Technical Support Instrument (TSI) Project on: "Regional and local authorities – Enhancing quality of public administration and cooperation, preventing of money laundering and terrorism financing"

Within the framework of the 2023 Council of Europe/European Union Technical support Instrument envelope, the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division is supporting the Austrian authorities in strengthening, in line with EU and international (FATF) requirements, the risk-based anti-money laundering/combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) supervision in Austrian Länder (states) regarding the sectors exposed to higher money laundering and terrorism financing risks.
 
The project starts on 1 September 2023 and will last for 24 months. Through tailored activities, the project aims to contribute to: 

• Improving the risk-based AML/CFT supervision of selected higher risk sectors of obliged entities supervised by regional and local competent authorities in Austrian Länder (states);
• Strengthening the inter-institutional cooperation and the exchange of information for the purposes of AML/CFT supervision in Austrian Länder (states);
• Enhancing the understanding of obliged entities in higher risk sectors as regards their AML/CFT obligations.

Areas of specific focus include the review of the existing legislative and administrative framework for the risk-based AML/CFT supervision of selected higher risk sectors of obliged entities within the remit of regional and local competent authorities in Austrian Länder; the development of an Action Plan to address the identified deficiencies in the risk-based AML/CFT supervision and in the inter-institutional cooperation and the exchange of information domestically and within the EU; the development of a uniform Manual for risk-based AML/CFT supervision for the competent supervisory authorities in Austrian Länder (states) and data gathering guidelines for the purposes of conducting supervision of selected obliged entities; support to develop a framework for coordination and structured exchange of information between the AML/CFT supervisors in Austrian states and a mechanism for monitoring progress and impact of the AML/CFT supervision. 

The project budget is 666.667,00 Euros. The project is co-funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and Council of Europe and is and implemented by the Council of Europe (Economic Crime and Cooperation Division), in cooperation with the European Commission.

 More information on the cooperation between the EC DG REFORM and the Council of Europe can be found here.