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From · opinion parliamentary committee draft · 2021-12-07 ECON-PA-700736 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through the single access point

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To · opinion parliamentary committee · 2022-03-15 ECON-AD-700736 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through the single access point

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~~PA_Legapp~~

PA_Legam

~~SHORT JUSTIFICATION~~

AMENDMENTS

The Rapporteur for the ECON opinion welcomes the Commission proposal on amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through the single access point.

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs calls on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, as the committee responsible, to take into account the following amendments:

According to the Commission, around one percent of the Union’s GDP (EUR 160 billion) is annually involved in suspect financial activity, such as money laundering connected to corruption, arms and human trafficking, drug dealing, tax evasion and fraud, as well as terrorist financing and other illicit activities. Furthermore, Europol reports that only around one percent of the estimated criminal profits are confiscated. Yet the burden is not only economic – the crimes that generate these profits also cause immeasurable human suffering for the victims.

Amendment 1

~~Against this background, the European Parliament has repeatedly called for a less fragmented and more efficient regulatory landscape across the EU in the field of anti-money laundering (AML).~~

Proposal for a directive

As part of a broader set of AML and counter-terrorist financing measures, the Commission proposal is in line with these requests and offers a concrete part of the toolbox needed to improve the fight against illegal activities in the Union. It provides designated law enforcement authorities (Financial Intelligence Units) with the possibility to access and search the centralised bank account registries via the single access point, in line with Article 14(3) in the proposal for the 6th AML Directive.

Recital 2 a (new)

~~In light of this, the Rapporteur’s proposal is to accept the Commission proposal without amendments.~~

Text proposed by the Commission

~~*******~~

Amendment

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs calls on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, as the committee responsible, to propose that Parliament adopt its position at first reading, taking over the Commission proposal.

(2a) Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) should endeavour to exchange financial information or financial analysis to prevent and combat money laundering, the associated predicate offences and terrorist financing more effectively as provided in Directive (EU) 2015/849.

Amendment 2

Proposal for a directive

Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1 (new)

Directive (EU) 2019/1153

Article 1 – paragraph 1

Present text

Amendment

(-1) Article 1(1) is replaced by the following:

This Directive lays down measures to facilitate access to and the use of financial information and bank account information by competent authorities for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of serious criminal offences. It also lays down measures to facilitate access to law enforcement information by Financial Intelligence Units (‘FIUs’) for the prevention and combating of money laundering, associate predicate offences and terrorist financing and measures to facilitate cooperation between FIUs.

"This Directive lays down measures to facilitate access to and the use of financial information and bank account information by competent authorities for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of serious criminal offences. It also lays down measures to facilitate access to law enforcement information by Financial Intelligence Units (‘FIUs’) for the prevention and combating of money laundering, associate predicate offences and terrorist financing.”

(Directive 2019/1153)

Justification

Measures to facilitate cooperation between FIUs should be carried out under the legal basis provided by the Anti-money Laundering Directive.

Amendment 3

Proposal for a directive

Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new)

Directive (EU) 2019/1153

Article 9

Present text

Amendment

Article 9

(1a) Article 9 is deleted.

Exchange of information between FIUs of different Member States

1. Member States shall ensure that in exceptional and urgent cases, their FIUs are entitled to exchange financial information or financial analysis that may be relevant for the processing or analysis of information related to terrorism or organised crime associated with terrorism.

2. Member States shall ensure that in the cases referred to in paragraph 1 and subject to their operational limitations, FIUs endeavour to exchange such information promptly.

(Directive 2019/1153)

Justification

Art 53 of the current AMLD5 introduces a broad legal basis for exchange of information between FIUs regarding money laundering and predicate offences, including terrorism. Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2019/1153 has therefore introduced an inconsistency regarding the legal basis for the exchange of information between FIUs in the EU, and, to avoid legal uncertainty, it should be deleted. Article 53 of the AMLD5 - and its replacing Article 24 of the Commission proposal for AMLD6 - should be the sole legal basis for exchange of information between FIUs.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Title

Amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through the single access point

References

COM(2021)0429 – C9-0338/2021 – 2021/0244(COD)

Committee responsible

Date announced in plenary

LIBE

13.9.2021

Opinion by

Date announced in plenary

ECON

13.9.2021

Rapporteur for the opinion

Date appointed

Inese Vaidere

16.9.2021

Discussed in committee

13.1.2022

Date adopted

14.3.2022

Result of final vote

–:

Members present for the final vote

Rasmus Andresen, Gunnar Beck, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Stefan Berger, Gilles Boyer, Carlo Calenda, Engin Eroglu, Markus Ferber, Jonás Fernández, Raffaele Fitto, Frances Fitzgerald, José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, Luis Garicano, Valentino Grant, Claude Gruffat, Enikő Győri, Eero Heinäluoma, Michiel Hoogeveen, Danuta Maria Hübner, Stasys Jakeliūnas, France Jamet, Othmar Karas, Billy Kelleher, Ondřej Kovařík, Aurore Lalucq, Aušra Maldeikienė, Pedro Marques, Costas Mavrides, Csaba Molnár, Siegfried Mureşan, Luděk Niedermayer, Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos, Piernicola Pedicini, Lídia Pereira, Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, Sirpa Pietikäinen, Dragoş Pîslaru, Evelyn Regner, Antonio Maria Rinaldi, Alfred Sant, Joachim Schuster, Ralf Seekatz, Pedro Silva Pereira, Paul Tang, Irene Tinagli, Ernest Urtasun, Inese Vaidere, Johan Van Overtveldt, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Marco Zanni, Roberts Zīle

Substitutes present for the final vote

Manon Aubry, Karima Delli, Maximilian Krah, Chris MacManus, Andreas Schwab, Linea Søgaard-Lidell

Substitutes under Rule 209(7) present for the final vote

Silvia Modig

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Antonio Maria Rinaldi, Marco Zanni

Enikő Győri

PPE

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Stefan Berger, Markus Ferber, Frances Fitzgerald, José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, Danuta Maria Hübner, Othmar Karas, Aušra Maldeikienė, Siegfried Mureşan, Luděk Niedermayer, Lídia Pereira, Sirpa Pietikäinen, Andreas Schwab, Ralf Seekatz, Inese Vaidere

Renew

Gilles Boyer, Carlo Calenda, Engin Eroglu, Luis Garicano, Billy Kelleher, Ondřej Kovařík, Dragoş Pîslaru, Linea Søgaard-Lidell, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin

S&D

Jonás Fernández, Eero Heinäluoma, Aurore Lalucq, Pedro Marques, Costas Mavrides, Csaba Molnár, Evelyn Regner, Alfred Sant, Joachim Schuster, Pedro Silva Pereira, Paul Tang, Irene Tinagli

Verts/ALE

Rasmus Andresen, Karima Delli, Claude Gruffat, Stasys Jakeliūnas, Piernicola Pedicini, Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, Ernest Urtasun

Gunnar Beck, Maximilian Krah

Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos

ECR

Raffaele Fitto, Michiel Hoogeveen, Johan Van Overtveldt, Roberts Zīle

Valentino Grant, France Jamet

The Left

Chris MacManus

Valentino Grant

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