European Comission sends legal warnings regarding anti-money laundering laws

The European Commission has sent legal warnings to Cyprus, Portugal, the Netherlands and five other EU states over their delays in applying new anti-money laundering rules

The 27 EU states were required to enact by January 2020 tighter rules to counter dirty-money risks in a wide range of sectors, including cryptocurrency exchanges. The implementation of such norms in the legislation is obligatory agreed to the Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849.

The governments and legislative bodies of the EU countries agreed on the new rules three years ago and then officially adopted them in 2018, but Cyprus, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain have not yet introduced them into national legislation. As a result, the European Commission sent them letters with an “official notice”, which is the first step in a lengthy legal process that could lead to fines.

The warnings indicate an increased attention of the EU authorities to the fight against money laundering after a series of high-profile cases that hit large banks in recent years.

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/INF_20_202