Following the decision of the ECJ on 6 October 2015 declaring the EU-US Safe Harbor system for data transfer invalid, the Article 29 Working Group of European data protection authorities has now issued a statement setting out its views on several critical issues going forward. The statement emphasizes that transfers relying on Safe Harbor are […]

In the past year, scandal after scandal has exposed companies using loopholes in the tax system to avoid taxation. Now more than ever, it is becoming clear that citizens around the world are paying a high price for the crisis in the global tax system, and the discussion about multinational corporations and their tax tricks […]

The EU has recently made certain amendments to its sanctions in relation to Libya and Syria which are, in summary, that: the criteria for designating individuals and entities as subject to the Libya-related asset freeze have been amended; certain amendments have been made to the existing Libya asset freeze list; certain other non-substantive amendments have […]

The EU has recently announced an extension of its sanctions imposed in response to the situation in Ukraine.  EU leaders had previously confirmed that the duration of sanctions affecting Russia would be linked to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, currently foreseen to be completed by 31 December 2015.  The EU has therefore taken steps […]

On Wednesday 17th June, the European Union published a blacklist of international tax havens which are considered to be “non-cooperative”. Thirty jurisdictions have been blacklisted, but Guernsey, one of the thirty, has been blacklisted in error. The States of Guernsey, Guernsey’s legislative body, is currently in communication with the EU to remove Guernsey from the […]

What is the background to the Directive? 1. As AML and terrorist financing typologies have evolved, the underlying regulatory landscape also needed to be adapted. 2. One of the main drivers for the Directive was the issue of updated financial crime/AML recommendations by the FATF in February 2012. 3. The European Commission then engaged Deloitte […]

The Directive implements five key changes: 1. Scope a. It has increased in scope. The requirement for certain entities to carry out CDD has increased (e.g. from just casinos across the entire gambling sector and for high value goods traders). 2. Risk-based approach a. It increases the emphasis on a risk-based approach (which has already […]

The Council of the European Union recently published a revised version of the EU Best Practices for the effective implementation of restrictive measures. http://bit.ly/1IdXs8c The guidance it contains provides some clarification of the many issues which arise in practice for both Member States and for persons and entities subject to sanctions or otherwise affected by […]