The Second Steering Committee meeting of the SRSP Project on: “Enhancing effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime in the Czech Republic” was held virtually on 14 July 2021. The event brought together representatives from all main beneficiary institutions – the Financial Analytical Office, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Czech National Bank, Ministry of Foreign Affairs – and representatives of the European Commission Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division.
All present stakeholders commended notable results achieved in the first year of project implementation. For instance, the Project has developed useful Guidelines for the NPOs on detecting and understanding Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) risks, to be used by the NPOs on a voluntary basis, the Study on the money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks associated with the processes of entering the financial market or business by a selected group of obliged entities from financial and non-financial sector and a draft Technical paper that looked into the risks associated with the practices and products offered and provided by legal professionals in the Czech Republic. Most importantly, participants commended the finalisation of the Proliferation Financing National Risk Assessment (PF NRA) Methodology and expressed their enthusiasm to proceed with its implementation.
The meeting also provided the opportunity to discuss follow-up activities. In the second year of implementation the project will further support the Czech authorities in taking forward the initiated processes, such as by conducting awareness raising trainings for the NPO sector, by providing recommendations for the improvement of market entry legislation for selected sectors of obliged entities, by developing Guidelines for legal professions on the risk-based implementation of AML/CFT Act as well as by providing guidance for the authorities on the implementation of the PF NRA Methodology developed by the Council of Europe.
The activity was organised within the framework of the Structural Reform Support Programme initiative on “Enhancing effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime in the Czech Republic”, funded by the European Commission Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe.