Government looks forward to working with Commission to address concerns in 4th AMLD transposition into national legislation

The Government of Malta and the Ministry for Finance in particular, take note of the Reasoned Opinion that was issued last week by the European Commission, based on alleged gaps with regard to Malta’s transposition of the fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive into Maltese legislation.

The Maltese authorities would like to acknowledge the Commission’s assessment of Malta’s transposition of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive Four framework and its compliance with Council Directive (EU) 2015/849.

As already stated in earlier correspondence exchanges with the Commission, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act was meant to transpose all the provisions of this Directive. This was done at the end of 2017, with the ancillary Legal Notices published in January. In this respect, Malta welcomes the suggestions to improve further the text used in the trans- position of the Directive in the national legislation.

In the spirit of collaboration, Maltese legal officials will engage in technical discussions with the Commission’s legal team to explain the reasons and justification of our legislation and make any corrections which might be required.

The Government of Malta remains committed to continue strengthening the work it has already undertaken concerning the strengthening of institutions, combating money laundering and fighting international tax avoidance.