On 17 December 2020, the Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) has conducted a “Workshop on data gathering tools pursuant to the CoE AML/CFT National Risk Assessment Methodology”. The workshop was organized following the request from the Romanian authorities to provide more guidance on the data gathering process, which is the first and one of the most important steps of the AML/CFT National Risk Assessment (NRA).

The workshop provided an opportunity for the ECCD team to discuss with the authorities the application of the Council of Europe NRA data gathering and analysis tools as well as to reply to the various questions submitted in advance and during the Workshop by the representatives of all responsible authorities involved in the NRA process: the FIU, National Bank of Romania, Financial Supervisory Authority, Ministry of Justice, General Prosecutor’s Office, Romanian Police and Romanian Intelligence Service.

This event is part of the Council of Europe wider support provided within the framework of the 2020 CoE/EU 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”. Within the inception phase of the project, Romanian government officials, private and NPO sector representatives have benefited from a training on the risk assessment process pursuant to the Council of Europe AML/CFT National Risk Assessment Methodology.

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.