MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) agreed on Wednesday 13 July to amend the proposal to modify the directive to establish a single point of access to bank account registers to strengthen respect for fundamental rights and the Rule of law.
The 2019 directive sets out rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of certain criminal offences.
A central element of the anti-money laundering package, the amendment would allow competent authorities responsible for the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences to access and search Member States’ centralised bank account registries via a single access point.
This would enable them to know almost immediately whether a person holds bank accounts in other Member States and to determine to which Member States the authorities should send a formal request for further information.
For Emil Radev (EPP, Bulgarian), the rapporteur on the matter, this text is “essential for the effective confiscation of the profits of crime”. This measure will be particularly useful in enforcing sanctions against Russian oligarchs.
He felt that the proposal needed few amendments, but must provide more guarantees. “The amendment of the directive should be based on national rules, as such database searches should be proportional and only allowed if they are relevant and applicable in similar situations regulated by national law”, he explained.
In his view, the requirement that the rule of law and fundamental rights be respected must also be clearly stated.
For Fabienne Keller (Renew Europe, French), represented by Anna Júlia Donáth (Hungarian), the text must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Caterina Chinnici (S&D, Italian), represented by Juan Fernando López Aguilar (Spanish), said it was essential that measures be coordinated between countries. “The ‘follow the money’ principle has proven to be more than effective, it needs to be enhanced by giving the authorities more effective instruments”, she said.
The Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) was asked for an opinion, drafted by Inese Vaidere (EPP, Latvian). In particular, it recommends that Financial Intelligence Unit (FIUs) exchange information or financial analysis.
There was therefore consensus in the debate among MEPs and Mr Radev was rather confident of being able to “successfully integrate the amendments”. Amendments can be tabled until Friday 22 July.
To read the draft report by Emil Radev: https://aeur.eu/f/2ng
To read the ECON Committee’s opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/2nh (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)