does not meet its expectations on some aspects, particularly those regarding requirements on intelligence gathering on the effective beneficiaries and those who actually control the companies involved. Transparency International believes that in this, the Commission has been half-hearted. (SP/transl.fl)