Value for MONEYVAL

Critics of European political institutions have unkindly described the Council of Europe as little more than a talking shop. Although it may lack the power to impose sanctions, including substantial fines, on member governments, which European Union (EU) bodies enjoy (and from which it is completely independent), it is still an active agent of change, notably in the area of anti-money laundering, discovers Keith Nuthall .

In 1997 the Council of Europe initiated a comprehensive assessment of anti-money laundering (AML) law and practices of some of its membership, which comprises most eastern European countries, as well as EU member states. It established MONEYVAL, a Select Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures, to look at those Council of Europe countries that did not already belong to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).The Committee was also tasked with assessing the AML frameworks of applicants for membership. Council of Europe members that go on to join FATF may retain formal association with MONEYVAL but in practice this has operated through occupation of two seats on a rotating basis - they are held currently by France and the Netherlands - with a special seat set aside for FATF member Russia, because it was not a member of the global standard setter when it joined MONEYVAL, and did not want to relinquish its Committee membership upon joining FATF. Otherwise, the full existing non-FATF member roll call is: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia & Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine. MONEYVAL also has non-voting observers; they are representatives of Canada, the Vatican State, Japan, Mexico and the USA, along with some international organisations, including the FATF secretariat, Interpol, the Commonwealth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS), and the Egmont Group.