Brussels, 12/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - Several European finance ministers feel that the transposition deadline proposed by the European Commission for its anti-money-laundering directive (1 January 2017) does not give them enough time.
This point was raised at a public discussion of the meeting of the Ecofin Council on Tuesday 12 July by Estonia, Ireland, Germany and Luxembourg. The Commissioner with responsibility for the dossier, Vera Jourova, understood the concerns expressed, but said that time was short. On behalf of the Slovakian Presidency of the Council of the EU, Peter Kazimir explained that the technical work would start next week with the hope of reaching a general approach in the next few months.
Only a handful of ministers discussed the substance of the dossier. The British representative stressed the need for prudence with the information collected and the need to protect the privacy of citizens, particularly as regards family trusts. For his part, the Czech minister said that work was needed on the wording as regards the provisions on prepaid products, virtual currency and the register of beneficial owners. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)