{"id":1307,"date":"2020-05-08T13:18:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2020-05-08T13:18:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:18:53","slug":"eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Publishes AML\/CFT Action Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 7, 2020, the European Commission issued an Action Plan<\/a> to provide concrete measures over the next 12 months. It will strengthen its enforcement, supervision and coordination of the EU\u2019s rules to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.<\/p>\n

The Commission issued what it characterized as a more transparent, refined methodology to identify high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing \u00a0(AML\/CFT) regimes. \u00a0\u00a0The methodology is meant to enhance its engagement with third countries and bring more cooperation with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).<\/a><\/p>\n

The Commission also issued a new list of third countries with strategic deficiencies in their AML\/CFT frameworks.<\/p>\n

The Action Plan has six pillars.\u00a0 Each is designed to improve the EU\u2019s overall effort to combat ML and TF, and to strengthen the EU\u2019s global role in this area.\u00a0 The six pillars are intended to better harmonize and make\u00a0 the EU regime more effective.<\/p>\n

Six Pillars of the Action Plan<\/em><\/p>\n

The six pillars are as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Effective application of EU rules<\/em>: The Commission will continue to monitor closely the implementation of EU rules by EU Members to ensure that national rules are consistent with the highest possible standards.\u00a0 The plan encourages the European Banking Authority (EBA) to use its new powers to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.\u00a0 The timeline is ongoing.<\/li>\n
  2. A single EU rulebook:<\/em> The integration of the EU\u2019s internal market and financial system should be matched by a single set of AML\/CFT rules.\u00a0\u00a0 Diverging interpretations of the rules cause loopholes in its systems.\u00a0 Criminals can exploit the loopholes. The Commission will propose rules in Q1 of 2021.<\/li>\n
  3. EU-<\/em>level supervision: In the first quarter of 2021, the Commission will propose to establish an EU-level supervisor. At present, each EU Member individually supervises EU AML\/CFT rules.\u00a0 The Commission will propose rules in Q1 of 2021.<\/li>\n
  4. A coordination and support mechanism for EU Member Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs<\/a>):<\/em> FIUs in EU Members play a critical role in identifying transactions and activities that could be linked to criminal activities. The Commission will propose rules in Q1 of 2021.<\/li>\n
  5. Enforcing EU-level criminal law provisions and information exchange<\/em>: Rapid and trustworthy information-exchange is crucial.\u00a0 EU rules facilitate cooperation and exchanges of information between law enforcement authorities.\u00a0 The future Financial Crime Center of Europol will promote combating money laundering and terrorist financing.\u00a0 The Commission will issue guidance on the role of public-private partnerships to clarify and enhance data sharing.\u00a0 The Commission will issue guidance in Q1 of 2021.<\/li>\n
  6. The EU\u2019s global role:<\/em> The EU is determined to increase its efforts to that it is a single global actor in the AML\/CFT area.\u00a0 The EU will adjust its approach to third countries with deficiencies in their regime concerning AML\/CFT.\u00a0 Pending \u00a0the application of its new methodology issued with its Action Plan, the updated EU list ensures better alignment with the latest FATF list.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Commission initiated a public consultation when it issued its Action Plan.\u00a0 Authorities, stakeholders and citizens have until July 29 to provide their feedback.<\/p>\n

    Updated List<\/em><\/p>\n

    The EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive<\/a> requires the Commission to identify high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their regime regarding AML\/CFT.\u00a0 The Commission issued a new list, The list is supposed to be better aligned with the lists published by the FATF.<\/p>\n

    Countries which have been listed are: The Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Panama and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

    Countries which have been delisted are:\u00a0 Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Guyana, Lao People\u2019s Democratic Republic, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.<\/p>\n

    Background<\/em><\/p>\n

    The Commission\u2019s Anti-Money Laundering Package<\/a> of July 2019 underscored various weaknesses in the EU AML\/CFT framework. The Package motivated the Action Plan.<\/p>\n

    Analysis<\/em><\/p>\n

    The EU announcement underscores a major problem with blacklists. On subjects such as AML\/CFT there are multiple sources of listing.\u00a0 They include informal groups, such as FATF, and even individual countries.\u00a0 In addition, significant overlap exists in the subject matter of the OECD\u2019s Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Tax Information.\u00a0\u00a0 The OECD, FATF, the EU, the World Bank Group, and governments make small jurisdictions spend a disproportionate amount of time meeting their engagement and evaluation schemes.<\/p>\n

    Given the scandals and\/other problems that have occurred recently with Danske Bank, Swedbank, Banca Privata d\u2019Andorra, FBME in in Cyprus, conducting supervision at an EU-level makes sense.<\/p>\n

    The next (May) issue of the IELR will have a more comprehensive discussion of the Action Plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On May 7, 2020, the European Commission issued an Action Plan to provide concrete measures over the next 12 months. It will strengthen its enforcement, supervision and coordination of the EU\u2019s rules to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The Commission issued what it characterized as a more transparent, refined methodology to identify high-risk third […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[79,33,45,6,70,5,44,4,3,11,63],"tags":[156,157,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-1307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-corruption","7":"category-cybercrime","8":"category-cybercrime-and-cryptocurrency","9":"category-economic-sanctions","10":"category-economicintegration","11":"category-international-tax-enforcement-cooperation","12":"category-international-tax-regime","13":"category-money-laundering-and-bank-secrecy","14":"category-transnational-corruption-money-laundering-and-asset-forfeiture","15":"category-transnational-organized-crime-cybercrime-narcotics","16":"category-transparency-and-governance","17":"tag-european-union","18":"tag-financial-intelligence-units","19":"tag-international-enforcement-regimes","20":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nEU Publishes AML\/CFT Action Plan | IELR Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EU Publishes AML\/CFT Action Plan | IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On May 7, 2020, the European Commission issued an Action Plan to provide concrete measures over the next 12 months. It will strengthen its enforcement, supervision and coordination of the EU\u2019s rules to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The Commission issued what it characterized as a more transparent, refined methodology to identify high-risk third […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/intlenforcementlawreporter\/?ref=bookmarks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-08T17:18:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-08T17:18:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bruce Zagaris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ielr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ielr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bruce Zagaris\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bruce Zagaris\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e491a7e89d418cb82a8c67687806ab66\"},\"headline\":\"EU Publishes AML\\\/CFT Action Plan\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-08T17:18:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-08T17:18:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"European Union\",\"Financial Intelligence Units\",\"international enforcement regimes\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Corruption\",\"cybercrime\",\"cybercrime and cryptocurrency\",\"Economic Sanctions\",\"economicintegration\",\"Int'l Tax Enforcement Cooperation\",\"international tax regime\",\"Money Laundering & Bank Secrecy\",\"Transnat'l Corruption, Money Laundering & Asset Forfeiture\",\"Transnat'l Organized Crime, Cybercrime, Narcotics\",\"Transparency and governance\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/\",\"name\":\"EU Publishes AML\\\/CFT Action Plan | IELR Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-08T17:18:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-08T17:18:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e491a7e89d418cb82a8c67687806ab66\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/08\\\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU Publishes AML\\\/CFT Action Plan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"IELR Blog\",\"description\":\"Official Blog of the International Enforcement Law Reporter\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e491a7e89d418cb82a8c67687806ab66\",\"name\":\"Bruce Zagaris\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b88b62733380c051d9ae8ffa877632a9180505d62fe9bcec138e2038ecdcd51?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b88b62733380c051d9ae8ffa877632a9180505d62fe9bcec138e2038ecdcd51?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b88b62733380c051d9ae8ffa877632a9180505d62fe9bcec138e2038ecdcd51?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bruce Zagaris\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/ielrblogadmin1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EU Publishes AML\/CFT Action Plan | IELR Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EU Publishes AML\/CFT Action Plan | IELR Blog","og_description":"On May 7, 2020, the European Commission issued an Action Plan to provide concrete measures over the next 12 months. It will strengthen its enforcement, supervision and coordination of the EU\u2019s rules to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The Commission issued what it characterized as a more transparent, refined methodology to identify high-risk third […]","og_url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/","og_site_name":"IELR Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/intlenforcementlawreporter\/?ref=bookmarks","article_published_time":"2020-05-08T17:18:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-08T17:18:53+00:00","author":"Bruce Zagaris","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ielr","twitter_site":"@ielr","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bruce Zagaris","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/"},"author":{"name":"Bruce Zagaris","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e491a7e89d418cb82a8c67687806ab66"},"headline":"EU Publishes AML\/CFT Action Plan","datePublished":"2020-05-08T17:18:52+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-08T17:18:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/"},"wordCount":743,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["European Union","Financial Intelligence Units","international enforcement regimes"],"articleSection":["Corruption","cybercrime","cybercrime and cryptocurrency","Economic Sanctions","economicintegration","Int'l Tax Enforcement Cooperation","international tax regime","Money Laundering & Bank Secrecy","Transnat'l Corruption, Money Laundering & Asset Forfeiture","Transnat'l Organized Crime, Cybercrime, Narcotics","Transparency and governance"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/","url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/","name":"EU Publishes AML\/CFT Action Plan | IELR Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-05-08T17:18:52+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-08T17:18:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e491a7e89d418cb82a8c67687806ab66"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/eu-publishes-aml-cft-action-plan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EU Publishes AML\/CFT Action Plan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/","name":"IELR Blog","description":"Official Blog of the International Enforcement Law Reporter","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e491a7e89d418cb82a8c67687806ab66","name":"Bruce Zagaris","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b88b62733380c051d9ae8ffa877632a9180505d62fe9bcec138e2038ecdcd51?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b88b62733380c051d9ae8ffa877632a9180505d62fe9bcec138e2038ecdcd51?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b88b62733380c051d9ae8ffa877632a9180505d62fe9bcec138e2038ecdcd51?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","caption":"Bruce Zagaris"},"url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/author\/ielrblogadmin1\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pas6ng-l5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1308,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/1308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}