APPENDIX 2: CALL FOR EVIDENCE
Sub-Committee F (Home Affairs) of the House of Lords
Select Committee on the European Union is conducting an inquiry
into EU and international cooperation to counter money laundering
and the financing of terrorism.
The EU and the international community have an extensive
legislative framework and cooperation mechanism to counter money
laundering and, particularly following the 9/11 attacks, to prevent
and fight terrorist financing. EU measures include:
- Council Decision 2000/642/EC of 17 October 2000
concerning arrangements for cooperation between financial intelligence
units (FIUs);
- Directive 2005/60/EC on the prevention of the
use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering;
- Regulation (EC) No 1889/2005 on controls of cash
entering or leaving the EU;
- Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 on information on
the payer accompanying transfers of funds;
- Directive 2007/54/EC on payment services in the
internal market.
These instruments take into account the work undertaken
by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental
body which sets the international standard for anti-money laundering
and terrorism financing measures. The work of equivalent regional
bodies such as MONEYVAL based at the Council of Europe is also
relevant.
In addition, EU cooperation in criminal law matters
has been reinforced, for example by improving mutual assistance
in respect of information held by banks, by such instruments as
the Protocol to the 2000 Convention on mutual legal assistance,
the 2005 Council of Europe Convention No 198 on laundering, search,
seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime and on the
financing of terrorism, and the 2003 EU-US Agreement on mutual
legal assistance.
Globally, the EU cooperates with the UN mechanism
by implementing UN sanctions targeted at people and organisations
with links to Al-Qaida and the Taliban. It has also given effect
to other UN Security Council Resolutions, such as Resolution 1373
(2001), calling for the freezing of terrorist related funds or
assets in other contexts. The procedures at EU level for implementing
UN Al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions were recently revised by the
Council to comply with the judgment of the Court of Justice in
the case of Kadi. Cooperation also takes place through Member
States' adherence to and implementation of international agreements,
and through dialogue with key partners, such as the United States.
This inquiry will focus on the role of the EU and
its Member States in the global response to money laundering and
terrorist financing, and the associated cooperation mechanisms
of the anti-money laundering framework. It will examine the nature
and extent of Member States' cooperation in this field. The inquiry
will not examine in depth the legal obligations imposed on Member
States, credit and financial institutions and related professions
by the anti-money laundering framework.
The Sub-Committee welcomes evidence on all aspects
of the inquiry, but in particular on the following:
Cooperation with and between Financial Intelligence
Units (FIUs)
- How effective is cooperation among FIUs, and
between FIUs and other authorities? What are the practical results
of this cooperation?
- How does the private sector feed into this cooperation?
To what extent is satisfactory feedback to the private sector
required by international standards, and what happens in practice?
- What is the extent of the feedback and input
on terrorist financing issues from intelligence and security services?
- To what extent are alternative remittance systems
appropriately covered by obligations of cooperation in this context?
What will be the impact of the implementation by Member States
of the relevant provisions of Directive 2007/54/EC in this regard?
EU internal architecture
- To what extent is the EU internal architecture
adequate to counter current and future challenges?
- What are the respective roles of Europol and
Eurojust in countering money laundering and terrorist financing?
International cooperation
- What have been the results of the third round
of mutual evaluations of EU Member States to date carried out
by the FATF and MONEYVAL, with particular reference to the effectiveness
of international cooperation (including as between FIUs)?
- To what extent has the formal framework for criminal
justice cooperation in this area been effective?
- To what extent are these systems used to enforce
compliance with national tax obligations?
EU-UN cooperation
- What is the extent of EU-UN cooperation on financing
of terrorism? What are the longer-term implications of the Kadi
judgment?
Monitoring implementation
- What EU mechanisms exist for monitoring implementation
of the relevant legislative measures, and what results in terms
of formal compliance and effective implementation have so far
emerged from the use of those measures?
- What are the implications of those results for
cooperation within the EU, and more broadly?
- Has consideration been given within the EU or
by the FATF to whether the overall results derived from the present
system justify the burdens placed on the private sector?
- Are there plans to review the existing EU legislation
or international standards in a manner which would be more sensitive
to the position of the private sector?
Compliance and equivalence
- What are the powers and procedures with respect
to those third countries which fail properly to implement international
standards in these areas? Are these adequate?
- Does the 2005 Directive adequately encourage
non-EU States which have introduced equivalent systems to counter
money laundering and the financing of terrorism?
- How does the system for determining equivalence
operate in practice?
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