Brussels asks for clarification on anti-money laundering law
According to the European Commission, Portugal has not explained in a "sufficiently clearly" manner the transposition into national law of EU anti-money laundering legislation.
The European Commission has opened infringement proceedings against Portugal because the national authorities have not communicated “sufficiently clearly” the transposition into national law of EU anti-money laundering legislation.
As part of the monthly package of infringement proceedings launched against the Member States for failure to transpose directives into national law, the EU executive announced on Wednesday that it has sent “letters of formal notice” to Portugal, Malta, Latvia and Lithuania, “requesting the four countries provide all relevant information on how EU rules on combating money laundering through criminal law have been enacted in national law”.
Brussels stressed that the rules in the 2018 directive (EU law), whose deadline for transposition was December 2020, “define criminal offences and sanctions in the area of money laundering to facilitate police and judicial cooperation between EU countries and prevent criminals from taking advantage of more lenient legal systems” by criminalising money laundering when “committed intentionally and with the knowledge that the property in question is derived from criminal activities”.
Pointing out that, “according to the case-law of the Court of Justice, Member States must indicate in a sufficiently clear and precise manner the national measures by which they have transposed the obligations imposed by an EU directive”, the Commission then said that Portugal and the other three Member States “notified transposition measures and declared that the transposition of the directive was complete”, but without indicating “in a sufficiently clear and precise manner” the provisions ensuring the transposition of each provision of the legislation.
“The Commission has therefore decided to send letters of formal notice to Portugal, Malta, Latvia and Lithuania. The four Member States now have two months to reply to the letter and fill the gaps raised by the Commission. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion,” the last step in the infringement procedure before Brussels refers the case to the EU Court of Justice.
