14/05/2020 (Agence Europe) – The European Commission is continuing to look for cases of poor application of EU anti-money laundering rules. On Thursday 14 May, it sent letters of formal notice to Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland and the United Kingdom - which remains bound by EU law during the transition period - asking them to fully transpose the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive into national law. It flagged eight other countries in February (see EUROPE 12424/26). Member States had until 10 January to transpose the Directive into national law. The eight countries named have a four month deadline, which has been extended because of the Covid-19 pandemic, within which to provide the Commission with an explanation. Also on Thursday 14 May, the Commission also sent a letter of formal notice to Estonia for incorrectly transposing the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive into national law. (MF)