Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mechanisms to be put in place by the Member States for the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing

On 20 July 2021, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Directive on the mechanisms to be put in place by the Member States for the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing and repealing Directive (EU) 2015/849.

Essentially, this Directive on AML/CFT (6^th Anti-Money laundering Directive) will replace the 4^th AML directive (as amended by the 5^th AML Directive).

The file was assigned jointly to the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committe. On 25 November 2021 NIEDERMAYER Ludek and TANG Paul were appointed as rapporteurs for the file.

On 22 September 2021 the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published an opinion for this proposal. The EDPS, generally welcomes the objectives of the initiative, to increase the effectiveness of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism. However, the EDPS underlines that the risk-based approach to the monitoring of the use of the financial system for money laundering needs further specifications and clarifications.

The file awaits Committee decision.