EU removes Tunisia from money laundering blacklist

The European Union has removed Tunisia from its list of countries that pose threats to the financial system over money laundering and terrorism financing because of lack of legislation at home.

The European Commission reviewed on Thursday the list of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their regime regarding anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AML/CTF), the EU said in a press release published on its website.

The list will be submitted to the European Parliament and Council for approval within one month, with a possible one-month extension.

The draft document prepared by European Commission is set to delist five other countries besides Tunisia, namely Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Guyana, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Sri Lanka. The commission has added to the list a set of other countries, which pose significant threats to the financial system of the Union. These are Panama, the Bahamas, Mauritius, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe.

This new list is now better aligned with the lists published by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said the press release.

 

The EU banks and other financial and tax firms are called to check more closely their clients who have operations with countries on the list.

 

The Commission also published an ambitious and multifaceted Action Plan, which sets out concrete measures that the Commission will take over the next 12 months to better enforce, supervise and coordinate the EU’s rules on combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

 

The aim of this new, comprehensive approach is to shut down any remaining loopholes and remove any weak links in the EU’s rules.