On Wednesday 17 April, MEPs in Strasbourg approved by 576 votes to 26, with 6 abstentions, the agreement reached in February between representatives of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 12192/20) on the proposal for a directive to facilitate the use of financial information for the prevention and detection of criminal offences (see EUROPE 12003/19).
The proposal provides law enforcement authorities and asset recovery offices with direct access, on a case-by-case basis, to bank information contained in centralised national registers.
One of the stumbling blocks between the co-legislators was the exchange of information between financial intelligence units (FIUs) of different countries (see EUROPE 12189/16). The final text allows for this exchange of information, but in exceptional and urgent cases, only if they are related to terrorism or organised crime in relation to terrorism.
In a declaration adopted in plenary session and annexed to the text, the Parliament regretted the limited application of this possibility, but also the fact that the text does not provide for rules on deadlines and precise IT channels for the exchange of information between FIUs from different countries.
Member States will have 24 months to transpose the new rules into national law. See the text of the agreement: https://bit.ly/2KK9z6N and the Parliament’s statement: https://bit.ly/2GjXrnz (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)