Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands referred to the Court of Justice of the EU for AML failings

The European Commission has referred Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The EC demands financial sanctions for these Member States for failing to fully implement the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD4) into their national law. All Member States had to implement the rules of the AMLD4 by June, 26, 2017. After this deadline passed, the Commission opened infringement proceedings against all Member States, as none of them had notified complete transposition of AMLD4.

Following an assessment of the notified measures by Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, the Commission has concluded AMLD4 has not been fully transposed into national law. The incomplete transposition concerns fundamental aspects of the anti-money laundering framework, such as betting and gambling legislation (Austria), mechanisms under which the Financial Intelligence Units exchange documents and information (Belgium), and the information to be provided on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities (Netherlands).