Amend and fast-track: European Commission drives forward 4MLD

A spate of appalling terrorist attacks in the last 12 months, notably in France, have fuelled the European Union AML/CFT agenda – with the prospect now of augmented Fourth Directive implementation by the end of the year. Dan Hudson and Susannah Cogman examine the accelerated programme.

Dan Hudson (daniel.hudson@hsf.com) and Susannah Cogman (susannah.cogman@hsf.com) are partners at Herbert Smith Freehills in London.

On 5 July 2016, the European Commission approved a Proposal (2016/0208 (COD) [1]) to implement a number of amendments and additions to the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, ((EU) 2015/849) (‘4MLD’) [2]. The Proposal has been drafted in response to the growing threat of terrorism within the EU, as well as in an attempt to enhance transparency within the global financial system – a particularly relevant consideration in light of concerns arising from the ‘Panama Papers’ mass data leak. The measures contained in the Proposal were developed in connection with the Commission’s February 2016 Action Plan for strengthening the fight against terrorist financing. [3]