Opinion of the European Central Bank of 13 April 2016 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (CON/2016/23)
Date: 2016-04-13
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovenia, banking supervision, economic offence, fight against crime, money laundering, terrorism financing

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 13 April 2016  

on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing 

(CON/2016/23) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  9  March  2016  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Slovenian  Ministry  of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  law  on  the  prevention  of  money  laundering  and  terrorist  financing 

(hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning  of  the  European  Union  and  Article 2(1)  of  Council  Decision  98/415/EC1,  as  the  draft  law 

relates  to  Banka  Slovenije  and  the  ECB’s  specific  tasks  concerning  the  prudential  supervision  of  credit 

institutions.  In  accordance  with  the  first  sentence  of  Article 17.5  of  the  Rules  of  Procedure  of  the 

European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 

1.  

Purpose of the draft law 

The main purpose of the draft law, which replaces the current Law on the prevention of money laundering 
and terrorist financing2 (hereinafter the ‘Law’), is to implement Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council3  into  Slovenian  law.  In  addition,  the  draft  law  introduces  certain 

amendments aimed at improving the effectiveness of the system for the prevention of money laundering 

and  terrorist  financing  (hereinafter  ‘AML/CTF’)  in  Slovenia,  by  removing  identified  shortcomings  in  the 

current  Law  and  addressing  certain  recommendations  made  to  Slovenia  by  the  Council  of  Europe’s 

Committee  of  Experts  on  the  Evaluation  of  Anti-Money  Laundering  Measures  and  the  Financing  of 
Terrorism  –  MONEYVAL4.  As  part  of  these  amendments,  the  draft  law  strengthens  the  powers  of  the 

Office  for  Money  Laundering  Prevention  (hereinafter  the  ‘Office’),  which  is  the  Slovenian  financial  

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Council  Decision  98/415/EC  of  29 June  1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by  national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 
Zakon o preprečevanju pranja denarja in financiranja terorizma (ZPPDFT) (Ur. l. RS No 60/07, 19/10, 77/11, 108/12 
– ZIS-E and 19/14). 
Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use 
of  the  financial  system  for  the  purposes  of  money  laundering  or  terrorist  financing,  amending  Regulation  (EU) 
No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73). 

See  the  Report  on  Fourth  Assessment  Visit  for  Slovenia,  dated  17  March  2010,  and  the  2nd  regular  follow-up 
progress report, dated April 2013, available on the Council of Europe’s website at ‘www.coe.int’.  

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
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intelligence  unit,  established  as  part  of  the  Ministry  of  Finance5.  The  Office  may  issue  administrative 

decisions and sanctions to the entities obliged to comply with AML/CTF laws and regulations (hereinafter 

the ‘obliged entities’)., The new powers of the Office under the draft law will include investigative powers 

allowing it to conduct on-site inspections of the obliged entities. These powers will extend both in relation 

to  obliged  entities  without  a  primary  supervisor  (e.g.  firms  performing  tax  consultancy  services)  and  to 

obliged entities having a primary supervisor. According to the explanatory memorandum, the aim of this 

amendment  is  to  improve  the  supervisory  system  over  the  obliged  entities  and  to  provide  for  more 

effective  sanctioning.  The  primary  supervisors  for  ensuring  compliance  with  AML/CTF  laws  and 

regulations  by  obliged  entities  in  the  financial  market  are  otherwise  the  relevant  sectoral  prudential 

supervisors: Banka Slovenije, the Securities Market Agency and the Insurance Supervision Agency. 

2. 

General observations  

This opinion does not address whether the draft law effectively transposes Directive (EU) 2015/849 into 

Slovenian law, but rather the assessment is limited to certain provisions of the draft law that relate to the 

role  and  tasks  of  Banka  Slovenije,  and  to  ECB  competences  and  responsibilities  in  the  field  of  the 

prudential  supervision  of  credit  institutions.  As  noted  in  Recitals  28  and  29  of  Regulation  (EU) 
No 1024/20136,  the  supervisory  tasks  not  conferred  on  the  ECB,  which  remain  with  the  national 

authorities, include the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering 

and  terrorist  financing.  The  ECB  should  cooperate,  as  appropriate,  fully  with  the  national  authorities, 
which  are  competent  to  ensure  the  fight  against  money  laundering7.  With  respect  to  the  competences 

entrusted to the Office by the draft law, it is noted that they result in certain inspection powers that parallel 

those of Banka Slovenije in relation to the same obliged entities. In this regard, the ECB understands that 

national  authorities  shall  closely  cooperate  in  exercising  their  powers  without  adversely  affecting  their 

respective supervisory responsibilities. As regards the measures and sanctions to be imposed on credit 

institutions as obliged entities following infringements of AML/CTF provisions, which may, in case of the 
most severe breaches, include the withdrawal of the authorisation to carry out activities8, it is noted that 
the ECB has exclusive competence, for prudential supervisory purposes, to withdraw a banking licence9. 

With regard to the possibility under the draft law to impose a prohibition on the performance of managerial 
tasks10,  for  significant  credit  institutions,  it  is  noted  that  the  ECB  is  directly  competent  to  ensure 

compliance  with  acts  imposing  requirements  on  credit  institutions  to  have  in  place  robust  governance  

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The Slovenian Office can be categorised as an administrative type of financial intelligence unit (see the publication of 
the  International  Monetary  Fund  and  the  World  Bank  Financial  Intelligence  Units:  An  Overview,  dated  2004, 
available here: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/FIU/fiu.pdf). 
Regulation  (EU)  No  1024/2013  of  15  October  2013  conferring  specific  tasks  on  the  European  Central  Bank 
concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (OJ L 287, 29.10.2013, p. 63). 

See  also  Article  6(2)  of  the  Regulation  (EU)  No  1024/2013  pursuant  to  which  the  ECB  and  national  competent 
authorities shall be subject to a duty of cooperation in good faith, and an obligation to exchange information. 
See Article 165(8) in conjunction with Article 165(6) of the draft law. 
See Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013. 
See Article 165(9) in conjunction with Article 165(6) and (7) of the draft law. 

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arrangements, including the fit and proper requirements for persons responsible for the management of 
credit institutions11. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 13 April 2016. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

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See Article 4(1)(e) of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013. 

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