The Council of Europe’s Economic Crime and Cooperation Division organised the Closing Conference of the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) initiative “Money laundering and terrorism financing risk compliance: “Implementing a national mechanism to assess and manage money laundering and terrorism financing risks in Romania”, in Bucharest, Romania on 16 December 2022.
The event was convened with the aim of presenting and reflecting on the project results and achievements to all Steering Committee Members and other stakeholders who were involved in different project activities. The conference was attended by representatives of the National Office for Prevention and Control of Money Laundering, the National Bank of Romania, the Financial Supervisory Authority, the Ministry of Justice, the Police and the Romanian Intelligence Service, as well as the European Commission – DG REFORM and the Council of Europe.
One of the main project achievements underlined during the event was the finalisation of the first Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (ML/TF) National Risk Assessment (NRA) Report of Romania. While congratulating Romanian authorities for the official adoption of the NRA Report in September 2022, the Council of Europe representatives also used the opportunity to commend their cooperation with the project team in the application of the Council of Europe’s ML/TF NRA Methodology.
In addition, making up for the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project supported the authorities in implementing a number of mitigating measures in parallel to the official adoption process of the ML/TF NRA Report and development of the AML/CFT Action Plan of Romania. A series of capacity-building activities were successfully organised for the main stakeholders involved in the AML/CFT framework in Romania (representatives of the Financial Intelligence Unit, financial supervisory authorities, law enforcement and the judiciary), as well as awareness-raising events on the results of the ML/TF NRA for representatives of concerned public institutions and obliged entities. In addition, the Council of Europe provided a review of the draft procedure for the authorisation and/or registration of virtual currency exchange service providers. Finally, the project also provided an opportunity for representatives of relevant competent authorities to be engaged in a number of peer-to-peer exchanges with counterparts from other EU Member States, in Romania but also abroad.
Besides focusing on achievements, the project closing event was also an opportunity to gather the Romanian authorities’ feedback regarding the implementation of agreed outputs and the Council of Europe’s technical assistance, including its relevance, sustainability and encountered challenges. Last but not least, the event allowed to discuss future technical assistance needs and further opportunities for cooperation between the Romanian authorities and the Council of Europe’s Economic Crime and Cooperation Division.
The event was organised within the framework of the Structural Reform Support Programme initiative “Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Compliance: Implementing a National Mechanism to Assess and Manage Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks in Romania”, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.