Het Europees Parlement (EP) liet op 12 september jl. weten nieuwe regels op het gebied van het strafrechtelijk bestrijden van witwassen en im- en export van contanten in/uit de EU te hebben aangenomen.

Onder meer zal in de lidstaten sprake zijn van wijzigingen in de definitie van witwassen, wat weer gevolgen heeft voor de witwasbestrijdingsregels (in Nederland de Wwft).

In de aankondiging worden de nieuwe regels als volgt samengevat:

The two laws will make it harder for terrorists and criminals to finance their activities, by closing the loopholes in the current money laundering rules and by making it easier for the authorities to detect and stop suspicious financial flows.

The new rules to prevent money laundering introduce:

• EU-wide definitions of money laundering-related crimes,
• EU-wide minimum penalties, such as a minimum of four years of imprisonment for money laundering maximum sentences, and
• new additional sanctions, such as barring those convicted of money laundering from running for public office, holding a position of public servant and excluding them from access to public funding. (…)

The new rules on cash flows:

• extend the definition of cash to include gold and anonymous prepaid electronic cash cards,
• enable authorities to register information about cash movements below the current €10,000 threshold and to temporarily seize cash if they suspect criminal activity, and
• require disclosure of unaccompanied cash sent by cargo or post.

 

Meer informatie:

• Aankondiging, New EU rules to thwart money laundering and terrorist financing, 12 september 2018
• De aangenomen tekst (12 september 2017)
• Procedure overzicht: criminalisation of money laundering
• Procedure overzicht: controls on cash movements
• EP artikel: New rules to tackle terrorism and criminal financing
• EP denktank: Countering money laundering with criminal law (September 2018)
• EP denktank: Controls of cash entering or leaving the European Union