08/03/2018 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 8 March, the European Commission decided to send reasoned opinions to Ireland and Slovakia over the partial transposition by both countries of the fourth anti-money laundering directive (2015/849/EU). All member states were required to have transposed this directive by 26 June 2017 at the latest. Ireland and Slovakia now have two months to comply with their obligations. After this period, the Commission may refer them to the Court of Justice of the European Union. 20 member states are currently under infringement proceedings for failure to transpose recent EU rules on the fight against money laundering. A fifth directive on the subject will be discussed at the European Parliament in the near future (see EUROPE 11931). (MS)