Ireland may be referred to the EU Court of Justice by the European Commission if it doesn’t comply with its obligations to transpose law designed to strengthen existing rules around money-laundering by May 8th.
On The Irish Times, Peter Hamilton sheds some light on the Department of Justice’s failure to transpose the fourth EU anti-money laundering (AML) directive into Irish law, first reported by the publication in November 2017. On March 8th, the European Commission announced it had sent a reasoned opinion to Ireland, which represents the second of three stages in EU infringement proceedings.
On Tuesday, April 3rd a Department of Justice spokesman commented:
Adapting the directive’s requirements to specificities of the Irish legal system has been complex and the drafting process has required input from different Government departments and agencies.
However, it should be noted that Ireland is not the only European country in this situation:
There are currently open infringement proceedings against 20 EU member states in relation to their non-transposition of the anti-money laundering directive. In total, 10 of those are at the second stage of infringement proceedings.
Interestingly, “one of the more significant purposes of the AML legislation is the requirement of corporate entities to keep information on individuals holding ultimate beneficial ownership of companies”. Businesses looking to achieve full compliance under EU regulation may find an important ally in technology.
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Last updated on May 9th, 2023 at 10:04 pm
