French Bar Challenges European Money Laundering Directive

On February 16, 2007, the French Bar filed a petition before the European Parliament, challenging Directive 2005/60/EC (“Third Money Laundering Directive”) because the Parliament allegedly failed to fulfil its underlying obligations under Article 2 of the Second Money Laundering Directive. In particular, according to the French Bar, the European Parliament did not conduct an independent assessment of the effects of the directive on lawyers and other independent legal professionals within three years, as required by the Second Directive ... [more]