2023-04-18 11:00:19
Ln March 28, 2023, the European Parliament adopted its position on the anti-money laundering legislative package, which notably includes the sixth directive on anti-money laundering mechanisms. This text is particularly awaited by civil society and investigative journalists, as the financial transparency measures implemented by the previous anti-money laundering directives are at the heart of the news in the fight against corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.
It was financial transparency that provided the data from the “OpenLux” survey published in February 2021 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, revealing that 45% of companies registered in Luxembourg were front companies, holding more than 6,500 billion euros. It was financial transparency that made it possible to identify the assets of Russian oligarchs and those close to the regime, targeted by sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It is this same financial transparency that is today seriously called into question by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) which repealed in November 2022 one of the key measures introduced by the fifth anti-money laundering directive: general public access to Registers of Beneficial Owners (RBE), which helps to identify the beneficial owners of legal entities, such as companies or trusts.
Defend public access to registers
In the wake of this decision, several Member States, including certain notorious tax havens within the EU, such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, but also Germany and Austria, immediately closed their registers. France has, on the contrary, decided to keep it open. The issue of the ongoing negotiations on the anti-money laundering legislative package crystallizes around the future of these registers.
Will the European Union and the Member States confirm their choice to strengthen financial transparency as an objective of public interest throughout Europe? Our organizations have long advocated public access to records. Publicity of registers must remain the course, worldwide, in order to ensure effective access without undue restriction to information.
Following the CJEU’s decision, it is essential to guarantee effective access to registers for journalists and civil society organizations within the European Union from now on. The European Parliament seems to have succeeded in attenuating certain binding effects of the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
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