The European Parliament adopted by 392 votes to 80, with 207 abstentions, a resolution objecting to Commission delegated regulation of 24 March 2017 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards deleting Guyana from the table in point I of the Annex and adding Ethiopia to that table.
The delegated regulation, its annex and the amending delegated regulation are meant to identify high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies as regards anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AML/CTF), which represent a threat to the EU financial system for which enhanced customer due diligence measures are necessary at EU obliged entities under Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing ("the 4AMLD").
The European Commission proposed to amend the list of these countries by adding Ethiopia and deleting Guyana. The list of countries matches those identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Parliament rejected an earlier amending delegated regulation on the grounds that the Commission’s process was not sufficiently autonomous and did not recognise the non-exhaustive nature of the list of evaluation criteria in the 4AMLD, thereby excluding predicate offences for money laundering, such as tax crimes.
Members are still of the view that, in the case of the different evaluation criteria, deficiencies may persist as regards anti-money laundering schemes in certain countries that are not included in the list of high-risk third countries in the amending delegated regulation.
Parliament is in favour of setting up an autonomous evaluation process for the EU list of high-risk third countries while avoiding its reliance on external information sources. It called for a firmer commitment from the Commission with fixed and ambitious milestones (such as a roadmap) in order to provide a clear message on the institutions’ joint commitment towards combating money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing.
Lastly, the Commission is called upon to submit a new delegated act which takes account of the concerns set out above, including its recommendation to adopt a roadmap to come to an autonomous evaluation process.