REPORT on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2005/60/EC on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing, as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission

11.6.2007 - (COM(2006)0906 – C6‑0022/2007 – 2006/0281(COD)) - ***I

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Rapporteur: Philip Bradbourn

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2005/60/EC on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing, as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission

(COM(2006)0906 – C6‑0022/2007 – 2006/0281(COD))

(Codecision procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2006)0906)[1],

–   having regard to Article 251(2) and Articles 47(2), first and third sentences, and 95 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C6‑0022/2007),

–   having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A6‑0225/2007),

1.  Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2.  Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend the proposal substantially or replace it with another text;

3.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission.

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendments by Parliament
Amendment 1 RECITAL 5 A (new)
	(5a) Directive 2005/60/EC provides for a regular report on its implementation to be drawn up by the Commission. That report may be accompanied by a legislative proposal introducing the necessary modifications to that Directive.
Amendment 2 ARTICLE 1, POINT 3 A (new) Article 42 (Directive 2005/60/EC)
	(3a) Article 42 is replaced by the following:   "Article 42   By 15 December 2009, and at least at three-yearly intervals thereafter, the Commission shall draw up a report on the implementation of this Directive with, if appropriate, a legislative proposal introducing the necessary modifications to Directive 2005/60/EC in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty and submit it to the European Parliament and the Council. In the first such report, the Commission shall include a specific examination of the treatment of lawyers and other independent legal professionals."

• [1]  Not yet published in OJ.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The European Parliament believes that the soundness, integrity and stability of credit and financial institutions and confidence in the financial system as a whole could be seriously jeopardised by the efforts of criminals to channel lawful or unlawful money for terrorist purposes. In order to avoid Member States' adopting measures to protect their financial systems which could be inconsistent with the functioning of the internal market, a directive 2005/60/EC on "the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing" was adopted on 26 October 2005.

In the parts of the implementing measures of the above mentioned directive (Articles 40 and 41) the reference is made to "the implementation of the provisions of this Directive concerning the adoption of technical rules and decisions in accordance with the procedure of Decision 1999/468/EC, shall be suspended four years after the entry into force of this Directive".

The "comitology decision" that lays down the procedures for implementing powers conferred on the Commission has been amended by Decision 2006/512/EC which, inter alia, has added a new "regulatory procedure with scrutiny" (Article 5(a)) which give the Parliament more rights in controlling implementing acts by the Commission.

It is therefore necessary to update urgently the legislation already into force to the new articles (and procedures) of the Comitology Decision.

One of the 27 acts to be updated is the directive 2005/60/EC on money laundering. The Commission has proposed to use the new "regulatory procedure with scrutiny" (Article 5(a)) for all the implementing measures listed in Article 41 of the Directive 2005/60/EC.

In the light of the Commission explanations given during the LIBE meeting of May 8th on the content of which is to be considered as "non-essential" elements in the application of this Directive, (whilst regretting that the Commission only provided this information at this later stage), the Rapporteur can now support the Commission's proposal to use the new "regulatory procedure with scrutiny" as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission.

Therefore the Commission, by referring to point 3 of the interinstitutional agreement implementing the amended Comitology decision proposes to amend the Money Laundering directive by repealing the "sunset clause" actually foreseen by Article 41, paragraph 4 of the directive.

In principle the Rapporteur shares the request of the Commission but prefers, by amending Article 42 of the Directive, to maintain a possibility to introduce the necessary modifications to the Directive 2005/60/EC in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty.

PROCEDURE

Title	Prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (implementing powers conferred on the Commission)
References	COM(2006)0906 - C6-0022/2007 - 2006/0281(COD)
Date submitted to Parliament	22.12.2006
Committee responsible        Date announced in plenary	LIBE 17.1.2007
Rapporteur(s)        Date appointed	Philip Bradbourn 20.3.2007
Discussed in committee	8.5.2007		5.6.2007
Date adopted	5.6.2007
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	31 0 0
Members present for the final vote	Alexander Alvaro, Philip Bradbourn, Mihael Brejc, Michael Cashman, Giusto Catania, Carlos Coelho, Fausto Correia, Panayiotis Demetriou, Agustín Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, Bárbara Dührkop Dührkop, Claudio Fava, Kinga Gál, Patrick Gaubert, Ewa Klamt, Magda Kósáné Kovács, Stavros Lambrinidis, Henrik Lax, Claude Moraes, Javier Moreno Sánchez, Martine Roure, Inger Segelström, Károly Ferenc Szabó, Adina-Ioana Vălean, Manfred Weber
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Ignasi Guardans Cambó, Sophia in ‘t Veld, Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, Bogdan Klich, Marianne Mikko, Hubert Pirker
Substitute(s) under Rule 178(2) present for the final vote	Aloyzas Sakalas