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In a series of anti-money laundering reports (all published on 24 July 2019), the Commission assessed the framework for cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs).The Commission concludes that cooperation has improved greatly over the past few years. However, several shortcomings remain.

On 24 July 2019, the Commission published a report on recent alleged money laundering cases involving EU credit institutions (COM(2019) 373 final). This report is the Commission’s response to requests from the European Parliament and the Council to carry out a thorough review of whether there are structural flaws in the regulatory and supervisory framework.

The Supranational Risk Assessment (SNRA) report of 24 July 2019 systematically analyses the money laundering or terrorist financing risks of specific products and services. It focuses on vulnerabilities identified at the EU level, both in terms of legal framework and in terms of effective application, and provides recommendations for addressing them.

On 24 July 2019, the Commission published a Communication and four reports that assess the risks of money laundering and the implementation of the EU’s anti-money laundering/countering terrorist financing (AML/CFT) framework. The package is designed to support European and national bodies so that they may better counter the risks of money laundering.

Since mid-May 2019, EU Member States are able to use a new electronic tool that is expected to detect VAT fraud at an early stage. The Transaction Network Analysis (TNA) is an automated data mining tool that interconnects Member States’ tax IT platforms.

Member States made improvements in identifying fraud risks and in designing preventive measures, but detection, response, and coordination efforts must be considerably strengthened when it comes to tackling fraud in cohesion spending. This is the main conclusion drawn by the European Court of Auditor’s (ECA) Special Report no. 06/2019.

The EU’s and Member States’ efforts to collect the correct amount of VAT and customs duties in conjunction with the trade of goods and services via the Internet are not sufficient, as concluded by the Special Report no. 12/2019 by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).

The EU Member States had to adopt and publish regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive (EU) 2017/1371 on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law (in short: the “PIF Directive”) by 6 July 2019. 16 Member States had communicated their implementation measures to the Commission by the transposition deadline.

At its meeting on 6 June 2019, the JHA Council adopted conclusions “on the synergies between Eurojust and the networks established by the Council in the area of judicial cooperation in criminal matters.” The Council acknowledged the vital role played, in the area of cooperation in criminal matters in the European Union, by Eurojust and by four networks established by the Council.

The Commission informed the Justice Ministers about the state of play of setting up the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) at their meeting in Luxembourg on 6 June 2019.