EC Action plan: preventing money laundering and terrorist financing

Action plan for a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing

For finance and customs staff in Europe, the fight against the underground economy and its sources of illegal funding has long been a daily concern. The UFE has already spoken out on this issue and has proposed concrete suggestions for development to better fight against these abuses of unbridled and deregulated liberalism.

UFE welcomes the new global initiative taken by the European Commission, which very accurately reflects the concerns of finance and customs officials, who fight daily for a society and economy based on justice and fair practices.

According to the UFE, the first priority must go towards strengthening the investigative and sanctioning capacities against money laundering actions and attempts: legal tools and technical means but also and above all, human capacities dedicated to this fight … this means ensuring the effective physical presence of customs and tax administration staffs on all routes of money laundering and terrorist financing. Only technical and digital tools are pale scarecrows in the face of increasingly structured organizations, armed and advised to squeeze through the meanders of rules that are still imperfectly harmonized.

The other absolute priority must promote all initiatives to harmonize the rules of the European financial game and promote the sharing and wider exchange of operational information between supervisory authorities as well as between tax and customs administrations responsible for combating money laundering and financing. terrorism.

Coordinated actions between Member States and European institutions are strongly desired: harmonization of reporting obligations, elimination of exemptions and derogatory regimes, limitation of cash transactions, development of training and common investigations for financial intelligence units and administrative authorities tax and customs matters under the aegis of the Commission, facilitation of investigations by private partners… so many avenues for reflection that UFE wishes to share with the European Commission through this public consultation.

Resolutely, finance and customs staff in Europe stand alongside European goodwill to improve the fight against money laundering and the financing of all illegal activities.