The European Commission sent letters of formal notice - the first stage of an infringement procedure - to Portugal, Germany and Romania for incorrect transposition of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD4).

According to a statement, the transposition deadline for AMLD4 expired on 27 June 2017 and, following an assessment of the transposition measures notified by Portugal and the other two targeted countries, Brussels has concluded that several provisions of the directive have not been correctly transposed into national law.

The Member States concerned must address key aspects of the anti-money laundering framework, such as the proper exchange of information between Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), customer due diligence requirements and adequate cooperation between FIUs, or the transparency of central registers of beneficial ownership.

Germany, Portugal and Romania have two months to provide a satisfactory response to the arguments put forward by the Commission, otherwise the Commission will decide to move to the second stage of the infringement procedure, with the sending of a reasoned opinion.

The fight against money laundering and terrorist financing is key to ensuring financial stability and security in Europe, the European Commission stresses.