Brussels, 09/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - Gathered in plenary session on Tuesday in Madrid, the Task Force on Money Laundering (TAFT) decided to maintain intact for the moment the list of 15 countries and territories considered non-co-operative (NCCT), while recognising the efforts undertaken since then by some of them. "We are generally pleased with the positive steps taken by many jurisdictions named in June as non-cooperative". However it remains premature to remove any from the list", announced in a press release the President of the TAFT, Jose Maria Roldan.
Since June, seven of the fifteen countries or territories targeted have adopted laws to remedy the failures identified by the TAFT: the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Cook Islands, Israel, Liechtenstein, Panama, St Vincent and the Grenadines. Other jurisdictions have also made political undertakings at the highest level or started a process aiming to modify their regulations: Dominica, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Russia and St Kitts and Nevis, indicated the press release. The three other TAFT that are on the list are Lebanon, Nauru and Niue.
During the coming months, the TAFT will continue to assess the progress achieved by these jurisdictions so as to determine if it is appropriate to remove them from the list. Special attention will be given to the reforms undertaken in the fields of penal law, financial monitoring, the identification of clients, the declaration of suspicious activities and cooperation. Before removing countries from the list, the TAFT will ensure that the new regulations have entered into force and have been applied. For the NCCT that refuse to take the necessary measure, it reserves the right to take counter measures. Other jurisdictions will be, furthermore, examined and could be the object of a second black list within one year.
As a reminder, the TAFT is an independent body that has 29 member countries (plus the European Commission and the Gulf cooperation council) and whose secretariat is located in the OECD. It next plenary session will take place in Paris in January, as usual behind closed doors.