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Commission urges Romania and other 7 Member States to transpose the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive
Thursday, the Commission urged Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania to transpose the '4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive' (Directive (EU) 2015/849) in their national legislation. The new EU rules will strengthen the existing anti-money laundering requirements and improve the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. All Member States had to transpose this Directive by 26 June 2017. The 8 Member States have not notified any transposition measures and the draft laws are still in their national legislative process. Therefore, after giving these 8 countries the opportunity to submit their observations in reply to its letters of formal notice sent in July 2017, the Commission is now urging these countries to take the necessary measures to fully comply with the Directive. If these Member States fail to bring their national legislation into line with EU law within next two months, the Commission may decide to refer the cases to the Court of Justice of the EU. In addition to infringement proceedings against a number of Member States that the Commission opened last July, on 23 November 2017, the Commission has opened new infringement proceedings and sent letters of formal notice to Belgium and Spain as the Commission has assessed that the notified measures did not represent a complete transposition of EU rules on the Anti-Money Laundering Directive in the national legal systems. Belgium and Spain have two months to reply to the letter of formal notice; otherwise, the Commission may decide to send a reasoned opinion.