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The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) is consulting all interested parties during its review of the Forty Recommendations on money laundering - the global anti-money laundering standard - to ensure that the Recommendations adequately address the changes in money laundering techniques and trends, and new international developments.
The FATF has published a consultation paper on its website (www.fatf-gafi.org/40RecsReview en.htm) which sets out the range of issues being considered in the review and provides
options for dealing with the risks or proposals that are raised.
The paper is divided into three main sections covering the following topics:
- Customer identification and due diligence, suspicious transaction reporting and regulation and supervision.
-Information on the beneficial owners and controllers of corporate vehicles e.g. companies, trusts, foundations ˇVcovering the risks, the purposes for which such information is required, the essential requirements that need to be met, and possible measures that could be taken, with particular attention to bearer shares and trusts.
- The categories of non-financial businesses and professions that have been increasingly identified as being misused for money laundering. The FATF is considering the possibility of extending the Forty Recommendations to seven such categories: casinos and other gambling businesses; dealers in real estate and high value items; company and trust service providers; lawyers; notaries; accounting professionals and investment advisors.
The FATF invites interested parties to provide comments on the proposals contained in the Consultation Paper. To comment on the Review, please contact the FATF Secretariat by 31 August 2002 by e-mail at Contact@fatf-gafi.org or by post at 2, rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex (tel: +33(0)1 45 24 79 45, fax +33(0)1 45 24 17 60, website address: www.fatf-gafi.org).
The FATF Forty Recommendations, first developed in 1990 and subsequently revised in 1996, are intended to cover all aspects of a national anti-money laundering system, including the criminal justice system and law enforcement, the financial system and its regulation, and international cooperation. They are widely accepted by the international community as the key standards against money laundering. However, money laundering methods and techniques have changed as new measures to combat money laundering are implemented and new technologies are developed. The FATF commenced a Review of the Forty Recommendations in 2001 to ensure that the Recommendations adequately address these changes.
FATF is an inter-governmental body established after a G-7 Summit in 1989 to examine and recommend anti-money laundering standards and promote anti-money laundering messages worldwide. Hong Kong, China took up the Presidency of FATF on July 1, 2001 and Mrs Clarie Lo, the Commissioner for Narcotics is representing Hong Kong in this role.
The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD. The twenty nine member countries and governments of the FATF are: Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Canada; Denmark: Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Luxembourg; Mexico; the Kingdom of the Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Portugal; Singapore; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; United Kingdom and the United States. Two international organisations are also members of the FATF: the European Commission and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
End/Monday, June 3, 2002
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