Directive 2008/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008 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 (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2008-03-11
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: European Commission, financial legislation, law of banking, money laundering, powers of the institutions (EU), terrorism

L 76/46

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

19.3.2008

DIRECTIVE 2008/20/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 11 March 2008

amending Directive 2005/60/EC on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the
financing, as regards the implementing powers
purpose of money laundering and terrorist

conferred on the Commission

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

(3)

Having regard to the Treaty
establishing the European
Community, and in particular the first and third sentences of
Article 47(2) and Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

(4)

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure
Article 251 of the Treaty (3),

laid down in

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Directive 2005/60/EC (4) provides that certain measures
are to be adopted in accordance with Council Decision
1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
procedures for
implementing powers
the exercise of
conferred on the Commission (5).

(5)

the

introduced

Decision 1999/468/EC has been amended by Decision
2006/512/EC, which
regulatory
procedure with scrutiny for the adoption of measures
of general scope and designed to amend non-essential
elements of a basic instrument adopted in accordance
with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the
Treaty, inter alia by deleting some of those elements or
by supplementing the instrument with new non-essential
elements.

(1) OJ C 161, 13.7.2007, p. 45.
(2) OJ C 39, 23.2.2007, p. 1.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 14 November 2007 (not yet
published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 3 March
2008.

(4) OJ L 309, 25.11.2005, p. 15. Directive as last amended by Directive

2007/64/EC (OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p. 1).

(5) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision

2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).

and

the Council

In accordance with the statement by the European
the Commission (6)
Parliament,
concerning Decision 2006/512/EC,
for the regulatory
procedure with scrutiny to be applicable to instruments
adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in
Article 251 of the Treaty which are already in force,
those instruments must be adjusted in accordance with
the applicable procedures.

The Commission should be empowered to adopt the
measures necessary for the implementation of Directive
2005/60/EC in order to take account of technical devel-
opments in the fight against money laundering and
terrorist financing and to ensure uniform application of
that Directive. More particularly,
those measures are
designed to clarify the technical aspects of some of the
definitions provided for under Directive 2005/60/EC, to
establish technical criteria for assessing whether situations
present a low or high risk of money laundering or
terrorist
is justified to
apply that Directive to persons carrying out a financial
activity on an occasional or very limited basis, and to
adapt the amounts provided for in that Directive, taking
account of economic developments and changes in inter-
national standards. Since those measures are of general
scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements
of Directive 2005/60/EC, inter alia by supplementing it
with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted
regulatory procedure with
in accordance with the
scrutiny provided for
in Article 5a of Decision
1999/468/EC.

financing, whether or not

it

instruments adopted under

Directive 2005/60/EC provides for a time restriction
concerning the implementing powers conferred on the
statement concerning Decision
In their
Commission.
2006/512/EC,
the Council
the European Parliament,
and the Commission stated that Decision 2006/512/EC
provides a horizontal and satisfactory solution to the
European Parliament’s wish to scrutinise the implemen-
the co-decision
tation of
procedure and that, accordingly,
implementing powers
should be conferred on the Commission without time
limit. The European Parliament and the Council also
declared that they would make sure that the proposals
aimed at repealing the provisions in the instruments that
provide for a time limit on the delegation of
im-
plementing powers to the Commission are adopted as
rapidly as possible. Following the introduction of the
regulatory procedure with scrutiny, the provision estab-
lishing that
time restriction in Directive 2005/60/EC
should be deleted.

(6) OJ C 255, 21.10.2006, p. 1.

19.3.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 76/47

the provisions

concerning the

The Commission should, at regular intervals, evaluate the
functioning of
im-
plementing powers conferred on it in order to allow
the European Parliament and the Council to determine
whether the extent of those powers and the procedural
requirements imposed on the Commission are appro-
priate
and democratic
accountability.

and ensure both efficiency

(b) the following subparagraph shall be added:

‘The measures referred to in the first subparagraph,
designed to amend non-essential
this
Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regu-
latory
in
Article 41(2a).’;

procedure with

elements of

scrutiny

referred

to

Directive 2005/60/EC should therefore be amended
accordingly.

(a)

the following paragraph shall be inserted:

3. Article 41 shall be amended as follows:

(6)

(7)

(8)

Since the amendments made to Directive 2005/60/EC by
in nature and concern
this Directive are technical
they do not need to be
committee procedure only,
transposed by the Member States.
is therefore not
necessary to lay down provisions to that effect,

It

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Amendments

Directive 2005/60/EC is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 40(1) shall be amended as follows:

‘2a. Where reference is made to this paragraph,
and Article 7 of Decision
Article 5a(1)
1999/468/EC shall
to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.’;

apply, having

to (4)

regard

(b) paragraphs 3 and 4 shall be replaced by the following:

the Commission shall

By 31 December 2010, and thereafter at

‘3.
least
every three years,
review the
implementing powers and
provisions concerning its
present a report to the European Parliament and to the
Council on the functioning of those powers. The report
shall examine, in particular, the need for the Commission
to propose amendments to this Directive in order to
ensure the appropriate scope of
the implementing
powers conferred on the Commission. The conclusion
as to whether or not an amendment is necessary shall
be accompanied by a detailed statement of reasons. If
necessary, the report shall be accompanied by a legis-
lative proposal
to amend the provisions conferring
implementing powers on the Commission’.

(a)

the words ‘, in accordance with the procedure referred to
in Article 41(2),’ shall be deleted;

Article 2

Entry into force

(b) the following subparagraph shall be added:

This Directive shall enter into force on the day following that of
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

‘The measures referred to in the first subparagraph,
designed to amend non-essential
this
Directive,
shall be
inter alia by supplementing it,
adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure
with scrutiny referred to in Article 41(2a).’;

elements of

Article 3

Addressees

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

2. Article 40(3) shall be amended as follows:

(a)

the words ‘, in accordance with the procedure referred to
in Article 41(2),’ shall be deleted;

Done at Strasbourg, 11 March 2008.

For the European Parliament
The President

H.-G. PÖTTERING

For the Council
The President
J. LENARČIČ