The Council of Europe's Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) is currently supporting Lithuanian Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) authorities in further enhancing the risk-based supervision of Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) in Lithuania. Taking into consideration the findings of the 2019 Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing National Risk Assessment of Lithuania, the technical assistance efforts encompassed further strengthening the AML/CFT risk-based supervision of lawyers and notaries, due to their exposure to ML/TF risks.

In this regard, in March 2024, the ECCD launched the development of two guidance documents aimed at providing guidance to the two self-regulatory bodies – the Lithuanian Bar Association and Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries – on data collection and institutional risk assessment, as well as on conducting off-site and on-site risk-based AML/CFT supervision of legal professionals in Lithuania. 

In order to present and discuss the draft guidance documents, the ECCD organised an in-person workshop in Vilnius on 21 May 2024. Most notably, participants were guided through the newly developed statistical questionnaires aimed at gathering information on the obliged entities (OEs)’ activities, as well as through the risk matrices which provide risk scoring of OEs based on provided responses. Moreover, the workshop allowed to discuss and finalise the draft supervisory tools (e.g. the on-site inspection checklist, the sample CDD checklist) as well as the proposed templates for the supervision inspection summary, as well as for the inspection report.

As a follow-up, the guidance documents have been shared with the Bar Association and the Chamber of Notaries who will continue by integrating provided guidance and tools into their supervisory practices.

The event was organised within the framework of the Technical Support Instrument initiative “Strengthening Risk-Based AML/CFT Supervision in Lithuania”, co-funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.