Joint rapporteur Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spain) updated the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee on Monday 9 April on the inter-institutional trialogue negotiations on the draft regulation that seeks to beef up checks on cash entering and leaving the EU (see EUROPE 11694).
MEPs adopted their negotiating position in December (see EUROPE 11919) and the member states theirs in June 2017 (see EUROPE 11818). Two negotiation meetings took place in March, reported López Aguilar, who is working on this issue together with Mady Delvaux (S&D, Luxembourg), joint rapporteur for the economic and monetary affairs committee.
The first of these meetings gave the institutions the opportunity to set out their positions on the main political points: - inclusion of prepaid cards in the annex; - information sharing among authorities; - risk analysis; - provisional retention of cash; - length of time personal data can be retained; - penalties for failing to make a declaration.
Going over these points, López Aguilar said there was a real will among the parties at the second trialogue on 28 March to reach a compromise. The Council, he said, showed a willingness to consider the amendments proposed by Parliament in order to base checks on risk analysis and on putting in place an effective appeals system. On the same day, a revised mandate was approved without discussion by the member states’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) incorporating these points.
The Council, López Aguilar indicated, would also be prepared to be flexible on how long personal data can be retained. The views of the institutions differ on the maximum length of time that such data can be held: the Council would like to see a five-year maximum period with a possibility of a five-year extension in certain cases, while Parliament backs a three-year maximum with a possible two-year extension, subject to conditions.
Neither is there consensus on the exchange of information among authorities, even though there was “movement on both sides”, he said. Parliament wants much shorter transmission deadlines than those proposed by the Council.
A further sensitive issue will, without any doubt, be that of penalties for failure to submit a disclosure declaration, a European source told us. Parliament wants to avoid all “shopping forum” situation where criminals would select the member state of entry or exit of cash depending on the severity of the penalties applied. This is a point that still has to be discussed, López Aguilar stated.
The next trialogue, which will take place on 23 May, will try to get beyond the differences on the provisional seizure of cash by authorities when a declaration ought to have been made but was not, or when criminal activity is suspected. The same source suggests that this next trialogue could very well be the last. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)