EU Finance Ministers Agree on Extension of Anti-Money Laundering Regulations to Professionals

On September 29, 2000, the European Union ministers of finance reached agreement on extending the 1991 anti-money laundering directive to professionals advising on investments and covering a broader spectrum of predicate offenses. The agreement, which was achieved during a meeting of the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers, will compel professionals, such as lawyers and accountants when they act in the “planning or execution of transactions”, to identify and report suspicious transactions to national law enforcement authorities. Negotiations on extension of the anti-laundering directive bogged down on the issue of the invasion of the lawyer-client privilege and the scope of criminal activities the directive will cover. The definition of criminal activity will be “all forms of organized crime and illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Community and not only drug-trafficking”...[more]