European Commission presents package against money laundering and terrorist financing

On Tuesday, the European Commission presented proposals to strengthen the European approach to money laundering and terrorist financing. Among other things, the proposal is to establish a European Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Terrorist Financing.

This authority will be responsible for monitoring compliance with European anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing rules by certain financial institutions. Notaries and other professional groups will remain supervised by their current national supervisory authorities for this compliance.

Regulation and Sixth Directive
Furthermore, the presented package includes a regulation containing rules on anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing. This regulation aims to further harmonize these rules at European level and contains directly applicable rules on, among other things, customer due diligence and ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs). A sixth anti-money laundering directive will also be introduced, replacing the fourth and fifth anti-money laundering directives.

Follow-up
The package will be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council in the coming period. The European Commission hopes that the European legislative process will proceed swiftly. The new authority is expected to launch in 2024.