European Commission takes action against Ireland over money laundering laws
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Věra Jourová
The European Commission has referred Ireland to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) for failing to implement the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive into national law in full.
Greece and Romania have also been referred for failing to implement the rules, whereas Ireland has been referred for implementing “only a very limited part of the rules”.
The deadline for implementation was 26 June 2017. The Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which was recently agreed, must be implemented by 10 January 2020.
The Commission will ask the Court to charge a lump sum and daily penalties until the countries take the necessary action to implement the Directive.
The lump fine could be up to €1.7 million and the daily penalties could be around €7,200 a day.
Věra Jourová, EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said: “Money laundering and terrorist financing affect the EU as a whole. We cannot afford to let any EU country be the weakest link.
“Money laundered in one country can and often will support crime in another country. This is why we require that all Member States take the necessary steps to fight money laundering, and thereby also dry up criminal and terrorist funds.
“We will continue to follow implementation of these EU rules by Member States very closely and as a matter of priority.”
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