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The EU is committed to its framework to fight money laundering and terrorist financing; earlier this year, the European Commission published measures to enhance the framework, including a methodology for identifying high-risk third countries. The Action Plan the Commission developed is built on six pillars:

1.Ensuring the Effective Implementation of the Existing EU AML/CTF Framework:

The Commission expects member states to follow the rules and will be monitoring them closely. In the six months since the plan was implemented, three members have been reported to the Court of Justice of the European Union and paid fines for non-compliance.

2.Establishing an EU Single Rulebook on AML/CTF:

The Commission has developed a single set of rules to prevent ML/TF (money-laundering/terrorism funding) that all members must follow. These include digital customer identification and due diligence, as well as provisions on beneficial ownership registers and central bank account mechanisms.

3.Bringing About EU Level AMF/CTF Supervision:

One key factor in the Commission’s new plan is to ensure that all member states can be monitored centrally by them; monitoring the application of the rules at a national level was not effective enough. The Commission will provide help and support and supply new, relevant information to the member states as appropriate.

4.Establishing a Support and Cooperation Mechanism for FIUs:

More support will be offered to financial intelligence units (FIUs) under the new Plan. The Commission aims to improve cross-border information sharing, investigating potential fraud and streamlining the reporting process. They will also take over the management of the FIU.net tool to make it more user-friendly.

5.Enforcing EU-Level Criminal Law Provisions and Information Exchange:

This pillar is designed to make cross-border criminal investigations more efficient. It encourages the sharing of information between the FIUs, law enforcement and the private sector, and to enhance PPPs – public-private partnerships. Support will be given when information sharing raises data protection and privacy concerns.

6.The EU’s Global Role:

As well as ensuring cohesion across the EU member states, the Commission takes its worldwide obligations seriously. It works closely with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and will guarantee that each member meets its requirements.

Along with the pillars, the Commission is producing several other tools to support the member states, including technical assistance, a list of high-risk third countries, and an autonomous methodology to assess the progress of each state’s implementation of the plan. 

The European Commission aims to deliver on their actions in early 2021, and their AML/TF policy and action plan is intended to improve both the EU’s approach to ML/TF within each state as well on a global level.