The European Commission published on Wednesday 12 February the roadmap to prepare its Action Plan on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, which is due to be unveiled on 25 March. Interested parties have until 11 March to submit their comments.
The action plan will take the form of a political communication which will aim to address the shortcomings identified by the Commission in its July 2019 reports (see EUROPE 12303/2) and identify areas where further action at EU level is needed, the Commission explains.
The Commission also states that the Communication will look at how to deal with the risks associated with new technologies, such as virtual currencies, and how the European anti-money laundering framework needs to adapt to technological innovation.
The Communication is primarily intended to trigger a debate within the EU institutions and will be limited to outlining possible areas of work and options, the Commission advises.
“It is not intended to prescribe future action, but rather to set out the Commission's preliminary approach”, it says in the publication. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)