CNUE - THE FIGHT AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING

A tool for risk analysis: EU blacklists
As part of their daily work, legal professionals have specific tools at their
disposal to assess the risks of money laundering in a case under their
responsibility. Two European Union blacklists are part of these tools: the list
of tax havens and the list of third countries with insufficient measures to combat
money laundering and terrorist financing.
In December 2017, the European Union
adopted for the first time a common list
of 17 tax havens, or “non-cooperative tax
jurisdictions”. On 18 February 2020, EU
Finance Ministers adopted the second major
update of this European blacklist. Four new
territories were added: the Cayman Islands,
Palau, Panama and the Seychelles. None of
the eight countries currently on the blacklist
(American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Oman, Trinidad
and Tobago, US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu)
has been removed, bringing the total number
of jurisdictions to twelve. EU Finance
Ministers also removed 16 jurisdictions
(Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin
Islands, Cape Verde, Cook Islands, Curaçao,
Marshall Islands, Montenegro, Nauru,
Niue, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Vietnam) from
the ‘grey’ list of countries that have made
commitments.
The blacklisted countries have, according to
the European Commission, refused to enter
into dialogue with the European Union or to
address their shortcomings in the area of
good tax governance. For countries on the
‘grey’ list, or watch list: their commitments
are deemed sufficient by the European
Union, but their implementation is closely
monitored. These lists are regularly updated
and require a unanimous vote in the Council.
No EU Member State or European countries
closely associated with the EU are on the
black or grey lists.
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